Been reading the Book of Jasher. You may well ask - Why have you been doing that Bones? To which I would reply - Because there is a heap of information in there that we miss out on if we exclude it from our studies. You may ask - What possibly could it benefit us - after all, we have the Book of Mormon, the Holy Bible, the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants - what more could we want? My answer to that is - ALL the facts - or at least as many as I can get my honey little hands on.
I first came across the Book of Jasher a while back via BYU's Neal A Maxwell Institute whilst researching another subject. I discover, much to my delight, a wealth of knowledge that neatly sewed together all the snippets of info I had access to in the Book of Genesis regarding many of the early Patriarchs.
So what am I learning? I am learning what an inspirational man Abraham was, his personality, his sheer determination, his (whacky) sense of humour, as well as how he became so wealthy, who his father was, why he ended up on the altar to be sacrificed, how he was thrown into the furnace and although his brother, who was thrown in with him died, Abraham walked three days until the king called him out. Was the king converted? Read Chapter 11 - 14.
I now know who the first Pharaoh was, how he got the title, what the title means and what a great con artist he was. It also reveals the instigation of death taxes!
Perhaps one of my favourite parts by far is how Abraham smashed his father's idols and put the hatchet in the hands of the head idol then his magnificent response to his father's questioning. Oh, this little act led him to the furnace but no more spoilers! Read Chapters 11 - 14.
Oh, and who really was this Melchizedek - The High Priest of Salem who Abraham paid tithes to? No other than Noah's son Shem, known also as Adonizedek.
Noah died in the days of Abraham and they had spent a lot of time together, Abraham staying at Noah's home for long periods of time.
It's important as you read the Book of Jasher that people lived a very long time back then, none of this 100 years your a Centurion thing - nope, they were on their way to a millennium! Imagine the birthday candles? You'd need a truly big bonfire!
There is so very much more but this is just a teaser. I hope to have whet your appetite. You can start your own journey into the live of Abraham and discover history in a way than makes sense. Follow this link for your free online copy now! If the link doesn't work then google The Book of Jasher. Easy peasy!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/jasher/11.htm
