WARS OF THE LORD, BOOK OF THE . A work quoted in Numbers 21:14 f. to settle a point with regard to the boundary of Moab and Ammon. The quotations in Numbers 21:17-18; Numbers 21:27-30 are probably from the same original. This is the only mention of the book in the OT. It is not likely that the work is identical with the Book of Jashar . It probably consisted of a collection of songs celebrating the victories of Israel over their neighbours. The song in Exodus 15:1-19 describing the Lord as ‘a man of war’ has been thought to be derived from it. The date of the work is unknown. As it deals with the heroic age, it likely originated in the period immediately following, and it has been dated in the reign of Omri (Stade), and by others as early as the time of David or Solomon. If Numbers 21:27-30 refer to the wars of Omri, we must regard the work as a product of the N. kingdom.
W. F. Boyd.