The Book of Jasher

[David Pratt]

King James Version Bible


2 Samuel Chapter 1

18. (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah [the use of] the bow: behold, [it is] written in the book of Jasher.)


Joshua Chapter 10

13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. [Is] not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.


Has anyone read or is reading The Book of Jasher?

I’m still reading it but so far I haven not read anything against Jesus Christ and God. It’s intense. In one chapter it explains how Satan greatly troubled Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son Issac at the alter. It was almost similar to Job.


It gives me more understanding why Abraham is credited in the New Testament.

 

[Marcus Constantine]

Jashur is one of those books, like a lot of Apocraphyl books, that can be interesting to read, but have never been considered to be equal with Scripture. They are sometimes mentioned or even quoted in the Old Testament and the New, but they are never mentioned as having been the word of God or equal with the rest of Scripture.

 

[LargeTrout]

Jashur is one of those books, like a lot of Apocraphyl books, that can be interesting to read, but have never been considered to be equal with Scripture. They are sometimes mentioned or even quoted in the Old Testament and the New, but they are never mentioned as having been the word of God or equal with the rest of Scripture.

If Divinely inspired authors referenced these books how can they not be considered scripture?

 

[Marcus Constantine]

If Divinely inspired authors referenced these books how can they not be considered scripture?

I do a lot of writing. If I quote Scripture in one part and then quote Plato's Republic in another, it doesn't mean that I hold them both as being equal in nature. Just quoting something doesn't mean that it is Scripture. There is truth outside of Scripture and sometimes people stumble over bits and pieces of it while they are wandering in darkness (see Romans 1). What the biblical authors do is quote some of these bits, such as the phrase "it's hard to kick against the prodding (or goads)" in the book of Acts. That's a Greek proverb used by Euripides the philosopher. It doesn't mean that Euripides was led by the Holy Spirit to write it like the other men of Scripture. What it does mean is that later on Luke was led by the Holy Spirit to quote that proverb and record it as being true. The value isn't in that Euripides said it, but rather that it is a quoted proverb that even though didn't originate from Scripture, contained truth and was recorded as such by a holy man of God, moved to write Scripture.

 

[DeaconDean]

The Book of Jasher, by John Baskett:

The following book discusses the book of Jasher:
Modern Apocrypha, Famous "Biblical" Hoaxes by Edgar J. Goodspeed (The Beacon Press, Boston, 1956) the Library of Congress catalog card number is 56-10075

Goodspeed was a first rate Biblical scholar, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago. He made the first translation of the Apocrypha directly from Greek into English in The Apocrypha: An American Translation. He translated the New Testament in his The New Testament: An American Translation and has written a number of other books about the Bible or the history of Christian and Biblical literature.
Chapter Ten of the book discusses the book of Jasher.



According to Goodspeed there were Three medieval books name Jasher written by Jews in Hebrew as follows:

1. A 1391 version by Rabbi Shabbatai Carmuz Levita, preserved in a Vatican manuscript.
2. A book used as the introduction to the Hexateuch probably written by a Spanish Jew in the 13th century and published in Venice in 1625.
3. A treatise on Jewish ritual written by Rabbi Tham who died in 1171; it was printed in Italy in 1544.

The second of these (the 13th century version) was translated into English by a Mr. Samuel of Liverpool and published in 1840 in New York by Nash and Gould.

The version of the book of Jasher that you have seen is likely one that was produced by a Jacob Ilive, a London printer, who published his own version of the book of Jasher in 1751. This version has been reprinted and circulated by the Rosicrucian order.

Goodspeed cites several reviews from the late 18th and early 19th century that declared this book to be "a shameless literary forgery".
The book is described as "a condensation of portions of the first seven books of the Old Testament". One glaring omission is that nothing is said about David's dirge over Saul, which should be there according to II Samuel 1:18.

The title page of the book says. "translated into English by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus, of Britain, Abbot of Canterbury, who went on a pilgrimage into the Holy Land and Persia, where he discovered this volume in the city of Gazna."

Alcuinus did live in Britain around 650. One problem with this manuscript is that it is written in an Elizabethan style English unknown to Alcuinus. The first edition of this book claimed that Alcuinus had "learned in the University of Oxford all those languages which the people of the East speak." The problem with that is that Oxford wasn't founded until 886, more than 80 years after Alcuin's death. Subsequent editions omitted this remark.
Goodspeed gives a number of other reasons based on internal evidences in the book why it is clearly an 18th century forgery and not genuine.

Source

I have read many of the so called "Lost Books of the Bible" and have done so only for informations sake. In fact, I just so happen to like I&II Clement. They are good reading, but I cannot get up in church and preach or teach it for truth.

To hold it as equal to scripture is wrong.

Let me put it this way.

I have read the Apocalypse of Peter. In this text somebody describes some of the punishments people will endure:

And over against that place I saw another, squalid, and it was the place of punishment; and those who were punished there and the punishing angels had their raiment dark like the air of the place. And there were certain there hanging by the tongue: and these were the blasphemers of the way of righteousness; and under them lay fire, burning and punishing them. And there was a great lake, full of flaming mire, in which were certain men that pervert righteousness, and tormenting angels afflicted them. And there were also others, women, hanged by their hair over that mire that bubbled up: and these were they who adorned themselves for adultery; and the men who mingled with them in the defilement of adultery, were hanging by the feet and their heads in that mire. And I said: I did not believe that I should come into this place. And I saw the murderers and those who conspired with them, cast into a certain strait place, full of evil snakes, and smitten by those beasts, and thus turning to and fro in that punishment; and worms, as it were clouds of darkness, afflicted them. And the souls of the murdered stood and looked upon the punishment of those murderers and said: O God, thy judgment is just. And near that place I saw another strait place into which the gore and the filth of those who were being punished ran down and became there as it were a lake: and there sat women having the gore up to their necks, and over against them sat many children who were born to them out of due time, crying; and there came forth from them sparks of fire and smote the women in the eyes: and these were the accursed who conceived and caused abortion. And other men and women were burning up to the middle and were cast into a dark place and were beaten by evil spirits, and their inwards were eaten by restless worms: and these were they who persecuted the righteous and delivered them up. And near those there were again women and men gnawing their own lips, and being punished and receiving a red-hot iron in their eyes: and these were they who blasphemed and slandered the way of righteousness. And over against these again other men and women gnawing their tongues and having flaming fire in their mouths: and these were the false witnesses. And in a certain other place there were pebbles sharper than swords or any spit, red-hot, and women and men in tattered and filthy raiment rolled about on them in punishment: and these were the rich who trusted in their riches and had no pity for orphans and widows, and despised the commandment of God. And in another great lake, full of pitch and blood and mire bubbling up, there stood men and women up to their knees: and these were the usurers and those who take interest on interest. And other men and women were being hurled down from a great cliff and reached the bottom, and again were driven by those who were set over them to climb up upon the cliff, and thence were hurled down again, and had no rest from this punishment: and these were they who defiled their bodies acting as women; and the women who were with them were those who lay with one another as a man with a woman. And alongside of that cliff there was a place full of much fire, and there stood men who with their own hands had made for themselves carven images instead of God. And alongside of these were other men and women, having rods and striking each other and never ceasing from such punishment. And others again near them, women and men, burning and turning themselves and roasting: and these were they that leaving the way of God

-The Apocalypse of Peter
Chapter 1:20-33
​

Source

While this makes interesting reading, I could not in good consciousness preach and teach this for truth. Because I don't know who wrote this book for sure.

God Bless​

Till all are one.

 

[98cwitr]

The account from the Book of Jasher seems to suggest that God is not omnipotent:

"0 Lord, thou art a merciful and compassionate King over all that thou hast created in heaven and in earth, and thou supportest them all; give therefore ransom and redemption instead of thy servant Isaac, and pity and have compassion upon Abraham and Isaac his son, who are this day performing thy commands.
Hast thou seen, O Lord, how Isaac the son of Abraham thy servant is bound down to the slaughter like an animal? now therefore let thy pity be roused for them, O Lord.
At that time the Lord appeared unto Abraham, and called to him, from heaven, and said unto him, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God in performing this act, and in not withholding thy son, thine only son, from me."

In Genesis 22:11, it says that an angel of God appeared and not God Himself. The two stories conflict in their facts. It is quite an interesting read though, and demonstrates how the devil can parade around as an angel of light...

Two other interesting Books not in the Bible are the Apocalypse of Peter and the Acts of Andrew. Good reads.

 

[Yekcidmij]

King James Version Bible


2 Samuel Chapter 1

18. (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah [the use of] the bow: behold, [it is] written in the book of Jasher.)


Joshua Chapter 10

13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. [Is] not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.


Has anyone read or is reading The Book of Jasher?

I’m still reading it but so far I haven not read anything against Jesus Christ and God. It’s intense. In one chapter it explains how Satan greatly troubled Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son Issac at the alter. It was almost similar to Job.


It gives me more understanding why Abraham is credited in the New Testament.

The book of Jasher mentioned in Joshua and Samuel no longer exists. Whatever it was, it appears to have been an earlier history of Israel in the form of songs.

 

[Marcus Constantine]

The book of Jasher mentioned in Joshua and Samuel no longer exists. Whatever it was, it appears to have been an earlier history of Israel in the form of songs.

That actually is a very good point. We don't know for certain what they are referencing here and it is quite likely it is not the same book or chronicle that we have. The fact that we still have the Old Testament books in their entirety is an amazing example of God's preservation, so it's not surprising that we wouldn't have other ancient texts, even if they were well known during the kingdom period of Israel.