So Called "Book of Jasher"

[alon]

Someone complained to me that "the Book of Jasher" is not part of our canon. My reply:

And for good reason. That is NOT the same "book" referenced in scripture. There are several books named Jasher, all of the Apocryphal Tradition, most written probably in the 200 yrs just before and/or after Yeshua. It/they is/are neither historical nor inspired, and they deal with topics of a much later era.

‘Jasher’ does not refer to a person named Jasher. It is not a noun, it is an adjective. In Hebrew הַיָּשָׁ֑ר ha'yesar, the upright one. There is no name Jasher and there is no book of Jasher existent at the time of the biblical references. Ha'yesar is a person who is "the jasher," the "upright one."

Joshua 10:13 (ESV) And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.

Habakkuk is probably the Jasher, the upright one referenced in Joshua. Hab 3-11 tells the story of the sun standing still. Sadly the early translators made this a noun, and the error was compounded over the centuries.

The 2nd reference to “the jasher” is:

2 Samuel 1:18 (ESV) and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said:
Footnotes:
2 Samuel 1:18 Septuagint; Hebrew the Bow, which may be the name of the lament's tune
2 Samuel 1:18 Or of the upright

At least the ESV got it right in the footnotes. However in the Hebrew we again have הַיָּשָֽׁר׃ ha'yesar; not a book or a person named "Jasher," but it's written in the book of THE jasher, the book of the upright one.

So those "Books of Jasher" belong solidly in the library of the pseudepigraphica. Not very yesar of the authors.

Dan C

[alon]

A bit more on the ha'yeshar. If the upright one was Habakkuk, the link would have to have been prophetic, as he lived about 600 yrs after Yehoshua. This is not a problem as Yehoshua was a prophet, and in ancient Judaic thought time is plotted on a spiral, all things recurring periodically through history. Another option is Yehoshua was referring to a contemporary. However none of them that we know of had their own "book." There were only the books of Torah at the time. But there is another intriguing possibility. Yehoshua was himself an upright man, and he later did have his own book. It was possibly being written as a record of Jewish history at the time. So he well could have been talking about himself. This still doesn't negate the prophetic role of Habakkuk, whose account looked back to Yehoshua and what Elohim did for him and for His people, and forward to Yeshua and what He did for all of us. 

It's difficult to speculate with any degree of certainty. But I looked it up in my Interlinear Bible, and it clearly says "הַיָּשָׁ֑ר ha'yesar, the upright one." So he was speaking of a person, not some now long lost book. 

Dan C

[jimmie]

I have reason to believe the "Book of Jasher" is the book referred to in Revelation as the "Book of Life". As pointed out by alon "Jasher" means "upright" if you are upright you are alive/just and not dead/unjust.