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Heretic
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Username: Heretic

Post Number: 148
Registered: 2-2005
Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2005 - 10:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does anyone know anything about the Book of Jashar? I was perusing the dictionaries on blueletterbible.org and found a defense of the Sabbath where this book is cited as historical proof that the Jews kept the Sabbath before the manna episode:

quote:

"And the day arrived when Moses went to Goshen to see his brethren, that he saw the children of Israel in their burdens and hard labor, and Moses was grieved on their account. And Moses returned to Egypt and came to the house of Pharaoh, and came before the king, and Moses bowed down before the king. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, I pray thee, my lord, I have come to seek a small request from thee, turn not away my face empty; and Pharaoh said unto him, Speak. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Let there be given unto thy servants the children of Israel who are in Goshen, one day to rest therein from their labor. And the king answered Moses and said, Behold I have lifted up thy face in this thing to grant thy request. And Pharaoh ordered a proclamation to be issued throughout Egypt and Goshen, saying, To you, all the children of Israel, thus says the king, for six days you shall do your work and labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest, and shall not perform any work; thus shall you do in all the days, as the king and Moses the son of Bathia have commanded. And Moses rejoiced at this thing which the king had granted to him, and all the children of Israel did as Moses ordered them. For this thing was from the Lord to the children of Israel, for the Lord had begun to remember the children of Israel to save them for the sake of their fathers. And the Lord was with Moses, and his fame went throughout Egypt. And Moses became great in the eyes of all the Egyptians, and in the eyes of all the children of Israel, seeking good for his people Israel, and speaking words of peace regarding them to the king" (Book of Jashar 70 41-51, published by Noah and Gould, New York, 1840).


I'm pretty sure that the author of this portion, W.W. Prescott, is an SDA. I'm curious if anyone has ever heard this or seen this before and if so, what's the deal with this book?

Heretic

Heretic
Jerry
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Post Number: 463
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Posted on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 12:16 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Try this link.
Melissa
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Username: Melissa

Post Number: 976
Registered: 7-2003


Posted on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 7:15 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sooooo, Pharoah is the original person who "gave" the sabbath day?

Regardless, the intro (from Jerry's link) says it was written much later than Biblical times, which makes it impossible to be the book referred to in Joshua and 2 Samuel, right??

If you read on into Chapter 71, it just then has Moses 18, when it claims he kills the Egyptian. So, if this is a chronologial "account", it would seem chapter 70 happens somewhere between Ex 2:10 and Ex 2:11. It sounds to me, someone has done a book version of the movie version of "The Ten Commandments". Meaning, it's someone trying to fill in blanks of time for entertainment. Even at that, the day of rest was still given to Hebrew slaves and a long time after creation.

It sounds like fiction to me. I have never heard of it before myself, so this is all my opinion.
Chris
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Post Number: 926
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Posted on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 7:47 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

JASHAR, BOOK OF

(sepher ha-yashar; the King James Version Book of Jasher, margin "the book of the upright"): The title of an ancient Hebrew national song-book (literally, "book of the righteous one") from which two quotations are made in the Ol d Testament: (1) Joshua 10:12-14, the command of Joshua to the sun and moon, "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon. .... Is not this written in the book of Jashar?" (see BETH-HORON; Septuagint in this place omits the reference to Jashar); and (2) 2 Samuel 1:8ff, "the song of the bow," or lament of David over Saul and Jonathan. (3) Some conjecture a third extract in 1 Kings 8:12, "Then spake Solomon, Yahweh hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness." The words of Yahweh are quoted by Septuagint in 1 Kings 8:53 as "written in the book of the song" (en biblÌo te's), and it is pointed out that the words "the song" (in Hebrew ha-shir) might easily be a corruption of ha-yashar. A similar confusion ("song" for "righteous") may explain the fact that the Peshitta Syriac of Joshua has for a title "the book of praises or hymns." The book evidently was a well-known one, and may have been a gradual collection of religious and national songs. It is conjectured that it may have included the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), and older pieces now found in the Pentateuch (e.g. Genesis 4:23, 14; Genesis 9:25-27; Genesis 27:27-29); this, however, is uncertain. On the curious theories and speculations of the rabbis and others about the book (that it was the Book of the Law, of Genesis, etc.), with the fantastic reconstructive theory of Dr. Donaldson in his Jasbar, see the full article in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes).

óJames Orr

óInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia


Jwd
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Post Number: 55
Registered: 4-2005
Posted on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 9:45 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Adding this, from the Bible Dictionary, edited by Merrill C. Tenney:

Jashar in RSV, (but spelled JASHER in this volume) quoted in Josh. 10:13; 2 Sam 1:a8 and in the LXX of 1 Ki 8:53. This ancient book is thought to have been a collection of poetry, probably odes and psalms in praise of Israel's heroes and exploits. Many ideas about the book have been advanced: 1. It contained the Song of Deboray (Jud.5), 2. It contained the book of the law. 3. It vanished during the Babylonian captivity. It was certainly a well-known bit of Hebrew literature.
Jeremy
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Post Number: 863
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Posted on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 12:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, it appears that this "Book of Jashar" is a recently written, fictional book which has no historical credibility.

It also contradicts the Bible's account. GOD gave the Israelites the Sabbath after they crossed the Red Sea and went into the wilderness, the Bible says, and it was supposed to remind them that He had brought them out of Egypt where Pharaoh refused to ever give them any rest (see Exodus 5). To attribute God's words and actions to Pharaoh is a gross mutilation of Scripture. Pharaoh refused to give the Israelites rest and only made the Israelites' work harder--he would not listen to Moses. It just totally goes against what the Bible says and, like I said, is only a fictional book anyway.

Jeremy
Raven
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Post Number: 277
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Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2005 - 6:03 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In reading through the link to the supposed "Book of Jashar" I found another contradiction to the Bible's account. This Jashar account says that Zipporah brought food to Moses while he was supposedly in prison for several years, all before he "met her at the well" and married her. The account in the Bible seems pretty clear that he met her for the very first time at the well.

I've seen nothing in the several chapters I read to lead me to consider taking anything serious from this "Book of Jashar." Looks like someone with an imagination is trying to fill in the gaps.
Jeremy
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Username: Jeremy

Post Number: 866
Registered: 10-2004


Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2005 - 2:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Looks like someone with an imagination is trying to fill in the gaps."

Exactly...sounds a lot like someone else we're all familiar with... (her first name starting with an E...)

Jeremy

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