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What Is the 'Book of Jasher'?The "Book of Jasher," or in Hebrew Sefer haYashar ("Book of the Upright"), is mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and II Samuel 1:18:
- "So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies." Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. (Joshua 10:13)
- . . . and [David] told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher: . . . (II Samuel 1:18)
Without a doubt, such a book plainly existed during biblical times, and it probably continued to be available throughout the period of the Judean kingdom. However, no further references to the "Book of Jasher" occur after the time of David.
The book that is available in English by that title today is not the same book. It is an eighteenth-century AD forgery that alleges to be a translation of the lost "Book of Jasher" by Alcuin, an eighth-century English scholar. A more recent English "translation" titled "The Book of Jashar" by science-fiction and fantasy writer Benjamin Rosenbaum is a complete work of fiction.
Another book by this same name, called by many "Pseudo-Jasher," while written in Hebrew, is also not the "Book of Jasher" mentioned in Scripture. It is a book of Jewish legends from the creation of humanity to the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, but scholars hold that it did not exist before AD 1625. In addition, there are several other theological works by Jewish rabbis and scholars called Sefer haYashar, but none of these purport to be the original "Book of Jasher."
In the end, we must conclude that the biblical "Book of Jasher" is truly lost, and all we really know about it is found in the two Scripture quotations above. The other books by that title are mere fictions or Jewish moral treatises.
Joshua 10:12-14
Excerpted from: Joshua's Four Miracles (Part Two)We could actually even translate this "at that time." Or we could translate it "then." But what it is showing here was specifically that this in verses 12 to 14 was happening concurrently with what was happening in 9 through 11. And we do not know exactly which time it actually occurred. You know, we cannot say that Joshua did this as soon as he arrived in Gibeon, or whether it was a little bit later as the battle progressed. We do not know. But I think we are supposed to see them concurrently.
Now commentators spill copious amounts of ink and waste a lot of time trying to explain this miracle using reason. They seem to forget what miracles are—because by definition, miracles are inexplicable by human means or through human reason. We just have to accept the simple fact that we do not know how this was accomplished.
It seems impossible that God would stop the earth from spinning and allow the sun to shine. I mean, what would it do to the earth if the sun was shining on one part for a day and not spinning away from that? I do not know. I am just thinking there is a lot of ideas here that you would have to sift through to get any idea of how this was done.
And commentators for centuries—millennia now—have kind of thrown up their hands and said we do not know what happened here. The text is too sparse. It contains no explanation of the astronomical or chronological means by which it occurred. So I am telling you right now, I do not know.
It only gives bare facts: God did something to prolong the day for the Israelite army to achieve total victory. In fact, the text itself says this day was unique: no day before, no day after it has been like this. We do not know how God did it. But this extension of daylight was necessary because of that route from Gibeon through the pass of Beth Horon and down through the valley of Aijalon to Azekah was about 20 miles.
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Joshua 10:13:
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