Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(beech). Letters were at first engraved on stone, brick, or metal (Deut. 27:2-3; Job 19:24); later, on papyrus, bark of trees, tablets of wax, cloth of linen or cotton, the latter in long rolls, or “scrolls,” which were the books of the Hebrews.
Concise Bible Dictionary:
The form of ancient books was a long roll with a roller at each end. These rollers were held one in each hand and the book was unrolled from off the one and on to the other as the book was read; and this had to be reversed before the book could be read again. They were made of skins, and the writing was usually on one side only; to be written on both sides would show a full record (Ezek. 2:9-10; Rev. 5:1). The form of a roll explains how a book could have several seals, a portion being rolled up and a seal attached; then another portion rolled up and another seal, like the seven-sealed book of Revelation.
By the ancient nations records were made on cylinders or slabs of stone, or on clay, which was then baked or sun-dried. Many such tablets have been found in the excavations made at Nineveh, Babylon and other places. When Ezra was at work on the city and temple of Jerusalem his opponents wrote to the king of Persia asking that “the book of the records” might be searched for corroboration of their assertion that Jerusulem had been rebellious (Ezra 4:15). The “book of the records” was doubtless a collection of stone or clay tablets. In some cases these have been found in such numbers as to form quite a library.
The word BOOK is used symbolically for what a book might contain, as prophecy or predictions. Ezekiel and John were told to eat the books presented to them (Ezek. 2:8-9; Ezek. 3:1-3; Rev. 10:9: Compare Jer. 15:16). It is also symbolical of the records that are with man usually written in a book (Psa. 56:8; Dan. 7:10; Mal. 3:16; Rev. 20:12).
Various books are mentioned in scripture which are not now in existence.
1. The wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14). The quotation is poetry, so that the book may have been a collection of odes by Moses on the wars of Jehovah.
2. Book of Dasher, (Josh. 10:13; 2 Sam. 1:18). These quotations also are poetry.
3. Book of Samuel, concerning “the manner of the kingdom” (1 Sam. 10:25); which was laid up before the Lord.
4. The Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41): probably the public records of the kingdom.
5. Books of Nathan, Gad, Ahijah, and Iddo, concerning the acts of David, and of Solomon, which were doubtless the public records of the nation, with which are associated prophecies of Ahijah and the visions of Iddo (1 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29).
6. Book of Shemaiah the prophet (2 Chron. 12:15).
7. Book of Jehu (2 Chron. 20:34). These various references show that when the historical parts of the Old Testament were written, further information respecting the kingdom was obtainable from the books referred to, if such had been needed; but which was not required for the inspired volume of God.
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Job 19: 23-24. O that my words were now written Oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!I See also Jeremiah 17: 1.
Three different substances for the preservation of record’s are usually supposed to be referred to here: 1. Books. These were anciently made of linen or cotton cloth, skins, or the leaves of the papyrus. From the last word comes our English word, paper. The inner bark of trees was also sometimes used. The Latin word for bark being liber, this word at length came to signify a book; it is still found in the English word library. When made of cloth or skins the book was made up in the form of a roll. See note on Isaiah 34:4 (#511).
2. Leaden tablets. These are of high antiquity. In 1699 Montfaucon bought at Rome a very old book entirely made of lead. It was about four inches long and three wide, and had a cover and six leaves or sheets. The hinges and nails were also made of lead. The volume contained Egyptian gnostic figures and inscriptions in Greek and Etruscan characters.
In a temple in the Carian city of Cnidus, erected in honor of Hades and Persephone, about the fourth century before Christ, the women were in the habit of depositing thin sheets of lead on which were written the names of persons they hated, together With their misdeeds. They also inscribed on the lead tablets imprecations against those who had thus injured them. Many of these tablets were discovered in 1858 when excavations were made in the ruins of the temple. They are now in the British Museum.
It is not, however, certain that Job in the text refers to leaden tablets or leaves on which inscriptions were made. He may have alluded to the custom of first cutting letters in stone and then filling them up with molten lead. There are indications that some of the incised letters in Assyrian monuments were filled with metal. M. Botta states that the letters on the pavement slabs of Khorsabad give evidence of having been filled with copper. See Layard's Nineveh and Its Remains, vol. 2, p. 188.
3. Stone monuments. The law was originally written on tables of stone “with the finger of God” (Ex. 31:18). The second set of tables were written by Moses by Divine command (Ex. 34:4,28). Joshua copied the law on the stone altar at Mount Ebal (Josh. 8:32). This mode of recording important truths or events was very common in ancient times. Job desires that his sentiments should be thus engraved, that generations to come might read the record.
The some records of ancient Oriental nations, which modern discoveries have brought to light, are all illustrations of the custom which Job evidently had in mind. Many of these bear on Scripture facts and history, confirming and supplementing the sacred record. The most remarkable, in some respects, of any of these ancient monuments is the famous Moabite stone, the discovery of which in the year 1868 created such intense excitement among biblical scholars and antiquarians. This is the very oldest Semitic inscription of importance as yet discovered, and is the only one thus far found which reaches back to the age of the Jewish monarchy. It gives the Moabitish account of the conflict described in the 2 Kings 3.
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