The Book of Ahikar is an ancient Near Eastern story from around the sixth or seventh century BC. It teaches a lesson about the dangers of ingratitude (not being thankful). The story is about a wise man named Ahikar who served as secretary to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.
Ahikar was famous for his great wisdom, but although he had sixty wives, he had no children. He decided to adopt his sister’s son, Nadan, and train him to take his place in the royal court. Ahikar carefully taught Nadan everything he knew, but Nadan turned out to be dishonest. He forged documents to make it appear that Ahikar had committed a crime, hoping to have him put to death.
Ahikar was saved because the executioner was his friend. His friend hid him until the king’s anger had passed. Later, when Sennacherib needed Ahikar’s wisdom again, Ahikar was brought before the king. His hair had grown long, and his nails were like eagle’s claws because he had been in hiding for so long. The king forgave him and restored him to honor. Ahikar then rebuked his ungrateful nephew. After this, Nadan’s body swelled up, and his stomach burst open.
Ahikar's story has interesting similarities with Old Testament wisdom books and some of the parables of Jesus. There are references to Ahikar in the apocryphal book of Tobit, the works of the Greek philosopher Democritus, the apocalyptic Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Qur’an. The original story was written in Aramaic but later appeared in many other languages, including Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Ethiopic, and Greek. These versions differ from one another in various ways.
See also Apocrypha.