I was wondering about something. How did all the books of the Bible as we know them today stay in tact over the years until 389 AD (if that’s the right year?) when they were all canonized and put together? Were they kept hidden and safe so that they wouldn’t be forged by unknown authors?
These are whole major areas of study in biblical archeology and linguistic analysis.
It is relevant to inquire about this, because it sometimes tells you a lot that bears on the interpretation of the books.
There are books or writings referred to in scripture that have been lost, just as you suggest.
And, there are discrepancies between manuscripts that show errors in transcription, of different sorts.
You (meaning everybody) should know that the Hebrew language has no vowels. So, it’s a matter of tradition to read the ancient writing correctly. The Hebrew language is so old, the Jewish commentaries have to speculate a lot about the very meaning of words. There are words that we actually don’t know for sure. Sometimes there are clues in other languages of the area of ancient Palestine.
For example, Jewish commentaries conjecture that what is forbidden on the Sabbath is hard labor. The word is something like “melakah.” But, they don’t really know that for sure, and no similar word has been found anyplace else. Lots of luck there. the translation and understanding is simply an educated guess in Judaism and Christianity. They absolutely don’t know what the word means (although some act like they do know.)
Another example is the word Selah in the Psalms. Some say it is a direction to the choir, some think it means “pause.” I think it means to make a profound bow to the ground (like the Muslims bow).
Also, the meaning of texts is studied carefully when a book has been found in another language ( that is comparing the Hebrew versus the Greek translation).
What’s remarkable is how consistent all the manuscripts and versions are. The history of the Scripture is one of immense respectd.
a lot, lol.