The Old Testament Canon
There are three parts to the Jewish Old Testament:
The Law: The Law consists of the first five books of the Old Testament and was believed to be the work of Moses. These five books contain the record of creation, the call of Abraham, the rise of the nation of Israel, the deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, the giving of the covenant and its stipulations, which was the lifestyle guide for the Jewish nation.
The Prophets: There are two groups: The former prophets which include Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings and the latter prophets which contain Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets. These books show the acts of God and his interpretative word about the rise and fall of the children of Israel.
The Writings: The balance of the Old Testament books falls within this category. There are lyrical poetry and wisdom books such as Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and the Song of Songs. There are historical books like Daniel, Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. By some accounts by the beginning of the first century, the Hebrew Testament was complete. Some believe it was confirmed in Jamnia in the mid-‘90s by a Jewish council. The most that can be said is that at Jamnia the Jews discussed the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures(12) [God's EPIC Adventure. 50].
Around 250 B.C. a group of Alexandrian Jews translated a number of the Old Testament books. This version is called the Septuagint (often designated LXX, which is the Roman numeral for seventy). This translation had additional books which later Jewry did not accept as authoritative. These books are called the Apocrypha by the Protestants. The Septuagint had a wide exposure during the first century. Some of the authors of the New Testament books often quoted from it instead of the Hebrew Text (See Hebrews 2.6-8).
During the first fifteen hundred years of the church till the Reformation period, these Apocryphal books caused many arguments and dissensions. The question about the authority of the Apocrypha surfaced during the Reformation. The Reformers returned to the Hebrew Canon of Jamnia, while the Catholic Church reaffirmed its allegiance to the Apocrypha as authoritative at the Council of Trent.
12. W. Musser Fant, Clyde E. Donald, and Mitchell G. Reddish, An Introduction to the Bible, Revised Edition (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001), 61.
ResourcesGod's EPIC Adventure Harmon Press | Amazon How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour The Beauty Behind the Mask: Rediscovering the Books of the Bible |
