070 9 P 9 California gional cility BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Booft of BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE BOOK OF JASHER BY THOMAS HART WELL HORNE, B.D. OF SAINT JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; ECTOR OF THE UNITED PARISHES OF SAINT EDMUND THE KING AND SAINT NICHOLAS ACONS, LOMBARD STREET ; PREBENDARY OF SAINT PAUL'S } AUTHOR OF THE " INTRODUCTION TO THE CRITICAL STUDY AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES." LONDON: PRINTED BY A. SPOTT1SWOODE, NEW-STREET-SgUARE. MDCCCXXXIII. THESE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES WILL FORM PART OF A NEW EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S " INTRODUCTION TO THE CRITICAL STUDY AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLT SCRIP- TURES," WHICH HE IS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES, &c. No. I. The Book of Jasher. With Testimonies and Notes explan- atory of the Text. To which is Prefixed Various Read- ings. Translated into English from the Hebrew, by Alcuin, of Britain, who went a Pilgrimage into the Holy Land. This Book is twice mentioned in Holy Scripture, viz. in Josh. x. 13. and in 2 Sam. i. 18. in both which Places it is appealed to as a Work of Credit and Reputation, and as such was at that Time had in great Esteem. Printed in the Year MDCCLI. 4to. No. II. The Book of Jasher: With Testimonies and Notes, Critical and Historical, explanatory of the Text. To which is prefixed Various Read- ings, and a Preliminary Dissert- ation, proving the Authenticity of the Work. Translated into English from the Hebrew, by Flaccus Albinus Al- cuinws of Britain. Who went a Pilgrimage into the Holy Land, and Persia, w/iere he discovered this volume, in the city of Gazna. " Is not this written in the Book of " Jasher . ? " Joshua x. 1 3. " Behold it is written in the Book of " Jasher" 2 Sam. i. 18. Bristol : Printed for the Editor, by Philip Rose, 20 Broadmead. MDCCCXXIX. 4to. OF the literary forgery contained in the volume or rather pamphlet printed in the year 1751, (No. I.) the following account is given by Mr. Rowe- Mores, a diligent topographer and antiquary of the eighteenth century, in his " Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Founderies," published in 1778. " In the year 1751, Mr. Hive published " a pretended translation of the Book of Jasher, said to have been made by one Alcuin of " Britain. The account given of the translation is full of glaring absurdities : but of the " publication this we can say from the information of the Only-One, who 'is capable of " informing us because the business was a secret between the Two : Mr. Hive in the night- " time had constantly an Hebrew Bible before him (sed qu. de hoc), and cases in his closet. " He produced the copy for Jasher, and it was composed in private, and the forms worked " off in the night-time in a private press-room by these two, after the men of the Printing " House had left their work." (Page 65.) Jacob Hive, the person here mentioned, was a type-founder and printer, who carried on business in London between the years 17SO and 1763, in which last year he died. " Being " not perfectly sound in his mind, he produced some strange works. In 1733, he published " an Oration, intended to prove the plurality of worlds, and asserting that this earth is hell, " that the souls of men are apostate angels, and that the fire to punish those confined to this " world at the day of judgment will be immaterial In this strange performance " the author unveils his deistical principles, and takes no small liberty with the sacred Scrip- " tures, and especially with the character of Moses. ^Emboldened by this first adventure, " he determined to become the public teacher of infidelity. For this purpose he hired the " use of Carpenters' Hall, where for some time he delivered his orations, which consisted " chiefly of scraps from Tindal and other similar writers." (Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, vol. six. p. 228.) In November 1751 he published " The Book of Jasher," of which the following account was given in the Monthly Review for December in the same year (vol. v. p. 250.): " The " publisher, in order to give a sanction to this pretended Book of Jasher, refers to the 5 " mention made to such a book in Josh. x. 13. and 2 Sam. i. 18. In both which places, says " he, it is appealed to as a work of credit and reputation, and as such was at that time had " in great esteem. But the work now published does not in the least appear to be that " book referred to in the Scriptures ; but a palpable piece of contrivance intended to impose " on the credulous and the ignorant, to sap the credit of the books of Moses, and to blacken " the character of Moses himself. Hence it is no wonder that the editor or author has had " the precaution to conceal his name. He has trumped up an idle story of the means, by " which the MS. fell into his hands, which he relates in a prefatory epistle to a nameless " earl. He has also prefixed a history of Alcuin's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, of the " manner of his procuring a sight of the Book of Jasher, and the means by which he " obtained permission to translate it into English. But the whole is so full of blunders, " inconsistencies, and absurdities, that we think it beneath any further notice." With this quotation from the Monthly Review, in addition to the contemporary evidence above given, the author would have dismissed the pretended Book of Jasher, had it not come to his knowledge that very many individuals have been induced to purchase the reprint of this forgery, executed at Bristol in 1829*, (No. II.) of which an account is given in pages 8 10. infra, under the idea of its being the genuine long lost Book of Jasher. In the hope of preventing future unwary purchasers from being similarly misled, he now subjoins a few specimens of the falsehoods, anachronisms, and contradictions of the Holy Scriptures, which characterise this nocturnal production of the non-sane infidel author, Jacob Hive. 1. The assertion in the title page that Alcuin of Britain " went a pilgrimage into the " Holy Land " is contrary to historical fact. Alcuin neither visited the Holy Land nor travelled into Persia. He was born in Yorkshire about the middle of the eighth century, and was educated at York, where probably he embraced the monastic profession. It is not known what preferments he held before he left England ; though some accounts state that he was a deacon of the church at York, and others, that he was abbot of Canterbury. . His earlier years were wholly spent in England ; and having been sent on an embassy from Offa king of Mercia to the emperor Charlemagne (who formed so high an opinion of his acquirements and character as to become his pupil), he was induced, by the emperor's intreaties, to settle in France. In that country, accordingly, with the exception of one short visit to England, he spent the remainder (the chief part) of his life, having rendered essential services to the cause of religion and learning, and there he died, A.D. 804, in the abbey of Saint Martin at Tours, without ever quitting Europe. (Cave, Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria, pp. 420, 421. Colonia?, 1720. Chalmers's Bio- graphical Dictionary, article Alcuin.) 2. All the genuine writings of Alcuin are printed in Latin, as well as some doubtful and spurious pieces which have been ascribed to him.f- If he had composed any treatise in any other language, it would doubtless have been written in the then vernacular language of England, that is, the Anglo-Saxon ; fragments of which language have come down to our time in some portions of the Anglo-Saxon version of the Scriptures, executed in the eighth century. Whereas the WHOLE of this pretended Book of Jasher is in MODERN ENGLISH, and not a few passages oT it are verbatim the same as our present authorised English version of the Bible, which was first published in 1611, only eight hundred and seven years after Akuin's death ; and what is not copied from our English Bible, is a lame and studied imitation of its style and diction, both to conceal the fraud and to allure readers. 3. In " the translator's preface" (p. iv.) Alcuin is made to say, " I took unto me two " companions, who learned with me in the University of Oxford all those languages, " which the people of the East speak." But the University of Oxford, according to the earliest date which has been stated by its historians, was not founded by king Alfred before the year 886, that is to say, only eighty-two years AFTER Alcuin s decease ! 4. " The Words of Alcuin, which are read before the Book of Jasher," are further convicted of falsehood by the anachronisms they contain. [i.] In p. v. mention is made of " the paper on which it is wrote" only three hundred years before the art of making cotton-paper was introduced into Europe (the use of which did not become general until the thirteenth century), and considerably more than three hundred years before paper made from linen rags was in use. * In a prospectus for a second edition of the reprint above alluded to, which was circu- lated in London in 1833, it is stated that " the first edition has been honoured with the " autographs of NEARLY ONE THOUSAND of the most literary characters as subscribers ; " among whom are many PRELATES, and other DIGNITARIES, as well as most of the public " Establishments of the country." f The best and most complete collection of Alcuin's works was published at Ratisbon, in 1777, in two large volumes folio : it was edited by M. Frobenius (or Froben) abbot of Saint Emmeran, near that city, who has carefully distinguished the doubtful and spurious pieces from Alcuin's genuine writings, all of which are in Latin. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to state, that there is not a single word or allusion to the Book of Jasher, as being translated by him. ii.J In p. vi. he mentions stationers upwards of four centuries before bookselling was known. Stationers were not heard of, in Europe, before the middle of the thirteenth century. (Ducange,|Glossarium, voce Stationarii, vol. vi. col. 716.) And the Com- pany of Stationers, who were the first booksellers in London, was not incorporated until May, 1557, in the third and fourth year of the reign of Philip and Mary; that is, only seven hundred and fifty-three years AFTER Oleum's death. 5, The book itself is replete with falsehoods, and with contradictions of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. The restricted limits necessarily allotted to this article will only allow the specification of a few examples. The books of MOSES and of JOSHUA are contradicted by JASHER. GEK. xxii. 2. 11 13. And He [God] said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah ; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.... And the angel of the LORD called unto him [Abraham] out of heaven. ...And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him. ...And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns : and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. Exod. ii. 1 5. relates the birth and ex- posure of Moses in an ark of bulrushes on the banks of the river Nile, and the discovery of him by Pharaoh's daughter. 5 8. And when she [Pharaoh's daugh- ter] saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child : and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee ? And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. Exod. i. 22. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river. Concerning the particular subjects of Moses' education the book of Exodus is silent. Numb, xxxii. 11, 12. Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me ; save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun. Josh. ii. relates the mission of the two men whom Joshua sent to explore the land of Canaan, and who " went and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there;" together with their covenant with Jher, who was a Canaanitess. Josh. iii. 14 16. It came to pass .... As they that bare the ark were come unto CHAP. iii. 19 21. And when Isaac was twenty and five years old, Abraham heard a voice saying, Take thy son and slay him, and offer him up a burnt-offering in the land wherein he was born. And Sarah spake unto Abraham and said, The holy voice hath not so spoken : for remember thou the words of that voice which said unto thee, I will make of thee a great nation. And Abraham repented him of the evil he purposed to do unto his son : his only son Isaac.^ v. 9 12. And Jochebed the mother of Moses, with Miriam his sister, came unto Pharaoh's daughter : and Jochebed said, Behold here the son of thy handmaid ! And Pharaoh's daughter said, What wist ye ? And they said, Thy father hath commanded that this infant be slain : yea, and that all the Hebrew males as soon as they are born be slain also. And Pharaoh's daughter said, Give unto me the child. And they did so. And she said, This shall be my son. iii. 13. And it came to pass, that the wrath of Pharaoh was turned away from slaying the males of the Hebrews. iii. 14. And the child Moses grew and increased in stature : and was learned in all the magic of the Egyptians. xxxv. 3, 4. It is affirmed that, after the death of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the peo- ple were without a leader, and that Phinehas and the elders of Israel " -named Jasher the son of Caleb by Azuba, seeing he is an upright man. And moreover tliis we know, that he hath seen all the wonders wrought in Egypt, in the wilderness : even all the mighty works that have been done." xxvii. 8. Rahab is styled " one of the princesses of Jericho ;" and in v. 8. she is represented as saying, " I also am the daughter of an Israelite by a woman of Midian." xxviii. 10. And the wood whereon the children of Israel passed over Jordan stayed 2 Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) that the waters which came down from above, stood, and rose up upon an heap, very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan : and those that came down towards the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off ; and the people passed over right against Jericho. Josh. vi. 17. 20, 21. 24, 25. And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD. . . . The people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. . . . And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein. . . . And Joshua saved Rahabthe harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had. Josh. vii. relates the circumstances of Achan's secreting a Babylonish garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels' weight, contrary to the divine command : for which crime he and all he had were destroyed in the valley of Achor. upon the face of the waters six days and six nights. \ xxviii. 15, 16. 18. Then Rahab sent unto Joshua, saying, Let me intreat with thee for my nation that they may live. And Joshua answered and said, As many as save themselves by flight may live : but whoso- ever shall be found in Jericho shall surely die the death. . . . And the people of Jericho fled from the city every one to the mountains. xxviii. 20 25. Achan is represented as charging Joshua with having " taken from the congregation all the gold, all the silver, and all the brass : even all the spoil of the city of Jericho, and given it to the tribe of Levi." For which crime he ALONE was stoned. Hive's forgery was published in 1 75 1 for two shillings and sixpence. For the publication (No. II.) printed at Bristol in 1829 the modest charge of TEN SHILLINGS was originally made, which was subsequently increased to one pound sterling. Of this publication the author is now to give some account. Though published apparently for the first time in 1829, there is every reason for con- cluding that this is an unacknowledged reprint of Hive's forgery, with some unimportant variations (which will be pointed out in the course of the present article), and for the fol- lowing reasons : 1. The TITLE PAGE, with the exception of the few sentences printed in italics in page 5. is the same as in Hive's forgery. The two titles are there printed in columns, in order that the reader may the more readily compare them : he will observe that the editor of the Bristol publication in 1 829 expressly says that the pseudo-book of Jasher is " Translated " into ENGLISH from the Hebrew." In his proposals for a new edition already alluded to, this is altered into " Translated into ANGLO-SAXON from the Hebrew !" Query, by whom was this pretended Anglo-Saxon version translated into modern English? 2. The " ADVERTISEMENT," if not colourably altered, is evidently taken from Hive's pre- liminary letter to a nameless earl ; as will be evident to any one who compares the following extracts. No. I. The BOOK OF JASHER. 1751. " To the Right Honourable the Earl "of ****** " My Lord, The following translation of the " Book of Jasher fell into my hands thirty years " ago" [that is, in 1721] " by meer accident. " 1 was travelling in the North of England, " to see the country." Hive then proceeds to give a false account of his purchasing the manuscript at an auction of " the goods " and books of an old gentleman lately de- " ceased, who was upwards of one hundred " years of age." " Among the papers" (Hive continues), " my Lord, I found the following translation 11 of the Hook of Jasher, which I last summer " communicated to your Lordship on a rumour " of a new translation of the Bible. I own " that till then it lay by me quite unregarded. No. II. THE BOOK OF JASHER. 1829. The following translation of " The Book of " Jasher" was discovered by a gentleman in a Journey through the ^orth of England m 1721. " It lay by him for several years, until, " in 1750, there was a rumour of a new " translation of the Bible, when he laid it be- f 'fore a noble Earl. On perusal he highly " Your Lordship upon perusal was pleased to " approved of it, AS A WORK or GREAT SIN- " approve of it, and to advise its publication aS A WORK OF GREAT SINCERITY, PLAINNESS, CER1TT > ^'NNESS, AND TR ". Hi* Lord- " AND TRUTH. Your Lordships remark I '< s hi p ' s op i n i on was that it should have been " must not omit, ' That it was your opinion, " ' the Book of Jasher ought to have been printed " placed in the Bible before the Book of Joshua." " ' in the Bible before that of Joshua.' " He further adds : " BY A WRITING ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE " BY A WRITING ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE " MANUSCRIPT IT SHOULD SEEM, THAT THIS " MANUSCRIPT, IT SHOULD SEEM, THAT THIS " TRANSLATION WAS LAID BEFORE OUR FIRST " TRANSLATION WAS LAID BEFORE OUR FIRST " REFORMERS, BECAUSE IT SAYS : ' I HAVE " REFORMERS, BECAUSE IT SAYS : ' I HAVE " ' READ THE BOOK OF JASHER TWICE OVER, " 'READ THE BOOK OF JASHER TWICE OVER; " ' AND I MUCH APPROVE OF IT, AS A PIECE OF " ' AND I MUCH APPROVE OF IT, AS A PIECE OF "'GREAT ANTIQUITY AND CURIOSITY, BUT I "' GREAT ANTIQUITY AND CURIOSITY, BUT I " ' CANNOT ASSEWT THAT IT SHOULD BE MADE " ' CANNOT ASSErT, THAT IT SHOULD BE MADE " ' A PART OF THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE. " 'A PART OF THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE. " Signed ' WICKLIFFE.' " ' Signed ' WICKLIFFE.' " " I am your Lordship's most humble and " obedient Servant the Editor." The Editor of 1829 proceeds to state, that " Since 1751" [the reader will bear in mind that this is the identical date of Hive's forgery] " the manuscript * has been preserved with " great care by a gentleman, who lived to a very advanced age, and died some time since. " On the event of his death, a friend to whom he had presented it gave it to the pre- " sent editor, who, conceiving that so valuable a piece of antiquity should not be lost to men " of literature and biblical students, has committed it to the press, not doubting but that " the attention of the learned will be attracted to so singular a volume." The editor of 1 829 further adds that " he cannot assert any thing from his own knowledge beyond " Alcuin's apcount, but that carries with it such an air of probability and truth, that " he does not doubt its authenticity." " Nothing" (he affirms in his " Preliminary Dissertation on the Antiquity and Authenticity of the Book of Jasher") " can be pro- " duced to invalidate this authentic statement, and consequently it merits our credence." (p. v. ) Again, " As a book of record, it appears to have truth without mixture of error " for its peculiar object and design." (p. vi.) And in the concluding paragraph of his " Testimonies and Notes concerning the Book of Jasher" (p. 9. col. 2.) he expresses himself in the following terms : " Thus, then, it appears, that as far as such a work can be " authenticated, this possesses every proof of being a transcript of the original manuscript ; " and, consequently, that it is worthy to be preserved as a collateral evidence of the facts " detailed more fully in the writings of Moses, the Book of Joshua, and the Book of " Judges." A reference to the positive historical evidence of Mr. Rowe-Mores above given, and also to the internal evidence furnished by the anachronisms, falsehoods, and contradictions, in Hive's forgery (see pp. 6 8.), all which are to be found verbatim, lite- ratim, et punctuatim in the edition of 1829, must convince the reader that this publication is neither " authentic" nor does it " merit" any " credence" whatever; and that, with the exception of such passages as are copied from our authorised translation of the Bible, it is a worthless tissue of " error" and falsehood without the slightest " mixture of" " truth." In the Dublin Christian Examiner, or Church of Ireland Magazine, for June, 1831, (vol. xi. pp. 426 429.) there is an able exposure of this edition of 1829, containing five or six instances of falsehoods and contradictions, different from those above given in pp. 7, 8., to which we refer the reader who may be desirous of further evidence. " Some account of this volume" (says the editor of 1829) " may be found in Alcuin's " works, published in one volume, fol. in the year 1 600, in Paris." Now, what is the fact? The FIRST edition of Alcuin's collected works was published at Paris by Andre 1 Duchesne (Andreas Quercetanus) only seventeen years AFTER the date assigned by the Bristol Editor, viz. in 1617, in three parts, forming one volume folio ; and in this collection of Alcuin's works NO BOOK OF JASHER is TO BE FOUND. As Duchesne's editio princeps is not of very common occurrence, the reader, who may be desirous of seeing a list of the pieces actually written by Alcuin, is referred to. Dupin's Bibliotheque des Auteurs Ecclesiastiques, " tgm. vi. pp. 120 123. 4to. 1692, and to Dr. Cave's Historia Literaria, pp. 420, 421. ; each of whom has given a catalogue of Alcuin's works from Duchesne's edition, and they are both totally silent concetning the pretended Book of Jasher. 3. Although the concluding paragraph of " the Translator's Preface" in the edition of 1751 is omitted in the reprint of 1829, the editor of the latter must have been acquainted * In the prospectus of 1833' above referred to, for " manuscript" the word " copy" is substituted, a general term, which is equally applicable to printed matter as to manuscript. The Editor of the Bristol reprint never exhibited his pretended manuscript to the critical examination of the learned. 10 with it, as the subjoined verbal coincidences are too minute and specific to be merely accidental. (No. I.) ILIVE'S BOOK or JASHER, 1751. (No. II.) BOOK OF JASHER, 1829. (p. v.) (p. vi.) " Some years after my arrival I related " I* appears he" [Jasher] " never made " this adventure to several, and showed them " the work, who advised me not to suffer a " U P ubllc > beyond the circle of his friends, copy of it to fall into the hands of the and when GRQWN QLD he LFT .^ fa " stationers (*), lest I should incur the dis- " pleasure of the purple. Being now GROWN "OTHER manuscripts, TO A friend, a PRIEST " OLD and infirm, 1 have LEFT IT among " OTHER papers TO A CLERGYMAN IN YORK- " IN YORKSHIRE." " SHIRE." 4. The " Various Readings," which follow " the words of Alcuin," are verbatim the same in both publications, except that, in the Bristol edition of 1829, " desart" the supposed various reading in chap. xii. 18. is printed desert. 5. The pseudo-book of Jasher itself is next in order ; and it COINCIDES with Hive's fabrica- tion printed in 1751, with most marvellous exactness, both as to certain GRAMMATICAL BLUNDERS, and also as to the MATTER which the two publications severally contain. [i.] GRAMMATICAL BLUNDERS. In the title-pages of both publications we have, " To which IS prefixed Various Read- " ings," for are prefixed. Compare page 5. supra. In Jasher, chap. vii. 7. we read, " Thus horn said our fathers," for //OVE said; xiv. 11. " Thou judgeTH. the people," for thou judgesT ; xxvii. 15. " Whom thou knowern not," for JcnowesT not, and in the margin, " Whom thou dora. not worship," for dost not; and in xxxvi. 11. " Thou AOTH spoken," for Thou hast spoken. [ii.] WITH REGARD TO THE CONTENTS. The Book of Jasher in Hive's forgery of 1751 fills exactly sixty pages; in the Bristol edition of 1 829 it makes sixty-two pages and a HALF, the excess being caused by the addition between brackets of seventeen verses from Gen. xxii. 3 20. in ch. iii., and of twenty-eight verses in ch. xi. from Exod. xiv. 23 31. and xv. 1 19. of our authorised version. Except as occasionally affected by these additions, the same quantity of matter is comprised in each column, the summaries of chapters, and the liead lines or summaries at the top of each page, the pretended chronology, marginal readings, and punctuation are all PRECISELY THE SAME, the spelling only of a very few words being modernised, as ether for aether, cncrease and encreased for increase and increased ; and in the " Testimonies and Notes," Phinehas for Phineas. The following are the only additional material variations between the two publications, which, after a careful collation, the author has been able to detect. (No. I.) ILIVE'S BOOK OF JASHER, 1751. (No. II.) BOOK OF JASHER, 1829. Ch. i. 1 7. Cain conceived and bare Enoch Ch. i. 1 7. Cain begat Enoch 20. Seth conceived and bare Enos 20. Seth begat Enos. u ii. 1. Lamech conceived and ii. 1- Lamech begat Noah. bare Noah v. 9. ye v. 9. you. xxiii. 8. doera xxiii. 8. doesi. IS. nor 13. or xxxv. 28. Debora xxxv. 28. Deborah xxxvi. 11. thou commanded xxxvi. 11. thou commanded. The variations in the edition of 1 829 are such as might be made by any careful compositor, and cannot (we conceive) in any degree affect the identity of the two publications. 6. The " Testimonies and Notes " appended to both publications are for the most part the same, and profess to bear the names of Hur, Phinebas, Othniel, Jazer, Jezer, Zadock, and Tobias. On the miraculous passage of the Israelites over the Red Sea, the editor of the Bristol impression of the Book of Jasher has inserted a note, chiefly taken from Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vindicating that miracle against the sceptical objec- tions of Michaelis. The notes on ch. i. of Hive's edition in 1751 are omitted; as also are the two concluding notes onch. xviii., and the whole of those on ch. xix. and following to the end : in which " chapters," says the editorof 1829, " nothing occurs but what fully " accords with the statements of Moses." (Testimonies, p. 9.) If, however, the reader will turn back to p. 7. he will find only FIVE passages which DO directly CONTRADICT " the statements of Moses," besides four more in pp. 7, 8. which equally contradict the book of Joshua. The result, then, of the preceding examination is, that the pretended Book of Jasher is a gross and shameless LITERARY FORGERY, which has no claim whatever to " credence," and which is utterly destitute of authenticity. * On the anachronism in this word, see the remark 4. [ii.] in page 7. supra. 11 Respecting the Book of Jasher (which name means the " book of the up- " right" or "righteous men"), mentioned in Josh.x. 13. and 2 Sam. i. 18., the opinions of the learned are greatly divided. Most probably, it was not the work of an inspired person, but of some common historiographer, who wrote the annals of his own time, which have long since perished, and who might deserve the name of " Jasher" or the " Upright," because what he wrote was generally deemed a true and authentic narrative of all the events and occurrences which had then happened. There is extant a rabbinical-Hebrew Book of Jasher, printed at Venice in 1625, which is an explanation of the histories comprised in the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua. Bartolocci, in his Bibliotheca Rabbinica, states that it contains some curious but many fabulous things ; and par- ticularly, that this book was discovered at the time of the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in a certain place, in which an old man was shut up, in whose possession a great number of Hebrew books was found, and among them the Book of Jasher ; which was first carried into Spain, and preserved at Seville, whence finally it was taken to Naples, where it was first published. (Vol. iii. p. 934.) Bartolocci also mentions (in p. 868.) a treatise on the Jewish Laws, composed by rabbi Tham, and called Sepher Jasher, or the Book of Jasher, which was printed at Cracow in 1617. THE END. LOSDOS : Printed by A. SPOTTISWOOOE, Ncw-Strect-Squarc. 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