Sefer Ha-yashar, or, the Book of Jasher (1840)/Preface
PREFACE.
It is with pleasure that I am able to present to the American public the translation of the Book of Jasher, as referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel, which, after several years’ negotiation with the owner and translator of the work in England, I have succeeded in obtaining.
There are many books named in the Old Testament, which are now classed among the missing books, or books supposed to have been lost amidst the many revolutions which have occurred in Judea. These books are not included in the Jewish Canons, and it is questionable whether there are any missing of what were considered as emanating from inspired writers; for, when the works enumerated in the Bible could not be found after the most diligent search, the inference was, that the names applied to other books, or that they were different versions of the same work.
Thus, the Book of the Covenant, (Exodus xxiv. 7.) was a mere collection of the injunctions and institutions delivered by the Almighty to Moses. So it might also be said of the Book of the Law, (Deut. xxxi. 9.), The Book of the wars of the Lord (Numbers xxi. 14 .) cannot be found, and is every where spoken of as one of the missing books. Dr. Lightfoot, in his Chronicles, thinks that Moses refers to a book of his own composing, written by command of God, (Exodus xvii. 14.) We think, however, that the Book of Judges is the one referred to as the Book of the wars of the Lord; because, in that book we have all the exploits of the Hebrews detailed at length. We find in Chronicles and Kings a number of books named, which are not to be found. The acts of David the King, written in the Book of Samuel the Seer, also in the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and also in the Book of Gad the Seer; the acts of Solomon are in the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and also in the Book of Abijah the Shulamite; the acts of Rehoboam in the Book of Shemaiah the Prophet; the acts of Jehoshaphat in the Book of Jehu. The journals of the kings of Judah and Israel; the three thousand and five songs, and a treatise on botany and animated nature, by this learned king, are lost; so also are the “Acts of Manasseh.” These works, not having been found by Ezra, could not have been inserted in the Old Testament, and consequently cannot be considered as having been written by divine inspiration. Nevertheless, it would be assuming more than is required or necessary, to say that there were no other books in the time of Ezra, than those considered as divinely inspired. St. Austin says, “The penmen of the Sacred Scripture writ some things as they are, men with historical lore and diligence: other things they writ as prophets, by inspiration from God.” We thus have a classification of their labors, both as historians and as prophets. The negligence of the Jews in ancient days, and their constant transition from one country to another, occasioned many losses of the sacred writings. The Book of Deuteronomy was lost for a long time. There were many books rejected by the Canons which are still objects of curiosity, and venerable for their antiquity. The prayer of King Manasseh, Bel and the Dragon, the two Books of Esdras, the Book of the Maccabees, and the Book of Enoch, recently found and translated from the Ethiopic. The Book of Jasher, referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel, has been long an object of great curiosity. Some of the Hebrew writers contend that it was the lives and acts of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other patriarchs, who were called Jasherim, the Just. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it is the Book of the Wars of God, and so the reader may think in perusing the various battles it recounts. Grotius calls it a triumphal poem. Josephus says, “That by this book are to be understood certain records kept in some safe place on purpose, giving an account of what happened among the Hebrews from year to year, and called Jasher, or the upright, on account of the fidelity of the annals.”
It is known that such have been the curiosity and anxiety to discover this missing book, that several forgeries under that name have appeared from time to time; and the Rev. Mr. Horne, in his Introduction to the Study of the Scripture, has been at some pains to collect a history of the various fabrications of Jasher; the most remarkable of which was originally published in England, in the year 1750, by a person called Illive, and purported to be a translation from a Hebrew work of that name, found in Persia by Alcuin. It was republished in Bristol in the year 1829, and a copy is now in my possession. It is a miserable fabrication, occupying but sixty two and a half pages, with copious notes, making out Jasher to be one of the Judges, whereas the translation of the word is the upright, or the upright record. In the same work of Dr. Horne, a slight reference is made to the Book of Jasher, written in Rabbinical Hebrew, said to have been discovered in Jerusalem at its capture under Titus, and printed in Venice in 1613. This is the book now translated into English for the first time. Long prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews had established themselves in various parts of Spain and Italy; they traded to the bay of Gibraltar, as historians affirm, in the earliest periods of history; and Basnage mentions that in Sagunto, a town in Spain, a tombstone was discovered, bearing the following inscription in the Hebrew language: “This is the tomb of Adoniram, an officer of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute, and died the day,” &c. There can be no doubt that Spain, probably France and Italy, were tributary to Solomon. It is, however, certain, that the Jews carried with them into Spain, on their dispersion, an immense number of manuscripts and sacred rolls, where they remained many years, and were, in the eleventh century, placed in their great college at Cordova, and from thence were conveyed to Venice on the first discovery of printing. The printer’s Hebrew preface to Jasher shows that it was a painful transcript from a very old and almost illegible Hebrew record, and printed by and with the consent of the great Consistory of Rabbins at Venice, who alone had the power of publishing such works from the Hebrew records as they deemed authentic. From the Venice edition of Jasher, another edition was many years subsequently published, in Lemberg, in Gallicia. Both editions, in Hebrew, are now in my possession; and the Royal Asiatic Society, having found a copy of Jasher in Calcutta, gave orders to have it translated, which order was countermanded when it was ascertained that considerable progress had been made in England in this translation. The following copy of a letter from the secretary to the translator, shows the estimate which that learned Society placed upon the work.
Royal Asiatic Society House.Grafton St., Bond St., London, Sept. 2, 1831.Dear Sir:
I am extremely obliged by your having favored me with the sight of Mr. Noah’s letter, and in reply to your letter, mention that the Oriental Translation Committee does not consider that it has any claims on your work, and if that ever the Rev. Mr. Adams translates the Book of Jasher, it will not be in the lapse of several years. Hoping that your praiseworthy and valuable labors in that interesting work will soon, in one shape or other, be presented to the public,
I remain, Dear Sir,Your obliged and ob’t Serv’t,
Whatever may have been written and published by commentators, relative to the fabrications of Jasher, I am persuaded they had no reference to this work, although this is the work slightly touched upon by Dr. Horne, as the publication in Venice, on the first discovery of printing; but of its origin and history he knew nothing beyond the rumor that it had originally been brought from Jerusalem. There are some events recorded in Jasher, that are found in the Talmud, no doubt copied from Jasher; for although we find in the Talmud, the Mishnah, and Gemarrah, many parables and fanciful tales, to effect moral and religious purposes, yet every thing that we have in Jasher we find recorded in the Bible, with this difference, that in Jasher the occurrences of the Bible are amplified and detailed at length. The celebrated philosopher, Mendelsohn, expresses a high opinion of this work. There are, nevertheless, some events which are recorded in Jasher, which may create surprise, particularly a detail of the rape of the Sabines, which, at the first glance, I was disposed to consider as an interpolation; but a little reflection satisfied me that it was an event placed in proper chronological order. Pizron, in his Revolution of Empires, or Antiquities of Nations, says, (page 164,) “It is therefore likely from what I have said, that several of the Titans, in the reign of Uranus, or, at least, in that of Saturn, staying and fixing themselves in that part of Italy which is adjacent to the Tiber and the Appenines, were afterward called Umbrians. If such were the case, as it seems it was, the settlement of the Titans in Italy was made about the time of the calling of Abraham, that is, when he left Chaldea, to go and dwell in the land of Canaan.” Page 175, “Now, if all this came to pass, it must have happened about the time Deucalion reigned in Greece, or some years after the deluge that happened under that prince.” If as Pizron says, the separation of the Sabines from the Umbrians took place 1500 years before Christ, it will not be far distant from the time at which Jasher places the rape of the Sabine women, in the 91st year of the life of Abraham.
The following is the translator’s preface, and with all his admitted learning and ability, he has been unable to do justice to the beauty, grandeur, and alike the simplicity of the original Hebrew. I also subjoin a translation of the Hebrew preface and a translation of the printer’s preface, being all the documents in my possession.
Without giving it to the world as a work of Divine inspiration, or assuming the responsibility to say that it is not an inspired book, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a work of great antiquity and interest, and a work that is entitled, even regarding it as a literary curiosity, to a great circulation among those who take pleasure in studying the Scriptures.
New-York, April, 1839.