2 Samuel 1 Footnotes

1:18 If the Book of Jashar contained the word of God, why was that book left out of the Bible? God directed human authors to use passages from many different works in composing the sacred Scriptures. Other omitted Israelite works mentioned in the Bible include the “Book of the LORD’s Wars” (Nm 21:14), the “Events of Samuel the Seer,” “the Events of Nathan the Prophet,” the “Events of the Seer Gad,” (1Ch 29:29), the “Historical Record of Israel’s Kings” (1Kg 14:19), and the “Historical Record of Judah’s Kings” (1Kg 14:29). Solomon composed more than a thousand songs (1Kg 4:35), yet only two are preserved in the book of Psalms (72 and 127). Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the NT, Paul included a quotation from the Cretan poet Epimenides (Ti 1:12) and quoted from the poets Epimenides and Aratus in his speech at Athens (Ac 17:28). As would any good human author, the Divine Author of the Bible used materials selected from many sources, fitting them into his grand design for the book of sacred Christian Scriptures.