Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-05-27

I p
q Abraham contemporary-comm encino
WIN the creation of Adam, and ending
with the death of Joshua. Josephus re,
lers 70 this book, and the great Mendel
snon extracts copiousy from it. Recently
Tie l5ook OF Enoch has been discovered.
. .f5 from the Ethiopic and publish
lea IN England. Professor Stewart has
lately reviewed it. The discovery OF
missing books referred to in Scripture.
ana the many yet to be discovered, Joined
20 the singular signs of the times in rela-
tlon to the chosen people. give great inter-
est to this and similar works This book.
winch makes nearly three hundred pages.
clears up some points somewhat obscure
70 the Bible, and is very. full in detailing
ihe events of the reign of Nimrod; the
building OF the Tower of Babel and con-
fusion of tongues; the causes precedinc
the destruction of the doomed cities the
sacrifice of Isaac, and the life Of Joseph:
and has some curious facts about the del.
/ uge. As we shall have occasion to refer
frequently to this book hereafter, the pres.
ent notice will be deemed sufficient to call
public attention to it.-N YEre Star.
! We have carefully read the book men
toned in the preceding article, and fully
agree with the Star, that it is a great lit.
erary curiosity. IF its authenticity can
be established, as an ancient work. it is
also extreme y valuable; for in addition
to the minuter details it affords Of events
recorded in the Old Testament. and lis
greater precision in fixing the order of
those events, it mentions also MANY oc-
currenecs recorded in profane history, and
gives the times at which they took place,
with reference to prominent events in the
history of the Jewish nation. For exam
pie, 1t describes the rape Of the Sabine
women, and the wars Of the Romans and
Carthagenians.
We do not imagine that it has anv
claim to the character of an inspired hook
nor indeed that it is the book of flasher
mentioned IN Joshua X: IS, 2 Sam. j: Is.
The opinions of the learned have been
various, and widely different, in regard to
the character of this said Book of Jasher.
Some have supposed it to be none other
than the book of Genesis. Others, that II
is the same spoken Of as "the Book of
the Wars of the Lord Others. that it
embraced the Books of Moses. The cell
ebrated Biblical scholar, John Brown,
speaks of it as "some noted history of the
Jewish nation, wherein things were re-
corded with great care and integrity, but
not inspired" Grotius entertained the
opinion that it was triumphant song
made purposely to celebrate the success Of
Joshua at Gideon, the storm of hail, and
the miracle of the arresting the progress
OF the sum- Matthew Henry supposes
the book to have been collection of state
poems, in which the poem composed on
this occasion was preserved, and from
which the words" Sun, stand thou still
upon Gideon, and thou moon in the valley
of AJalon,' being poeticai, were quoted
M. Dupin mclines TO the opinion of Gro
thus fortifying his position by the fact
that the second reference to Jasher, in !
Samuel i: Is, is also in connection with a
state poem-the song of David on the
death of Saul and Jonathan But all this
is conjecture, and nothing more: and
whether the present be the veritab!e Book
OF Jasher or not, as very ancient coilec-
ton of genuine Hebrew traditions, exist,
ing and handed down from very early
period, we have no hesitation in giving it
much confidence. That interpretations
have been made, and somewhat extensive.
ly, we think highly probable, but there
can be no very great difficulty in detecting
these, and what remains is Certainly an
important addition TO our KNOWLEDGE of
the remote past, chronologically if in no
other point Of view.
On the question as to the antiquity Of
the work, we admit that the internal evil
Idence is strong-but that evidence will
doubtless be completely silted by scholars
far more competent han ourselves 10 do il
justice. Mean time there is little piece
of evidence, in addition to the references
to the book of Joshua and Samuel, which !
seems to have escaped our contemporary
of the Star, and which is certainly entitled
to some consideration. The Apostle Paul.
in his second letter to Timothy, third chap |
ter and eighth verse, mentions the names
Of two Of the magicians who supported |
Pharaoh in his resistance to the demand
of Moses. Now the names of the magi |
clans, or any of them, are not given IN
the Old Testament Scriptures, nor are
they mentioned by Josephus, who, gener-
ally following closely the Scripture nara
ton, often amplifes from tradition, and
probably from fuller copies of the Jewish |
writings than have descended to US; but
in this Book of Jasher the two names
mentioned by the Apostle are given
Now, this does not prove that Paul actu-
ally derived the names from the Book of
Jasher, because the names James and
Jambres had been previously mentioned
by Jonathan Ben Uzziel. the commentator