Hi Roy,
I guess it is interesting to read the books that are not found in the Bible. But we can be assured that what we do have is all that is necessary for the Old Testment.
This might be of interest, I put together some excerpts from the 2007 conference 'How we got the Bible,' this gives an idea of how the OT Scripture was canonized, so we know that it is complete.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,5815.0.html ----------
Moses was the first one to set aside books and say this is the Word of God. He had records. It isn’t that God told him everything up there on the mountain, he did have records.
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The next people who either write and/or set aside books to canonize Scripture was David and Solomon.
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KING HEZEKIAH AND ISAIAH - The Third To Canonize.
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JOSIAH AND JEREMIAH -The Fourth To Canonize Scripture
King Josiah officially recognized and teaches that all should follow ALL THE BOOKS and practices of Temple worship codified and canonized before him.
Jeremiah’s prophecies and some of the minor prophets were also recognized at this time.
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EZRA - Finalized The Canonization Of The Old Testament
It was Ezra who wrote I and II Chronicles (originally one book) 500 years after David and Solomon. He wrote Ezra and maybe Nehemiah. Some scholars think Ezra wrote all of those - I and II Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, but be that as it may. Ezra recorded what happened way back then and how the different books came to be recognized as the official canon of Scripture. He was the last one to put his approval on what’s Hebrew Scripture.
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Ezra edited some books to make them more understandable. Example, Deut. 34: 5-12 was added by Ezra. Moses did not record his own death.
All other periods of canonization are of little importance compared to that of Ezra, who made the final decision on all books.
But Ezra edited numerous books to bring them up to date. He wrote the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nehemiah was previously known as II Ezra and he wrote I and II Chronicles. He wrote THE LAST BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT!
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So anybody that knew Ezra was a man of God and all those at that time Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel and Isaiah these were prominent people, so whatever they said was Scripture, was accepted.
Because from here on, about 450 BC, we had no Scriptural history for 4 ½ centuries. We go from II Chronicles to Matthew and there is no history. Now some of the books that are Apocryphal books may be accurate history, it‘s just that they are not necessarily to be Scripture.
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So the original proper numbering of the books of the Old Testament should be 22. The Jews always had 22 books in all their synagogues, so where did the King James and most others get 39?
But you can see where we get that, you combine Joshua and Judges into one book. I and II Kings and I and II Samuel is the Book of the Kingdoms. Ezra and Nehemiah is one book. The 12 minor prophets always one book. They didn’t add any new books, they merely numbered them differently.
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22 Is A Number Of Completeness
The number 22 completes the Hebrew alphabet. All that can be said can be said using these 22 letters. You can write every book there is with 22 letters. So the idea being everything that God had to say to us in the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures could be said in those 22 letters and it’s done in 22 books. God always has a purpose for numbers and things like that.
mercy, peace and love
Kat