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Month 10:29, Week 4:7 (Shibi'i/Sukkot), Year:Day 5936:294 AM
SHABBAT 10:4
Gregorian Calendar: Thursday 10 January 2013
The Book of Jasher
and the Sabbath Controversy

    Introduction

    Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and grace in Yah'shua our Messiah (Jesus Christ)! Today, despite the protests of the Saturday-worshippers amongst Messianic Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-day Baptists, the Armstrongite factions of the old Worldwide Church of God, and others, it the true sabbath day, not because it's a Gregorian 'Thursday' today but because the whole calendar is different. And what a controversial day it is too! I hadn't anticipated that this debate would resume with new arguments but it has, as those who have been following this controversy will know with my two latest defences, The John 8 Pericope: Does It Disprove the Luni-Solar Sabbath? and Where's the Simple Verse? A Luni-Solar Sabbath Objection Addressed. Today I am going to be looking at a new line of attack and one or two minor ones in the hope that for honest seekers this will finally end the debate.

    A Continuous Record Back to Creation?

    In the debate as to which is the correct sabbath, few have bothered to put themselves into the shoes (or sandals) of the ancients and considered how those who say they observed repeating cycles of seven day sabbaths without reference to the moon could have kept such an error-free record all the way back to Creation. If we are to believe the Saturday Sabbatarians we have to search for evidence that a continuous record has been kept for at least six thousand years, following the minimalist Bishop Ussher Chronology. Otherwise how could anyone possibly know that the day we call 'Saturday' is actually the Sabbath? It could as easily be any of the other six Roman weekdays.

    The Jews Have Not Continuously Kept the True Sabbath

    The argument is made that the Jews have faithfully kept the Sabbath since the beginning and that therefore whatever day they say is the Sabbath must be. But what is the evidence for that? Indeed, for this to be true, they would not only have to be keeping a faithful weekly tally but also have to have faithfully kept to the same calendar system from the beginning. Is there any evidence that they have? Far from it - the evidence is overwhelming that they have changed the calendar more than once:

    The Jews Admit They Have Not Faithfully Followed the True Calendar

      "Assumptions are dangerous, particularly when they are made in the realm of religion. If a theological belief is based on a faulty assumption, the religious practice will be in error. A common assumption made by Saturday sabbatarians is that Saturday must be the Bible Sabbath because it is the day kept by the Jews. The reasoning goes: “The Jews would never worship on any day except the true Sabbath. Therefore, Saturday must be the true Sabbath because that is when the Jews worship.” A sterling example of circular reasoning!

      "It is true that the Jews have never lost track of the true Sabbath. However, by their own admission, the Jews deliberately and knowingly changed their calendar by which the true Sabbath was calculated. During the fourth century C.E., persecution of all who used the Biblical calendar for worship was so intense that, in the end, the Jews gave up their calendar handed down from Creation through Moses and adopted a calendar adjusted for worship on the Julian calendar.

      "The Jews are very open that their original calendar was set aside under intense Roman persecution of all who used the Biblical calendar in the fourth century C.E. “Under the reign of Constantius (337-362) the persecutions of the Jews reached such a height that . . . the computation of the calendar [was] forbidden under pain of severe punishment.” [1]

      "There are three main areas in which the original calendar differs from the counterfeit:

      "The Creator’s calendar is luni-solar. This means that the year is solar, but the months are lunar, following the lunar cycle.

      "The year originally began with new life in the spring at the time of the barley harvest. The Julian/Gregorian counterfeits, being solar calendars, honor the sun god as they begin the year just after the “rebirth” of the sun god at the winter solstice. [2]

      "The biggest difference between the counterfeits and the genuine calendar is found in the weekly cycle. The pagan Julian/Gregorian calendars have a continuous weekly cycle.

      "The original calendar established at Creation does not. The weekly cycle restarts with each new moon.

      "These facts are freely admitted by Jewish scholars. Rabbi Louis Finklestein of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, was selected by the Kehillas (Jewish Communities) of the World as one of the 120 top Jews who best represented “a lamp of Judaism” to the world. In a letter to Dr. L.E.Froom, dated Feb. 20, 1939, Finklestein readily admitted, “The present Jewish calendar was fixed in the fourth century.” (3) Maimonides and most other Jewish chronologers agree that the modern Jewish calendar is based upon the “mean motions of the sun and moon, the true [calendar] having been set aside.” [4]

      "The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle ... Originally, the New Moon was celebrated in the same way as the Sabbath; gradually it became less important while the Sabbath became more and more a day of religion and humanity, of religious meditation and instruction, of peace and delight of the soul. [5]

      "With the development of the importance of the Sabbath as a day of consecration and the emphasis laid upon the significant number seven, the week became more and more divorced from its lunar connection... [6]

      "The months of the year were lunar, and began with the new moon (hodesh, which came to mean “month.”) During the era of the Kings the new moon was observed by a two-day festival (1 Sam.20:24-47.) [7]

      "During the time of Christ, the Israelites were using the original calendar, handed down through Moses. The high priest, who was selected from the ruling Sadducee class, was in charge of declaring when a new month had begun. The Pharisees, whose “traditions of men” Christ so emphatically denounced, did not control the calendar. This is a very important point because the calendar in use today is a calendar devised by the Pharisees and justified by their oral tradition.

      "With the destruction of the Temple (70 A.D.) the Sadducees disappeared altogether, leaving the regulation of all Jewish affairs in the hands of the Pharisees. Henceforth, Jewish life was regulated by the Pharisees; the whole history of Judaism was reconstructed from the Pharisaic point of view, and a new aspect was given to the Sanhedrin of the past. A new chain of tradition supplanted the older priestly tradition (Abot 1:1). Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thought of the Jew for all the future. [8]

      "As a result of the extreme persecution associated with any attempt to use the Biblical calendar, Hillel II, the last President of the Sanhedrin, created a reformed calendar.

      "Declaring the new month by observation of the new moon, and the new year by the arrival of spring, can only be done by the Sanhedrin. In the time of Hillel II [4th century C.E.], the last President of the Sanhedrin, the Romans prohibited this practice. Hillel II was therefore forced to institute his fixed calendar, thus in effect giving the Sanhedrin’s advance approval to the calendars of all future years. [9]

      "Since Biblical times the months and years of the Jewish calendar have been established by the cycles of the moon and the sun. The traditional law prescribes that the months shall follow closely the course of the moon...In the early times of our history the solution was found by the following practical procedure: The beginnings of the months were determined by direct observation of the new moon.

      "...This method of observation and intercalation was in use throughout the period of the second temple (516 B.C.E. – 70 C.E.), and about three centuries after its destruction, as long as there was an independent Sanhedrin. In the fourth century, however, when oppression and persecution threatened the continued existence of the Sanhedrin, the patriarch Hillel II took an extraordinary step to preserve the unity of Israel...he made public the system of calendar calculation which up to then had been a closely guarded secret. It had been used in the past only to check the observations and testimonies of witnesses, and to determine the beginnings of the spring season.. [10]

      "The Hebrew calendar was one of both calculation and observation. The moon is extremely precise and accurate. Even the various anomalies due to her elliptical orbit can be predicted. With advanced astronomical knowledge, which the ancients possessed, the luni-solar calendar is both exact and predictable allowing past and future calculation. The beauty of this method of calendation, however, is that the shepherd on the hillside, with no astronomical knowledge whatsoever, can still use it by observation.

      "When Hillel II “fixed” the calendar, he moved the New Year and corrupted the weekly cycle. That is all. The principles by which a luni-solar calendar is calculated are purely astronomical. Hillel II did not create them. He merely “made public the system of calendar calculation which up to then had been a closely guarded secret.” [11]

      "When the Messiah was on earth, the one thing He repeatedly and vehemently denounced was the “traditions of men” – the teachings of the Pharisees. It is frequently urged, “If the calendar were off in the time of Christ, He would have corrected it.” This is true. The fact that He did not proves that the calendar, under the control of the Sadducees, was indeed the original calendar Christ Himself established at Creation. The calendar used by Jews today is a pharisaical corruption. Rabbi Louis Finklestein stated:

        "Pharasaism became Talmudism...[But] the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered. When the Jew … studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies...The spirit of the [Pharisees’] doctrine has remained quick and vital...From Palestine to Babylonia; from Babylonia to North Africa, Italy, Spain, France and Germany; from these to Poland, Russia, and Eastern Europe generally, ancient Pharasaism has wandered." [12]

      "The Talmud derives its authority from the position held by the ancient academies (i.e. Pharisee). The teachers of those academies, both of Babylonia and of Palestine, were considered the rightful successors of the older Sanhedrin...At the present time, the Jewish people have no living central authority comparable in status to the ancient Sanhedrins or the later academies. Therefore, any decision regarding the Jewish religion must be based on the Talmud as the final resumé of the teaching of those authorities when they existed. [13]

      "The traditions of the Pharisees preserved in the Talmud and from which Christ sought to free the people, teach that if one does not know when Sabbath occurs, simply keep one day in seven. [14] It is easy to see how such a tradition could be used to justify changing the calendar due to the extreme persecution facing all who worshipped by the Biblical calendar. Using his authority as president of the Sanhedrin, Hillel II tied the annual feasts to the spring equinox. Next, he adjusted the weekly seventh-day Sabbath to the Julian seventh-day Saturday. This “freed” the Jews from the condemnation of the law since they no longer knew when the true Sabbath occurred. Thus, they justified their use of the pagan calendar.

      "The true calendar is very user-friendly. The weekdays and Sabbaths of each lunar month always fall on the exact same dates of every month; [15] days of the week do not float through the monthly dates as they do now on the modern calendar. After Hillel II “fixed” the calendar to fit into a Julian framework and moved the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath from the lunar week to the continuously cycling Julian week, difficulties arose. Sometimes the new moon would appear on Julian days of the week which caused the annual feasts to fall on the wrong days of the new week. As a result, rules of postponement were established – something that was never necessary when the original calendar was in use.

      "None who desire to worship on the true seventh-day Sabbath should look to the Jews for learning when it occurs. All who worship on Saturday because “the Jews keep Saturday” are following Hillel II’s corruption of the Creator’s calendar and thus breaking His law." [16]

    Who Sits in the 'Seat of Moses' Today?

    That the Jews changed the calendar, for the reasons given above, is indisputable. Nevertheless there are still those messianics who insist that since the Rabbis - both ancient and modern - sit in the "seat of Moses", that they have the de jure authority from Yahweh to set the calendar until Yah'shua (Jesus) returns. The passage of scripture they use is as follows:

      "Then Yah'shua (Jesus) said to the crowds and to his talmidim (disciples): 'The teachers of the Torah (Law) and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach'" (Matt.23:1-3, NIV).

    Two Possible Interpretations

    In other words, these messianics would claim, Yah'shua (Jesus) is saying: 'obey their rulings but don't imitate their bad behaviour'. However, there are two ways we can look at this passage, and then we must choose the one which aligns with other statements made by Yah'shua (Jesus) on the Pharisees:

    • 1. Obey the so-called 'Oral Law' as expounded by Orthodox Judaism today; or
    • 2. Submit to their toqef (authority) to exercise the power of the cohen or judge at that time (Dt.17:8-13).

    Shall We Obey Murderous, Anti-Messiah Apostates?

    It is, of course, inconceivable that Yah'shua (Jesus) would have bound His talmidim (disciples) to obey false teachings and to follow the 'inspiration' of those apostate, anti-Messiah leaders bent on murdering Him, and indeed the evidence clearly shows that even at the time He spoke these words, Yah'shua (Jesus) had already begun transferring halachic toqef (authority) from the cohanim (priests), judges and rabbis to the apostles and future leaders of the Messianic Community (e.g. Mt.18:18-20). Therefore we must unhesitatingly reject the first proposition and agree with the second. We are in no way bound by the rulings of the rabbis, only by the Torah itself.

    Steer Clear of Judaism's Compromised Calendar

    We cannot therefore safely turn to the Jews or to Judaism for a safe word on the calendar and the sabbath since they have manifestly not been true to it. But does this rule out the posibility that before the advent of the Pharisees and their ilk - assuming, for the sake or argument, that the regular seven day cycle is the correct one - that others could have faithfully kept a record of the true sabbath? Who, for example, would have kept such a record in Egypt during the captivity?

    Was the Sabbath Known Throughout the Egyptian Captivity?

    We know that by the time the Israelites left Egypt under Moses they had been totally assimilated into Egyptian culture. Once out in the Sinai wilderness, they spontaneously reverted back to pagan Apis (golden calf) worship. How long were they in that culture? Irrespective of which of the three proposed figures you accept - 210, 400 or 430 years [17] - the Israelites were there for a very long time, and as we know, assimilation does not usually take more than a single generation.

    The Egyptian Calendar and Culture

    What kind of a calendar did these assimilated Israelites eventually adopt in their adopted country?

      "The ancient civil Egyptian calendar had a year that was 365 days long and was divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus five extra days (epagomenae, from Greek) at the end of the year. The months were divided into three weeks of ten days each. Because the ancient Egyptian year was almost a quarter of a day shorter than the solar year and stellar events therefore 'wandered' through the calendar, it has been referred to as the annus vagus, or 'wandering year'" [18]

    The Torah Lost and Restored

    Initially welcomed as guests, the Israelites were at length turned into slaves and were forced to follow the temporal rhythms of the society which imprisoned them. It would not have been long before all they knew was the 3-week month and 10-day week of the Egyptians. And whilst we can offer conjecture that there might have been someone keeping a tally of the original hypothetical seven day cycle, it is pure guess work. So thoroughly had the Israelites forgotten the ways of their fathers since Abraham that the entire Torah had to be restored by revelation through Moses who himself had been raised as an Egyptian since a baby. Had there been a covert group of cohenim (priests) keeping track of the Sabbath then you would have expected them to have preserved the Torah of Abraham, which evidently they did not, for Moses had to go to Yahweh to have it re-revealed. So strong was the pagan impulse in these recently liberated Israelites that the newly reinstated Sabbath Law had to be drummed in to these unwilling people upon penalty of death because this was no longer something that came naturally or habitually to them.

    Is the Jasher Account Historical or Reliable?

    It is highly unlikely that the Egyptianised Hebrews were keeping any sort of sabbath both because they wouldn't in any case have been allowed to and because it would have been long forgotten. However, there are some messianics who, believing the so-called Book of Jasher or Yasher to be Scripture (and have since added it to their Bible canons), cite the following passages therein:

      "And he daily went forth and came into the land of Goshen, where his brethren the children of Israel were, and Moses saw them daily in shortness of breath and hard labour. And Moses asked them, saying, Wherefore is this labour meted out unto you day by day (every day)? And they told him all that had befallen them, and all the injunctions which Pharaoh had put upon them before his birth...And Moses returned to Egypt and came to the house of Pharaoh, and came before the king, and Moses bowed down before the king. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, I pray thee my lord, I have come to seek a small request from thee, turn not away my face empty; and Pharaoh said unto him, Speak. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Let there be given unto thy servants the children of Israel who are in Goshen, one day to rest therein from their labour. And the king answered Moses and said, Behold I have lifted up thy face in this thing to grant thy request. And Pharaoh ordered a proclamation to be issued throughout Egypt and Goshen, saying, To you, all the children of Israel, thus says the king, for six days you shall do your work and labour, but on the seventh day you shall rest, and shall not perform any work, thus shall you do all the days, as the king and Moses the son of Bathia have commanded. And Moses rejoiced at this thing which the king had granted to him, and all the children of Israel did as Moses ordered them. For this thing was from Yahweh to the children of Israel, for Yahweh had begun to remember the children of Israel to save them for the sake of their fathers" (Jasher 70:34-36,52-49).

    The Impossible Task

    If you had been working a 10 day week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, without any days off for rest, probably without written records or recording instruments (what slave in that day and age would have possessed such things?), would you have managed to keep a mental tally of the seven day sabbaths? Not impossible, I grant you, but highly unlikely, and the chances of making errors high.

    The Jasher Account Disjunctive with Exodus

    Given the accounts in Exodus, this purported dialogue between 'Moses' and a reasonable 'Pharaoh' seems scarcely credible given the way we know the actual behaviour of Pharaoh - stubborn, arrogant and cruel. Indeed, do you for one moment believe the Pharaoh would permit his 10 day week sacred calendar to be altered for the sake of mere slaves to a seven-day one? Indeed, it reads like so much pseudepigraphic literature written during the Pharisaic period, full of fanciful exaggerations that are scarcely credible - it just doesn't fit the time is purports to come out of.

    Is the Book of Jasher a Literary Forgery?

    However, the Book of Jasher may not even be as old as the Pharisaic pseudepigrapha which were mostly written in the century before our common era:

      "The Book of Jasher, or Pseudo-Jasher, is an 18th-century literary forgery by Jacob Ilive.[19] It purports to be an English translation by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus of a lost Book of Jasher. It is sometimes called Pseudo-Jasher to distinguish it from the Sefer haYashar (midrash) (Naples, 1552) which incorporates genuine Jewish legend.

      "Published in November 1751, 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, one of Moses' lieutenants, who later judged Israel at Shiloh. Jasher covers Biblical history from the creation down to Jasher's own day and was represented as being the Lost Book of Jasher mentioned in the Bible" [20].

    A Missing Biblical Book?

    Although the 'Book of Jasher' undoubtedly (and inevitably, in order to be credible) contains some or even much authentic material within it, I no longer believe it to be an authentic 'book' as I once did, nor do I believe the Bible mentions such a 'book' though I have long cited it as evidence of missing Bible books on the authority of others (which, with the exception of Jasher, undoubtedly existed once). It is particularly liked by Mormons who view it as vindication of their claim to be the restorers of other 'lost scriptures' (such as the ficticious Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham).

    The Opinion of Various Scholars

    Sephar haYasher literally means "the book of the upright" but is translated in nearly all English language Bibles as "the Book of Jasher" (Josh.10:13; 2 Sam.1:18). Scholars are not, understandably, unanimous as to what this actually is or means, some claiming it is to be identified with "the book of the song" [20] (1 Ki.8:12-13, LXX) and others with "the book of the wars of Yahweh" (Num.21:14). What nearly all scholars are agreed upon is that printed books of Jasher/Yashar are modern fabrications [21].

    Possible Origins of Jasher

    If such an ancient book existed, why was it not originally incorporated into our Tanakh (Old Testament), containing, as it purports, vital information for the Nation of Israel? Our Book of Genesis would have been generously swelled by 90 or so longish chapters full of engaging accounts of our forefathers. Whether you believe it was forged by Jacob Ilive or Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus, or whether you believe Alcinius and Ilive translated a later Hebrew or Latin pseudepigraph, respectively, is besides the point as far as its authenticity is concerned - the English translator himself admits:

      "Like all ancient writings (except the inspired volume [22]) it has, in some respects suffered from the consuming hand of time; and there is reason to believe that some additions have been made to it" [23].

    Not a Reliable Book

    Whatever its provenance (my own belief is that it was written by Pharisees), it is not reliable, whether by corruption at its time of writing as a pseudepigraph by members of the Pharisee School, or later at the hand of copyists, or in more recent times as a fabrication in English. It is, in my opinion, definitely no older than the first or second century BC (and therefore written long after the events it purports to be a witness of) and contains the same kinds of errors found in other Pharisaic Pseudepigrapha. It's worth considering some of these to make the point. We'll look first at some of its questionable statements and then look at those which outright contradict the Bible.

    Questionable Statements

    • 1. Jasher 3:23-- A malak (angel) of Yahweh calls Enoch from heaven and wished to make him reign over sons of Elohim (God), or fallen malakim (angels) as he had reigned over sons of men upon Earth. Recall that all men, including the mortal Messiah, are, until the resurrection, a little lower than the malakim (angels) (Heb.2:7,9);

    • 2. Jasher 3:38 -- Mentions snow before the flood. This doesn't seem possible because there wasn't any rain yet according to Genesis 2:5-6 and 7:4;

    • 3. Jasher 22:46, 47 & 54 -- Sounds exactly like Job 1:6-8 with Satan talking to Elohim (God);

    • 4. Jasher 8 Records the birth of Abram. In the account there is a star from the East seen by wise men and conjurors, which sounds similar to the birth of Yah'shua (Jesus);

    • 5. Jasher 43:40-46 -- A wolf speaks to Jacob. Biblically the only animal that speaks is Balaam's ass (Numbers 22:28-30);

    • 6. Jasher 44:62-68 -- This passage is bizarre. Yahweh has an 11-month old baby talk and tell of his mother's (Potiphar's wife) advances toward Joseph;

    • 7. Then there are the wars of Jacob and his sons Chapters 34, 35, and 37-40. And also the wars of Zepho (of Chittim) and Angeas, King of Africa (which is Dinhabah) chapters 61:23-25, 62:25-27, 63:10-35, and 64. I am putting these into the questionable category (although they could be somewhat possible) because they are not in the Bible and this overview is based on a biblical-based evaluation of Jasher. [24]

    Even if we are generous and admit that some, if not all, the above can be accomodated without controversy, those which follow cannot.

    Contradictions in the Book of Jasher

    • 8. Jasher 13:5 says that Abram went to the land of Canaan at the age of 50 then back to Haran and back to Canaan at age 75, Genesis 12:4 states that Abram was 75 when he departed Haran;

    • 9. Jasher 18:9 states that one of the malakim (angels) tells Abraham that Sarah will have a son, but Gen. 17:16 says that Elohim (God) told Abraham;

    • 10. Jasher 22:44-45 says Yahweh got the idea of presenting Isaac as an offering from Isaac's boast to Ishmael. We know, of course, that Yahweh is sovereign and as it says in Gen.22:1-2,12 that Yahweh was specifically testing Abraham;

    • 11. Genesis 28:5 states that Isaac sent Jacob to Padan-aram to Laban but Jasher 29:11 says that he fled to the house of Eber and hid there for 14 years;

    • 12. Jasher 47:9 says Isaac dies, according to the chronology of Jasher, when Joseph was in Egypt but in Gen.35:29 Isaac died before Joseph had his dreams;

    • 13. Simeon could not be bound in Jasher 51:37 but in Genesis 42:24 Simeon is bound before their eyes.

    These are fairly serious errors if you believe the Biblical autographs to be infallible and if you are not going to end up attacking the Bible, as the Mormon Church does, in order to defend the errors in its own man-made scriptures. But it gets a lot worse.

    More Contradictions

    • 14. Jasher 51:26-32 -- The brothers tell Joseph (whom they dont recognise) that they are looking for their brother (him) - cp. Genesis 42:6-14;

    • 15. Jasher 78:12-13 -- Pharaoh proclaims no more straw but the same amount of bricks (before Moses goes to Pharaoh.) Exodus 5:1,7-8 says it happened after Moses confronts Pharaoh;

    • 16. Jasher 80:1 -- "and at the end of two years the Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh" while Exodus 7:14-15 says, "Yahweh said unto Moses get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning";

    • 17. Jasher 80:2-51 lists five extra Plagues;
      • 1. Waters into blood (v.3) / Exodus 7:20
      • 2. Frogs (v.6) / Exodus 8:6
      • 3. Lice (v.10) / Exodus 8:17
      • 4. Yahweh sent all kinds of beasts into Egypt and destroyed all Egypt (v.13) / Not in Exodus
      • 5. Fiery serpents, scorpions, mice, weazles, toads (v.14) / Not in Exodus
      • 6. Flies, hornets, fleas, bugs, gnats (v.15) / Exodus 8:24
      • 7. All reptiles and winged animals came and grieved the Egyptians (v.16) / Not in Exodus
      • 8. Elohim (God) ordered the Sulanuth from the sea, she had long arms, 10 cubits in length and she went upon the roofs and uncovered the raftering and flooring and stretched forth her arm and removed locks and bolts and opened the houses of Egypt (vv.19-21) / Not in Exodus
      • 9. Pestilence (v.24) / Exodus 9:3
      • 10. Burning inflammation (v. 27) / Not in Exodus
      • 11. Boils (v.28) / Exodus 9:10
      • 12. Hail and fire (v. 30-31) / Exodus 9:23
      • 13. Locusts (v.33) / Exodus 10:13
      • 14. Darkness (v.36) / Exodus 10:22
      • 15. First born killed (v.43) / Exodus 12:29
    To invent extra plagues which break the sacred tavnith (pattern) of Yahweh's judgment on the false Egyptian gods, is a serious perversion of Scripture. See my devotionals, The Ten Plagues Today: What They Mean as We Prepare for Pesach and particularly Gods of the Ten Plagues: They Haven't Changed At All. But the worst is yet to come.

    The Indisputably Unbiblical Portions of Jasher

    • 18. In Jasher 42:30-41, Rachel talks to Joseph from the grave. This is of course necromancy and is an abomination to Yahweh (Deuteronomy 18:11-12);

    • 19. According to Jasher 53:18-22 Benjamin used an astrological "map (or chart) of stars" to find Joseph. Deuteronomy 18:10 forbids this. It is an abomination to be "an observer of times" (astrologer);

    • 20. Judah threatens Joseph in Jasher 54:1-68 with annulations but Genesis 44:14-34 is a plea for Benjamin's release;

    • 21. Chapter 71 of Jasher states that Moses was 18 years old when he left Egypt, which sounds like a Rabbinical tradition. He didn't go to Midian but to Cush and becomes king (72:34-36) and is king over Cush for forty years (73:2), then he goes to Midian where Reuel puts him in prison for 10 years because Reuel thinks Moses is wanted by the Cushites. In the book of Acts (7:23-30) Stephen, inspired by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), stated the Moses was in Egypt for 40 Years before going to Midian for another 40 years;

    • 22. Jasher 81:3-4 claims that the Israelites sojourned in Egypt for 210 years whereas the Scripture says in Exodus 12:40-41 it was 430 years;

    • 23. Jasher 81:40-41 says that all but Pharaoh perished in the Red Sea. Pharaoh thanks Yahweh and Yahweh sends a malak (angel) who casts him upon the land of Ninevah where Pharaoh reigned for a long time. Scripture (Exodus 14:23,28) states that all perished;

    • 24. Jasher 32:1-40 -- Esau comes to harm Jacob but malakim (angels) of Yahweh scare Esau, and in v.55 Esau fears Jacob. In Genesis 33:3, Jacob bows seven times to Esau out of fear for his life;

    • 25. Jasher 43:35 -- Isaac went from Hebron to comfort Jacob, his son, because Joseph is dead (sold). Genesis 35:27-29 says that Isaac died before Joseph even dreamed his dreams;

    • 26. Jasher 81:38 -- "And the Waters of the sea were divided into twelve parts" - Exodus 14:22: "And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left."

    This is unmistakable evidence for the Pharisaic penchant to exaggerate and to make their ancestors seem seem far more righteous than they sometimes were. But it gets much worse.

    The Writer of Jasher Gets Carried Away By His Imagination

    • 27. There are the areas that seem to come from the imagination of the writer, such as Jasher 7:24-30. This passage says the skins that Yahweh made for Adam and his wife went to Enoch after their death, then to Methuselah, then to Noah, then Ham stole them and gave them to Cush. They were then passed to Nimrod who became strong when he put on the 'magic' garments. Jasher 27:1-11 then says that Esau kills Nimrod and takes Adams skins. Now this is beginning to sound like magical Mormon underwear (their magical 'temple garments') - you can understand why Mormons are so fond of Jasher;

    • 28. Jasher 36:30-35 -- 120 terrible animals from the wilderness came to the asses of Anan. Their shape was from the middle downward of the children of man, and from their middle upward some the likeness of bears, some keephas with tails behind them from between their shoulders reaching down to earth;

    • 29. Jasher 61:15 -- Zepho kills a beast, half man and half animal, "from the middle upward it resembled a man, and from the middle downward it resembled an animal" - the influence of Greek pagan mythology begins to show;

    • 30. Jasher 67:8-52 -- Balaam, Job, and Reuel are in Egypt at the same time. Reuel takes Joseph's stick and returns to Midian;

    • 31. Jasher 70:1-33 -- At age 3 Moses puts Pharaoh's crown on his head;

    • 32. Jasher 73 -- King Moses of Cush raises storks to devour serpents that guard the city;

    • 33. Jasher 77:26-51 -- Moses beholds the sapphire stick (67:41) in the garden of Reuel with the name of Yahweh-Elohim on the stick. (Adam took the stick from Eden then it came to Noah, then to Shem, then to Abraham to Isaac, Jacob took it then in Egypt and he gave it to Joseph. After Joseph died Reuel took it and planted it.) - so we graduate from magical underpants to magical sticks.

    Those who wish to defend the Book of Jasher as inspired have an impossible task on their hands, quite apart from the fact that there are many editions of it. To defend it they must become like the Mormons and question the integrity of the Bible, something I do not feel inclined to do, and for this reason alone must reject it even if it probably does contain some true elements that are not recorded in the Bible.

    Is There Really a Biblical Book Called 'Jasher'?

    But does the Bible refer to any 'book' of Jasher? Definitely not, nor to any book of the same name, as we shall now see.

    The Book of Moses, the Upright One

    If there is no such thing as the 'Book of Jasher/Yashar' in the Bible, then to what is the Bible refering? It is refering, quite simply, to "the Book of the Upright One", namely, to the upright servant of Yahweh known to history as Moses/Moshe, and to his inspired composition, the Pentateuch or Torah! All this is a reference to regeneration and a repetition of past events:

      "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl.1:9, NIV).

    The First Referenece is to a Prophecy of Joseph

    In our first reference to the 'Book of Jasher' (Josh.10:13), Joshua (who was an Ephraimite) recalled the prophecy of his ancestor Joseph that was written in "the Book of the Upright One (Moses)", the Pentateuch:

      "Then [Joseph] had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. 'Listen,' he said, 'I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down (shachah - making obeisance) to me'" (Gen.37:9, NIV).

    Multiple Layers of Prophecy Both Fulfilled and Unfulfilled

    This word shachah [25] is important to our understanding of the two 'Jasher' passages as we will see in a moment. It denotes submissive behaviour to one possessing toqef or authority. What is also important to remember when it comes to prophecy, such as the one cited in Genesis above, is that prophecy is multi-faceted and multi-layered: not only was Joseph's dream pointing to a specific event in Egypt (the submission of his father, his father's wife Leah, and his eleven brothers to him as the Prime Minister of Egypt) but to the future when all of Israel would submit both to the Tribe of Joseph as its head as well as to its leader who would be Prince over all Israel under Messiah. There is therefore yet a second fulfilment of this prophecy to take place - to Joseph under Messiah in the Torah. It also means that when Joseph and the other tribes are disobedient there is a curse on them on account of the ongoing Covenant.

    The Sun, Moon and Stars Literally Obey Joshua

    As a sign of his toqef (authority) as the head of the tribes, the literal son and moon also 'bowed down' to Joshua the Ephraimite/Josephite and Head of all Israel after Moses:

      "Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:

        'Sun, stand still over Gibeon;
        And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.'
        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 the Upright One (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. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that Yahweh heeded the voice of a man; for Yahweh fought for Israel" (Josh.10:12-14, NKJV).

    The Reason for the Forgery

    Isn't it obvious that Joshua wasn't recalling some information from a separate book called 'the Book of Jasher'? Of course it is! Though the 88th chapter of the pseudepigraphic Book of Jasher mentions this event, how could an older book (Joshua) be citing a modern one ('Jasher')? What would even be the point? But the reason for a forgery becomes very apparent when you consider the latter's Pharisaic origin and the consuming drive of the Pharisees to confirm and entrench their power base by not only manufacturing fake books with a twist of history supporting their doctrines but creating a festival with a fake miracle (Hanukkah) to 'demonstrate' Yahweh's approbation of them and even falsifying the Tanakh (Old Testament) to obscure passages of scripture that clearly point to Yah'shua (Jesus) as Messiah by creating the Masoretic Text that forms the basis of nearly all Old Testament translations into English! And here they are falsifying the Sabbath and therefore trying to negate the Creation Calendar in a fake 'Book of Jasher' to promote their own pagan compromise!

    The Real Meaning of the First Reference

    No, Joshua was reflecting on an authentically older text - Genesis or Bereshith - and a prophecy made by his ancestor of which he was a type pointing backwards and a type pointing forwards to Messiah Himself, Yehoshua (Joshua) being an uncontracted name form of Yah'shua (Jesus). He was looking back at the Book of the Upright One, Moses, not to any mythical 'Book of Jasher'.

    Second 'Jasher' Reference: The Mystical 'Bow'

    What, then, are we to make of the second reference to "the Book of the Upright One (Jasher)" in Samuel?

      "David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of the Upright One [Jasher/Yashar])" (2 Sam.1:17-18, NIV).

    This "bow" is not referring to a weapon of war but to a musical instrument to be played in times of simcha (joy), victory and lamentation. Why on earth would David want to recall a book called 'Jasher' in order to provoke the Tribe of Judah to arm itself with a 'bow', an instrument of war which it had been using for a very long time already! That makes no sense! The Judahites would have known about the bow from Egypt at the very least where it was commonly used.

    The Song of Moses

    So what was David doing? He was making a lamentation for Saul and Jonathan according to the tavnith (pattern) spoken of in the Book of the Upright One, the Pentateuch of Moses. And what was that tavnith (pattern)? It is known as the Song of Moses (Dt.32), an abridgement of which New Covenant talmidim (disciples) are found singing in the Book of Revelation:

      "They held harps given them by Elohim (God) and sang the song of Moses the servant of Elohim (God) and the song of the Lamb:

        "Great and marvelous are your deeds,
        Yahweh-Elohim Almighty.
        Just and true are your ways,
        King of the ages.
        Who will not fear you, O Yahweh,
        and bring glory to your name?
        For you alone are holy.
        All nations will come
        and worship before you,
        for your righteous acts have been revealed"
        (Rev.15:2-4, NIV)

    Why did King David mention the Song of Moses at this time? We will better understand the reason for that by running through it:

      "Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of Yahweh. O, praise the greatness of our Elohim (God)! He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful Elohim (God) who does no wrong, upright and just is He. They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay Yahweh, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For Yahweh's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. Yahweh alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the Elohim (God) who made him and rejected the Rock his Saviour. They made Him jealous with their foreign gods and angered Him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not Elohim (God) -- gods they had not known ,gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the Elohim (God) who gave you birth. Yahweh saw this and rejected them because He was angered by His sons and daughters. 'I will hide my face from them,' He said, 'and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful. They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. For a fire has been kindled by My wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them. I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. Young men and young women will perish, infants and gray-haired men. I said I would scatter them and blot out their memory from mankind, but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say, 'Our hand has triumphed;the LORD has not done all this.'' They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be! How could one man chase a thousand, r two put ten thousand to flight, nless their Rock had sold them, unless Yahweh had given them up? For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede. Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. Their wine is the venom of serpents,the deadly poison of cobras. 'Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults? It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip;their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.' Yahweh will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. He will say: 'Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter! 'See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides Me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of My hand. I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.' Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants; He will take vengeance on His enemies and make atonement for His land and people" (Deut.32:1-43, NIV).

    A Warning to Be Obedient to the Covenant

    David ordered this song sung to remind the people of the consequences of disobedience, breaking the mitzvot (commandments) and a failure to submit to Yahweh, which Saul was guilty of. The history of Saul (1-2 Samuel; 1 Chronicles) is riddled with apostacy. In standing by his father, Jonathan - who was otherwise a righteous man - took on the guilt of his father too, and paid with his life. Their behaviour caused the nation to fall into sin and disaster at the hands of the Philistines. Yahweh is just which means there are always consequences for disobedience:

      "Know therefore that Yahweh your Elohim (God) is Elohim (God); he is the faithful Elohim (God), keeping his br'it (covenant) of ahavah (love) to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his mitzvot (commands). But those who hate him He will repay to their face by destruction; He will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate Him" (Deut.7:9-10, NIV).

    Pharisaic Garbage

    Now we can see what the 'Book of Jasher' really is in its true context - it is the Torah of Moses not some phoney Pharisaic pseudipigraphic expansion containing myths and false doctrines to bolster the sect of the rabbis like so many of their other fake books. The false Talmudic spirit which infests the Messianic Movement will always draw them to Pharisaic garbage - that is why these ministries and groups fawn over Pharisaic works like the books of the Maccabees and elevate them to a position of equality with the Bible!

    Kin to the Book of Mormon

    The 'Book of Jasher', though containing true elements, is, like the Book of Mormon (which contains extracts from the King James Bible, and has its own 'sabbath' - Jarom 5; Mosiah 13:16; 18:23; ), a fraud. It is full of fancy tales and falsehoods like the Roman/Talmudic Sabbath. How come such an important matter as the sabbath was omitted from Exodus while Israel was still in captivity, to then be given prominence later in Sinai?

    Be Wary of Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical Writings

    All too often believers go seeking for revelation from tainted and corrupt sources and refuse to be content with what Yahweh has given. Having spent decades sifting through all kinds of extra-biblical books, I come back again and again to the source, the only reliable Davar Elohim (Word of God). Except for an historical study of the corruptions of Talmudic Judaism and Orthodox Christianity, the 'Old' and 'New Testament' apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books are best held at arm's length because of their corrupting influence. That is not to say that there isn't emet (truth) in them, because there is, but it is most definitely a warning to not make them Holy Writ and put them alongside that which is set-apart to El Elyon, the Most High.

    Jasher Recasts the Soul of Pharoah in an Unbelievable Light

    For the sake of those who have been ensnared by the 'Book of Jasher' and works like it that are regrettably making headway in the Messianic Movement, I will at some point take an even closer look at this Pharisaic fraud. But for now, in the context of my main theme, I do want to categorically state that as far as being a reliable indicator of the way the Hebrews in Egyptian captivity observed the Sabbath is concerned, it is wholly unreliable. The Bible says that each time concessions were sought by Moses, Pharaoh made things worse, not better, and yet this fake 'Book of Jasher' would have us believe that Pharaoh did the opposite. Only in the Pharisaic imagination in support of their false doctrines and claims to power would such a fantasy ever be invented.

    Yahweh Has Made It Simple in His Way

    To conclude, I want to leave a challenge to those of you who are still following the Pharisaic teachings of the Sabbath. Yahweh has not made obeying the mitzvot (commandments) difficult. Indeed, He has tailored them so that they can used used in all generations, whether we are a technological society or not. We are a very forgetful people, I don't think anyone would doubt that, would they?

      "Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten Me, days without number" (Jer.2:32, NIV).

    Let's Imagine For a Moment...

    I want you to imagine that two people - a Luni-solar Sabbatarian (one who follows the luni-solar Creation Calendar) and a Judaic Sabbatarian (one who follows an endless cycle of seventh day Saturday sabbaths) - are put to sleep on a desert island and wake up several days later not knowing how many days they have been asleep. They have no calendars or books available except a copy of the Bible. How are they going to know what the Sabbath day is? To do that, he needs to know the first day of the month, or Rosh Chodesh. He doesn't need any charts or printed calendars, only his eyes.

    How the Luni-Solar Sabbatarian Solves the Problem

    For the one who follows the Creation Calendar (lunar sabbath, sunrise day start, and lunar conjunction), it is very simple. If the sun rises before the moon is visible (the moon remaining invisible), the day starting with that sunrise and the period to the following sunrise determines Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the biblical month. If the crescent moon is visible at sunrise, the observer can then know for certain that is it not Rosh Chodesh, in which case Rosh Chodesh is on its way or has already passed (depending whether it is a waning or waxing crescent). Once you know when Rosh Chodesh is, you count 7 days to the first sabbath of that month (Day #8 of that month), another 7 days to the second sabbath (Day #15 of that month), another 7 days to the third sabbath (Day #22 of that month), and then another 7 days to the fourth sabbath (Day #29 of that month). Then you make your observation for Rosh Chodesh again which will either appear the following day or two days after the 4th sabbath. You then repeat this observation every month to know when Yahweh's Sabbath day is. You will always know how to determine the sabbath day in any situation and in practically any location.

    The Solar or Saturday Sabbatarian's Dilemma

    How will the solar sabbatarian know when Saturday or his repeating 'seventh' day is? He can look each day at the sun but it won't tell him a thing. He will have no idea. If he had been a sailor and got caught in a violent storm for many days without knowing whether it was day or night and made landfall in a new land, he still wouldn't know what Saturday was. Thereafter he would have to take pot luck, just like the Talmudists said...just randomly pick any 'one in seven' and hope it's his 'eternal Saturday'. He might call Wednesday, 'Saturday', and be none the wiser. He would never know whether he was observing the Sabbath or not. It would be pure guesswork and he'd never know whether he was obeying the fourth mitzvah (commandment) to obey the Sabbath mandate. A question mark would forever hang over this observance and he would have to seek rationalisations to justify remaining in the dark.

    The Lunar Sabbatarian Will Always Be On The Mark

    It doesn't matter what happens to the lunar sabbatarian, he will always be able to find out what the true sabbath is for his particular location by making lunar observations, no matter where he is in the world. And unlike the solar sabbatarian, he won't have to worry about any International Date Line (IDL) either, something that the 19th century followers of Roman Catholic Pope Gregory had to invent to make our Roman Gregorian Calendar work properly in an increasingly mobile world.

    6,000 Years of Faithful, Uninterrupted Record-Keeping?

    Somewhere in the order of 2,200,000 days have passed since Ussher's timing of the Creation, and maybe considerably more. Are we to believe the Saturday Sabbatarian when he tells us that he can guarantee that in the 314,000+ weeks that have passed since the Creation, there hasn't been a single slip-up in the seven-day count? If he's honest, he can't possibly guarantee or know that his particular Talmudic 'Sabbath' really is Yahweh's 'seventh day' in his system, and he has no way of making a fresh calculation in case he discovers that the sabbath got lost somewhere along the way. What about the day that was lost in Joshua's time when the sun stood still for a day? Or the 400 years of captivity and cultural assimilation in Egypt with it's 10-day week and 3 weeks in a month? Or the centuries of apostacy in the ante-Diluvian era? Did Shem, Japheth and Ham and their descendants mark time faithfully when they set off in three diffrerent directions to resettle the earth? What about those who were scattered at the time of the counfounding of languages at Babel? Did those who remained true to Yahweh manage to hand on to the true sabbath date? We'll never know and we can never know. The Saturday Sabbatarians are groping in the dark but with absolutely no guarantee they have the right day. None whatsoever. And whoever claims they have it right has no way of proving they are correct. Ultimately it's his word and both your faiths.

    The Absolute Reliability of Yahweh's Lunar Sabbath

    Not so with the lunar sabbath. Yahweh's luni-solar calendar is beautiful in its simplicity and reliability for all ages and requires no perfect time-keepers with an unbroken chain of observance back thousands of years. In that respect it wholly lacks the extreme vulnerability of the claimed solar sabbath.

    Though computerised clocks are useful in making lunar calculations we don't actually need them to get the Sabbath Day right. All other systems are compromises with paganism and mess up the believer's attempts to meet with Yahweh at the appointed times which He says are important for us. Do you really think that Yahweh would leave knowing His Sabbath day to chance, expecting man to maintain such accuracy for so long? Does man ever remember something like that for so long? If the Lunar Sabbatarian gets it wrong or forgets, he can go outside at dawn and work it out again. But if the Solar Sabbatarian gets it wrong or forgets, just once, he's in a mess, and all generations after him. He can never know. He must remain in ignorance.

    A Hidden Truth About Forgiveness and Restoration

    Think about it, and think about it hard. For there is a sacred spiritual tavnith (pattern) to be found here that teaches an important emet (truth) about repentance and forgiveness. The lunar system teaches the principle of the possibility of forgiveness and restoration whereas the solar one does not - one sin or error and you're done for.

    True Lunar Sabbath False Solar Saturday Sabbath
    Error, repentance, forgiveness, restoration One error, no possibility of forgiveness or restoration

    Conclusion

    The Pharaoh of the Book of Jasher is not only a compassionate, soft-hearted sort of fellow but he gets rescued by Yahweh too as the only survivor of his drowned army. The real Pharaoh - the Pharaoh of the Bible - was an uncompromising, proud heathen who thought he was a god. He only ever yielded when under extreme duress and then broke his promises anyway and pursued Israel with unrepentant murderous intent. He drowned with his troops as a sign of Satan's defeat, of whom he was a type, and of a full deliverance for the repentant soul represented by Israel, ever sinning, and ever repenting.

    The Pharisees and their ilk who made up the Book of Jasher, whom Yah'shua (Jesus) said worshipped their father, the devil (Jn.8:44), would quite understandably have Pharaoh saved along with their own miserable, unrepentant souls. They would have him magnanimous, as they vainly supposed they themselves were in spite of all the contrary evidence of their works, and have him rescued, as they hoped they would be too in spite of their wickedness and lack of repentance. No, the mark of the carnal hand is upon the Book of Jasher, not that of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), and it may only be used in vain in an attempt to rescue the hopeless cause of the Saturday Sabbatarian.

    The emet (truth) of the Lunar Sabbath remains. Amen.

    Sabbath message continues in Part 2

    Endnotes

    [1] “Calendar,” The Jewish Encyclopedia
    [2] On the original Julian calendar, the winter solstice was December 25, VIII Kal. Jan., or eight days before the first of January
    [3] Box 6, Folder 4; Grace Amadon Collection, [Collection 154], Center for Adventist Research, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan
    [4] Maimonides, Kiddusch Ha-hodesch, Tr. Mahler, Wein, 1889
    [5] “Holidays”, Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 1899 ed.,p. 410
    [6] The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Isaak Landman [ed.], Vol. X, “Week,” [1943 ed.], p. 482
    [7] The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, “Calendar,” p. 631
    [8] “Pharisees,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, [1901-1906 ed.], p. 666
    [9] “The Jewish Calendar and Holidays [incl. Sabbath]”: The Jewish Calendar; Changing the Calendar, www.torah.org
    [10] Arthur Spier, The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, (Jerusalem and New York: Feldheim Publishers, 1986), pp. 1-2
    [11] Ibid.
    [12] Louis Finklestein, The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of their Faith, (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1946), Vol. 1, Forward to first edition, p. XXI
    [13] Louis Finklestein, The Jews — Their History, Culture, and Religion, (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1949), Vol. 4, p. 1332
    [14] Tractate Shabbat, chapter 7, Mishna 1, www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org
    [15] This explains why, whenever the date of a seventh-day Sabbath is given in the Bible, it always falls on the 8th, 15th, 22nd or 29th of the Hebrew month
    [16] M.Koniuchowsky, The Biblical Solar-Lunar Shabbat: A Complete One Stop Online Resource to Understanding YHWH's True Calendar
    [17] It depends on when you start your timeline. Some say 430 years, figuring from the time that Jacob and his family came down to join Joseph in Egypt. But when the Israelites arrived in Egypt they were guests of the Pharaoh for whom Joseph served as grand vizier. Joseph arranged for his family to live in the Goshen area (that part of northern Egypt on the eastern side of the Nile Delta) where they were pretty much left alone by the Egyptians and continued to lead a peaceful life. Others say 210 years, figuring from the time that "there arose in Egypt a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph". Even here, there's a clear lack of clarity, for while many believe that the oppressive Pharaoh was Ramses II there is (as yet) no conclusive archaeological evidence to support this. So a 400 year sojourn is probably the most accurate figure
    [18] Wikipedia, Egyptian calendar
    [19] Wikipedia, Sefer haYashar
    [20] Because the Hebrew syr (song) and ysr (yasher) closely resemble one another
    [21] This, when it is realised, will be a matter of distress to the followers of those charismatic leaders claiming an apostolic and therefore inspired mandate to 'restore Israel' and its scriptures, have swallowed the fable and canonised it in their own editions of the Bible such as the RSTNE and HRV
    [22] The Bible
    [23] Dean Schaub in the 'Logos Resources Page', An Overview of the Book of Jasher (Called the Upright Book) Compared to the Authorized King James Bible, as published in the New York Observer, 1840.
    [24] Translator's Preface, The Book of Jasher (J.H.Parry & Company, 1887), p.vii
    [25] It is used in conjunction with qadad (to bow) as in, "And Bath-sheba bowed (qadad), and did obeisance unto (shachah - prostrated before) the king" (1 Ki.1:16, KJV) and "Then Bath-sheba bowed (qadad) with her face to the earth, and did reverence to (shachah, did obeisance, prostrated before) the king"(1 Ki.1:31, KJV)

    Comments from Readers

    [1] "Your article on the Book of Jasher is EXCELLENT. That is really good work, Christopher. I really appreciate it" (KG, Kenya, 2 April 2013)
    [2] "I am grateful for your comprehensive and well-researched analysis of the Book of Jasher, particularly in relation to its discrepancies with the Tanakh. The observations you have highlighted align with my own findings. It is important to note that while the Book of Jasher is referenced in the Bible and purports to offer a compilation of historical accounts from the time of Adam and Eve to the Israelite conquest of Canaan, its authenticity and historical accuracy remain subjects of contention among scholarly circles. Many scholars, particularly those outside the Jewish tradition, regard it as a work of fiction or folklore. Nevertheless, it continues to captivate the interest of some, who see it as a valuable supplementary source for biblical narratives and ancient history. I appreciate your contribution..." (NN, Kenya, 22 November 2023)

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