Book of Jasher (biblical references)

The Book of Jasher or 'Book of the Just Man (Hebrew sēfer ha yāšār ספר הישר) is a unknown book mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The translation "Book of the Just Man" is the traditional Greek and Latin translation, while the rendering a personal name "Jasher" is found in the King James Bible, 1611.

This book is to be distinguished from the 16th Century Italian Hebrew language text Sefer haYashar (midrash) or Toledot Adam (Venice 1552, 1625), and also from Jacob Ilive's forged Pseudo-Jasher (London 1751), written in pseudo-Elizabethan English.

Biblical references

The book appears to date from after the reign of David. 2 Samuel 1:18 states:

To teach the Sons of Judah the use of the bow; behold it is written in the Book of the Upright (Sēper haiYāšār). /David's lament for Jonathan immediately follows./[1]

The Joshua 10:13 states:

And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stayed,
until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of the Upright (Sēper haiYāšār)?[2]

The presence of this event in a book of poetry has been interpreted as a poetic description of the prolonged battle.[3]

The Septuagint translation renders sefer hayashar in both cases as 'Book of the Just'. The reference to the bow is here missing so that the text reads:

And he gave orders to teach it the sons of Iouda: behold it is written in the Book of the Just.

References

  1. ^ http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=2Sa&c=1&v=18&t=KJV#18
  2. ^ http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jos&c=10&v=13&t=KJV#13
  3. ^ Harry Whittaker, Bible Studies Biblia, Cannock. 'The sun stood still' pp72-73).