De Wette {Einleitung, § 169) endeavors to deduce an argument in favor of the late composition of the book of Joshua from the circumstance of its citing a work (viz. the book of Jasher) which "points to the time of David, inasmuch as his lamentation over Saul and Jonathan is contained in it." But it has been supposed by others (although the American translator of De Wette's /?i^rac7. looks upon this as quite imjjrobable) that the book rtay, as a collection of poems, have received accessions at va- rious periods, and, nevertheless, been still quoted by its original name. Dr. Palfrey, who adopts this view of the book of Jasher in his Lectures, still refers the compo- sition of Joshua to the time of Saul.
III. Attempted Reproductions of the Worlc. — 1. Al- though conjecture might almost be thought to have ex- hausted itself on a subject so barren of premises, a schol- ar of our own day has not despaired of being able not
JASHER
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JASHER
only to decide what the book of Jasher was in itself, but of reconstructing it from the fragments wliich, accord- ing to his theory, he traces throughout the several books of the Old Test. In the preface to his Jashar, or Fra;;- menta A rchetypa Carminum Hebraicorum in Masoreth- ico Veteris Testamenii iextu passim tesselluta (London, 1854, 1860, 8vo), Dr. Donaldson advances a scheme for the restoration of this ancient record in accordance with his own idea of its scope and contents. Assuming that, during the tranquil and prosperous reign of Solomon, an unwonted impidse was given to Hebrew literature, and that the worshippers of Jehovah were desirous of pos- sessing something on which their faith might rest, the book of "Jashar," or " uprightness," he asserts, was writ- ten, or, rather, compiled to meet this want. Its object was to show that in the beginning man was upright, but had, by carnal wisdom, forsaken the spirituallaw : that the Israelites had been chosen to preserve and trans- mit this law of uprightness ; that David had been made king for his religious integrity, leaving the kingdom to his son Solomon, in whose reign, after the dedication of the Temple, the prosperity of the chosen people reach- ed its culminating point. The compiler of the book was probably Nathan the prophet, assisted, perhaps, by Gad the seer. It was thus " the first offspring of the pro- phetic schools, and ministered spiritual food to the great- er prophets." Rejecting, therefore, the authority of the Masoretic text, as founded entirely on tradition, and ad- hering to his own theory of the origin and subject of the book of Jasher, Dr. Donaldson proceeds to show that it contains tlie reUgious marrow of holy Scripture. ^ In sucli a case, of course, absolute proof is not to be looked for, and it would be impossible here to discuss Avhat measure of probability should be assigned to a scheme elaborated with considerable ingenuity. 'Whatever an- cient fragments in the sacred books of the Hebrews ex- hibit the nature of uprightness, celebrate the victories of the true Israelites, predict their prosperitj-, or promise future blessedness, have, according to this theorj', a claim to be considered among the relics of the book of Jasher. Following such a principle of selection, the fragments fall into seven groups. The first part, the object of which is to show that man was created upright ("TIJ"^, yushdr), but fell into sin by carnal wisdom, contains two fragments — an Elohistic and a Jehovistic, both poetical, the latter being the more full. The first of these in- cludes Gen. i, 27, 28; vi, 1,2,4,5; viii,21; vi, 6,3; the other is made up of Gen. ii, 7-9. 15-18, 25 ; iii, 1-19, 21, 2;), 24. The second part, consisting of four fragments, shows how the descendants of Abraham, as being up- right (D'^"idl', yeshdrim), were adopted by God, while the neighboring nations were rejected. Fragment 1, Gen. ix, 18-27 ; fragment 2, Gen. iv, 2-8, 8-lG ; fragment 3, Gen. xvi, 1-4, 15, IG ; xvii, 9-1 G, 18-2G ; xxi, 1-14, 20, 21 ; fragment 4, Gen. xxv, 20-34 ; xxvii, 1-10, 14, 18-20, 25-40; iv,18,19; xxvi,34; xxxvi,2; iv,23,24; xxxvi, 8; xxviii, 9; xxvi, 35 ; xxvii, 46 ; xxviii, 1-4, 11-19; xxix, 1, etc., 24, 29; xxxv, 22-26; xxiv, 25-29; xxxv, 9-14, 15; xxxii, 31. In the third part is related, under the ligiu-e of the Deluge, how the Israelites escaped from Egypt, wandered forty years in the wilderness, and final- ly, in the reign of Solomon, built a temple to Jehovah. The passages in which this is found are Gen. vi, 5-14 ; vii, 6, 11, ii ; viii, 6, 7, 8, 12 ; v, 29 ; viii, 4 ; 1 Kings vi ; viii, 43 ; Deut. vi, 18 ; Psa. v, 8. The three fragments of the fourth part contain the di\ine laws to be observed by the upright people, and are found in (1) Deut. v, 1-22 (2) vi, 1-5; Lev.xix, 18; Deut.x, 12-21 ; xi, 1-5, 7-9 and (3) viii, 1-3 ; vi, 6-18, 20-25. The blessings of the upright, and their admonitions, are the subject of the fifth part, which contains the songs of Jacob (Gen. xlix), Balaam (Numb, xxiii, xxiv), and Moses (Deut. xxxii, xxxiii). The wonderful victories and deliverances of Israel are celebrated in the sixth part, in the trium- phal songs of Moses and Miriam (Exod. xv, 1-19), of Joshua (Josh.x, 12, 13), and of Deborah (Judg. v, 1-20).