The Book of Jasher, also called Pseudo-Jasher, is an eighteenth-century
literary forgery
Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir ...
by
Jacob Ilive. It purports to be an English translation by
Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus of the lost ''
Book of Jasher''. It is sometimes called ''Pseudo-Jasher'' to distinguish it from the midrashic ''
Sefer haYashar'' (''Book of the Upright,'' Naples, 1552), which incorporates genuine Jewish legend.
Details
Published in November 1750, the title page of the book says: "translated into English by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus, of Britain, Abbot of Canterbury, who went on a pilgrimage into the Holy Land and Persia, where he discovered this volume in the city of Gazna." The book claims to be written by
Jasher, son of
Caleb
Caleb ( ; , Tiberian vocalization: , Modern Israeli Hebrew: ) is a figure who appears in the Hebrew Bible as a representative of the Tribe of Judah during the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land.
Following the Israelite conquest of Ca ...
, one of
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
's lieutenants, who later
judged Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
at
Shiloh. The book covers
biblical history
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
from the creation down to Jasher's own day and was represented as the
Lost Book of Jasher mentioned in the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
.
The Book of Jasher contained
naturalistic explanations for the
miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
s of the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
.
The provenance of the text was immediately suspect: the eighth-century cleric
Alcuin
Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...
could not have produced a translation in the English of the
King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...
. There is an introductory account by Alcuin of his discovery of the manuscript in Persia and its history since the time of Jasher, and a commendation by
John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, Christianity, Christian reformer, Catholic priest, and a theology professor at the University of Oxfor ...
.
Reception
The supposed lost book was declared an obvious hoax by the ''Monthly Review'' in the December of the year of publication.
The printer
Jacob Ilive was sentenced in 1756 to three years' imprisonment with hard labour in the House of Correction at
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England.
Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...
, for writing, printing, and publishing the anonymous pamphlet ''Some Remarks on the excellent Discourses lately published by a very worthy Prelate by a Searcher after Religious Truth'' (1754). The pamphlet was declared to be "a most blasphemous book", for denying the
divinity of Jesus Christ and
revealed religion
Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and theology.
Types Individual revelation
Thomas A ...
. Ilive remained in gaol until 1758, spending time writing.
In 1829, a slightly revised and enlarged edition of the Book of Jasher was published in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, provoking attacks against it. Photographic reproduction of this 1829 edition was published in 1934 by the
Rosicrucians
Rosicrucianism () is a spirituality, spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new Western esotericism, esoteric order. Rosicruc ...
in San Jose, California,
who declared it an inspired work.
See also
*
Sefer haYashar for other books with similar titles.
References
Bibliography
* ''The Book of Jasher: One of the Sacred Books of the Bible Long Lost or Undiscovered'', Flaccus A. Alcuinus (translator) (Kessinger Publishing Company, 1993)
* ''The Book of Jasher: with Testimonies and Notes'' by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus of Britain (CPA Books, 1998).
External links
* PDF:''
The Hidden Bible(Book of Jasher 1829 Bristol edition with testimonies and notes)
* Scanned text:''
Open Library Project(1829 text, and other formats)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Jasher (Pseudo-Jasher)
1750 non-fiction books
18th-century hoaxes
18th-century history books
Literary forgeries
Modern pseudepigrapha
Religious hoaxes
Works in the style of the King James Version
Naturalism (philosophy)
Works attributed to Alcuin