p. 7 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 3, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 31.

Question Corner

1543.—Book of Jasher Again.

In your issue of June 1 you refer to the book of Jasher as a lost book. I have in my possession a copy of said book, which is supposed to be the only original one now known. E. L.

The authenticity of our friend's book truly rests upon a supposition. Among many of the learned Jewish rabbis there is no agreement as to the book, whether it is “the book of the law,” Deuteronomy, Samuel, or Judges. Some hold that it was lost at the captivity. There are four works extant, claiming to be the Book of Jasher, appearing respectively in 1394, 1544, 1625, and 1751. Of the last, Smith's Dictionary remarks: “A clumsy forgery in English, which first appeared in 1751, under the title of the ‘Book of Jasher,’ deserves notice solely for the unmerited success with which it was palmed off upon the public.” This is probably our friend's copy. Will he give us fuller particulars? When and where was it published, and by whom?

1544.—Strong Drink.

Does strong drink in Deut. 14:26 mean fermented liquor?

It doubtless includes that. It does not mean distilled liquor, as the process of distillation was not then known to the Hebrews. Even their strongest drinks were evidently mild compared with modern so-called “mild” or “soft” drinks.

1545.—Have We the True Seventh Day?

Please give the historical proof or reference which will establish a connection between the Sabbath that Christ kept and the Saturday of to-day, which will prove that Saturday is the identical day indicated by the Fourth Commandment. Of course, the calendar gives Saturday as the seventh day, and encyclopedias confirm it. But they have a good reason for it, which reason I would like very much to have. C. W. D.

There are some things which, if we will take time to consider, are self-evident. (1) It is not an uncommon occurrence for an individual to lose count of the days of the week. It is a rare thing for an entire family to do so, yet we may hear or know of an instance or two in the course of a lifetime. But no one ever heard of a neighborhood losing the order of the days of the week or the day, much less a township losing the day, or a county, a province, or a state. If one should lose such reckoning the rest would immediately set him right. In the very nature of the case a change of the day is impossible unless there was concurrent agreement among the nations; but history records nothing of this kind. (2) It is a well-known fact, as a writer in the North British Review some years ago remarked, that Sunday is “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” Religion would hold the pagans to the day. Religion has also held many of the professed people of God to the observance of the day which comes just before the first day of the week. Whenever the Jews and other nations have come in contact, the seventh-day Sabbath and Sunday stood related in the week as they do now. (3) The late Rev. Wm. M. Jones, D.D., of London, an antiquarian, prepared by great research, large expense, and indefatigable labor, “A Chart of the Week, Showing the Unchanged Order of the Days and the True Position of the Sabbath, as Proved by the Combined Testimony of Ancient and Modern Languages.” This chart was completed in 1886. It gives in nine columns (a) the name of the language, when spoken, read, or used, (b) the name of the cluster of seven days called a week, (c–j) the names of each of the days in the original languages, the transliteration and translation into English in 160 ancient and modern languages and dialects; and 108 of these languages know the seventh day by the name of Sabbath or its equivalent, while the entire number bear testimony to the identity and order of the days of the ancient and modern week. That part dealing with European languages was compiled by the noted linguist Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte. (4) Astronomy and the testimony of the records of eclipses confirm the same, as does also the history of the Jewish people. These strong, obvious reasons, which might be greatly elaborated, furnish sufficient ground for the correctness of calendars and encyclopedias.

1546.—Discoverer of America.

Who discovered America? I heard it disputed that Columbus discovered America. It was said that he only discovered the West Indies. E. Q. R.

Well, the West Indies are a part of America, spurs, so to speak, of the continent. By his discovery the continent was learned of, and the way opened for future explorers. Still Columbus was not the first who discovered America. The Chinese “Year Books” have records of exploring the west coast of America in the years A.D. 432, 464, 499. The first European on record who saw the shores of this continent was Bjarni, a Norwegian, in 995. Leif the Lucky, son of Eric, who planted a colony in Greenland in 983, returned with Bjarni in 1000. Newfoundland he named Flatland; Nova Scotia, Woodland; and New England, Vinland. In 1170 Madoc, a prince of Wales, probably visited this continent, and in 1380 Nicolo Zeno. Columbus was probably the next.

1547.—The Number Which Went Down to Egypt.

How do you harmonize Acts 7:14 with Gen. 46:27 concerning the number that went down to Egypt? E. M.

The Septuagint, the Old Testament in Greek, translated from older Hebrew copies than any now known, has verse 27 as follows: “And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph unto Egypt, were seventy-five souls.” This includes all of Joseph's family, making seventy-five souls as in Acts 7:14. All are counted as going into Egypt because belonging to Jacob's family, and in Egypt because of that fact.