The Hidden Book in the Bible

312 Pages·2009·1.63 MB·English

by  Friedman

The Hidden Book in the Bible

Restored, Translated, and Introduced by
Richard Elliott Friedman
This book is dedicated to my beloved daughter
Jesse Rebekah Friedman
who has brought me so much happiness
Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Recovery of the Work

2. Reading the Work

About the Translation
In the Day
Afterword
Textual Notes
Appendix
1. Converging Evidence for the Unity of the Work

2. The Antiquity of the Work

3. Late for a Very Important Date

4. Distribution of Terms in Prose Narrative

Notes
About the Author

Other Books by Richard Elliott Friedman
Copyright

About the Publisher
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I arrived at this discovery twelve years ago. Because of its potential significance,
I proceeded extremely slowly and cautiously. I passed it before as many
colleagues as possible to get their reactions and criticism. I first presented it as a
paper before the Biblical Colloquium, the forty-year-old distinguished society of
biblical scholars, at its annual meeting held at Princeton University in 1986. I
then presented it to seminars at the University of Cambridge; Yale University;
the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Diego;
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; and the American Schools of Oriental
Research at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem. The overall response was
encouraging. I learned much from criticisms that were raised, and I addressed
them in subsequent research, and the case became progressively clearer as a
result. The enthusiasm of the response grew over the course of the presentations.
I also tried out the idea at meetings of clergy and in open lectures at universities
and to the public. And I used my best, time-tested means of working out a new
idea: I gave a course on the material and worked through it with my students.
The twelve years that it has taken have been well worth it. I present the
restored work that appears in this book with confidence that it is in fact the first
great prose work of world literature. I have tried to present it in such a way that
both laypersons and scholars will be able to judge the evidence for themselves
and see its remarkable unity.
I am particularly grateful to my colleagues in San Diego at the University of
California: David Goodblatt, Thomas Levy, William Propp, and especially our
senior colleague, David Noel Freedman. It is remarkable fortune to have such a
group of admirable scholars right in one’s own backyard, to share and test ideas,
to catch mistakes, and to encourage one another.
The editor of this book, at Harper Collins, is Mark Chimsky. The work
benefited from his superb skills and understanding.
Elaine Markson, my literary agent, nurtured the work from start to finish.
And, as always, my wife, the legal anthropologist, listened patiently to
things that are not in her field, and, as always, improvement resulted from her
good sense.
And so I am grateful to the many readers and listeners who refined this work
by their reactions, comments, and wisdom. I hope that, with their help, I have
done justice to the great anonymous author who gave us this treasure.

Richard Elliott Friedman
Jerusalem
April 1998
INTRODUCTION