The Books of Jasher

The Books of Jasher:

The book of Jasher is a book of great interest and many claim it should even be in the Bible; however, there are several issues with the books of Jasher. In the Bible, we read quotes that reference this book: "So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the Book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hurry to go down for about a whole day," (Joshua 10:13 NASB). Also see 2 Samuel 1:18. If this book was so greatly spoken of in the Bible, why is it not canonical? Firstly, the book of Jasher was lost. As Dr. Heiser writes: "There are books by both titles [i.e. the Book of Jasher and the Book of Gad the Seer] floating around (typically on the internet) that purport to be these ancient source texts from the biblical (OT) time period. They aren’t. Books you might see online or buy in some form are not the authentic source texts referred to in the Bible. They are not books that belong in the Bible. They aren’t even ancient," (Heiser).

As unfortunate as it is to say, we do not have any authentic manuscript of this book. There are in total 10 texts with the name "Book of Jasher" that are thrown around to be the true text (Brandt 297–318). 

Jasher-1625:

One of such texts is known as "Jasher-1625", the number "1625" corresponds to the year (i.e. 1625 AD) the text dates. The text was translated by Moses Samuel into English, and thus the text then spread into other languages. The preface of the text states that during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, a Roman officer discovered a Jewish scholar hiding in a hidden library with ancient manuscripts. The officer took these manuscripts off to Spain where it was supposedly preserved and printed in Naples, a city in Italy, in 1552, and then in Venice in 1625 (Laidig and Coetzee).

Jasher-1625 can only be traced to 1625 AD: there are no similar surviving manuscripts or quotes from the text from ancient historians before the year. As said before, the Bible references Jasher in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18; however, neither of these references are in Jasher-1625 (Laidig). These issues and many more make it clear this text is in no way authentic.

References:

Brandt, Edward J. “The Book of Jasher and the Latter-day Saints,” in Apocryphal Writings and the Latter day Saints, ed. C. Wilfred Griggs (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1986), 297–318. 

Coetzee, Derick. “The Books of Enoch, Jubilees and Jasher: To Read or Not to Read.” Academia.Edu, 4 Aug. 2014, www.academia.edu/7874792/The_Books_of_Enoch_Jubilees_and_Jasher_To_Read_or_not_to_Read.

Heiser, Michael S. Book of Jasher, Chronicles of Gad the Seer, MIQLAT, 14 Sept. 2017, drmsh.com/book-of-jasher-chronicles-of-gad-the-seer/.

Laidig, Wyn. The Book of Jasher and Scripture, Taste The Honey, 2014, www.tastethehoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Jashar-and-Scripture.pdf.

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.