Program / Course 17: Defending Scripture / Lesson 2.1
What you will learn
- Explain what canon means and distinguish a book being written from a book being recognized as Scripture.
- Describe the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures and the evidence for their gradual recognition.
- Evaluate the older theory of a Council of Jamnia and say why many scholars now doubt it.
- State what is known, debated and unknown about the closing of the Old Testament canon.
The big idea
The Old Testament canon did not appear on a single day. The Torah was recognized first, the Prophets next, and the Writings last and least precisely. By the time of Jesus most Jews recognized a body of sacred books, and the references to the law, the prophets and the psalms show this, but the edges were not perfectly sharp. Scholars agree that the process was gradual. They disagree on when the Writings were fixed and on how much the older theory of a council at Jamnia explains.
Key terms
- Canon
- From a Greek word meaning rule or measuring reed. The list of books recognized as authoritative Scripture.
- Tanakh
- The Jewish name for the Hebrew Bible, formed from the first letters of Torah (law), Nevi’im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings).
- Torah
- The first five books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, also called the Pentateuch or the Law of Moses.
- Writings (Ketuvim)
- The third division of the Hebrew Bible, including the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, Ruth, Esther and others.
- Septuagint
- The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, begun in Alexandria in the third century before Christ and often abbreviated LXX.
- Council of Jamnia
- A proposed gathering of Jewish teachers at Jamnia (Yavneh) around 90 of the common era, once thought to have fixed the Hebrew canon.
- Pseudepigrapha
- A name given to a range of ancient Jewish writings attributed to ancient figures, such as 1 Enoch, which were not included in the canon of most communities.
Background
Books are written before they are canonized. The Old Testament contains material of many ages, and the Bible itself describes the early stages of collection. The book of the covenant is read to the people (Exodus 24:7). A book of the law is found in the temple in the days of King Josiah (2 Kings 22). Ezra reads the law to the assembly after the exile (Nehemiah 8). Proverbs 25:1 refers to men of Hezekiah copying out proverbs of Solomon. These are signs of a growing collection, not of a finished list.
Jews, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants all inherit the same earliest core. They diverge on the edges. The Hebrew Bible has 24 books by traditional count, which Protestants divide into 39. Catholics and Orthodox add further books that were in the Greek tradition. That disagreement is the subject of lessons 2.3 and 2.4. This lesson looks at what the evidence shows about the common core and the boundaries.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The Torah
The five books of Moses have the earliest fixed status. Deuteronomy 4:2 says not to add to or take from the commandment, and the community after the exile treated the law as the center of its life. By the fifth or fourth century before Christ, scholars generally agree, the Torah was in roughly the form we have. Samaritans, who split from the Jews, kept only the Torah as Scripture, which supports an early date for its recognition.
Scholars differ over how the Torah was composed. Traditional Jewish and Christian teaching has attributed it to Moses, while many scholars see several sources joined over time. This is a separate question from recognition. Whatever view is taken of authorship, the Torah was received as authoritative scripture by the time of the Second Temple.
Step 2: The Prophets
The second division includes the former prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) and the latter prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve). Their collection seems to have been complete by about the second century before Christ. The prologue of the Greek Sirach, written by the author’s grandson, perhaps about 132 before Christ, speaks of the law, the prophets and the other books of the fathers. This is early evidence for a threefold pattern, though it does not name the contents of the third group.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, found at Qumran from 1947, include copies of nearly every book of the Hebrew Bible, and they also include other works such as 1 Enoch and the Rule of the Community. They show the community valued many texts. Scholars debate whether the Qumran community had a closed canon, and many think it did not have a formal list in the modern sense.
Step 3: The Writings and the question of Jamnia
The Writings were the last group to be fixed. Luke 24:44 speaks of the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms, which may point to a third division headed by the Psalms, though it may only name the largest book. Josephus, writing in the late first century, says that Jews have 22 books that are justly believed to be divine, which count scholars interpret in different ways. A Jewish work known as 4 Ezra, from about the same time, speaks of 24 books.
In the nineteenth century, scholars proposed that a council of rabbis at Jamnia about 90 of the common era closed the Hebrew canon. This theory was influential for a century. Many recent scholars doubt that such a council made a binding decision on the canon. The surviving rabbinic sources discuss whether a few books, such as Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, defile the hands, which is a way of asking if they are sacred, but they do not describe a vote that set a list. The more cautious view is that discussion continued among Jewish teachers into the second century or later, and that the rabbinic Bible became settled gradually.
Step 4: The Greek Bible and the early church
Greek-speaking Jews used the Septuagint, which became the Bible of most early Christians, since the New Testament authors usually quote from it. Surviving Greek Bibles of the fourth and fifth centuries, such as Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, contain additional books beyond the Hebrew list. Scholars debate whether these books were fully accepted as Scripture by Greek-speaking Jews before Christianity, and whether the Christian Bibles reflect a wider Jewish canon or Christian choices.
Early Christian lists disagree. Melito of Sardis, in the late second century, gave a list of the Old Testament books from a visit to the East, and it omits Esther. Origen and Jerome distinguished the books in the Hebrew from other books. Augustine, by contrast, treated the longer Greek list as Scripture. These differences show that the early church did not have a uniform Old Testament canon, and that the Jewish and Christian sides each had reasons for their positions.
- What is the difference between writing a book and recognizing it as Scripture?
- What does the threefold pattern in Luke 24:44 tell you, and what does it leave unclear?
- Why would the Samaritans’ acceptance of only the Torah be evidence about its early date?
- Why do many scholars now doubt that a council at Jamnia fixed the canon?
- Does the existence of other books at Qumran show that the canon was open? What else might explain it?
- Who had the authority to decide which books count as Scripture, and how would each tradition answer?
Examples
The threefold pattern
The grandson of Ben Sira, translating his grandfather’s book into Greek, writes of the law, the prophets and the others that followed them. A reader may see here a three-part Scripture already in his time. A cautious scholar says only that three categories were in use, and that the third was not yet defined.
The books that defile the hands
In rabbinic discussion, a book that defiles the hands is sacred. Teachers debated whether Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs defile the hands. The discussion shows that the status of a few books was debated. The sources do not record a single decisive vote.
Quotations in the New Testament
The New Testament quotes nearly every Old Testament book, but the Gospels and the apostolic writings do not quote Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Ezra, Nehemiah, Obadiah, Nahum or Zephaniah. This is sometimes cited as evidence of an unsettled edge, and sometimes dismissed as the accident of what the authors needed.
Different perspectives
Jewish
Traditional Judaism holds that the Hebrew Scriptures are the Law, the Prophets and the Writings, and that the sages of the Second Temple and rabbinic periods recognized them. Jewish scholars today usually describe a gradual process, with disagreement about the dating of the closure of the Writings.
Protestant
Protestants follow the Hebrew list of 39 books, arguing that this was the canon of the Jews to whom the oracles of God were entrusted (Romans 3:2). They cite Jerome’s preference for the Hebrew text and the lack of direct New Testament citation of the additional books.
Catholic
Catholics hold that the church received the longer Old Testament used in the Greek-speaking church, and that the church’s decisions, from the regional councils of Hippo and Carthage in the late fourth century to Trent in the sixteenth century, recognized it. They argue that the first Christians used the Septuagint.
Orthodox
Orthodox churches read the Septuagint as their Old Testament and recognize the longer list, with some additional books beyond the Catholic canon. They emphasize continuity with the Greek-speaking church of the early centuries, though Orthodox opinions differ on the status of the additional books.
Scholarly
Most historians agree that the Torah and the Prophets were recognized before the time of Jesus, that the Writings were less defined, and that the Hebrew canon was widely settled by the end of the first or second century of the common era. The earlier dating of its closure is debated.
Why it matters
Understanding how the Old Testament came together shows that the Bible’s authority did not depend on one dramatic decision. It also prepares you for the disagreement between traditions about the extent of the canon. Those who say that a clear council settled the matter, and those who say that the matter was never settled, are both overstating the evidence. Each tradition has a reasonable account of why it holds its list, and you can state it without agreeing with it.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: A council of rabbis at Jamnia decided the Hebrew canon in 90.
Correction: This theory was once standard. Many scholars now think the evidence shows only discussions among teachers, not a binding vote, and that the canon settled gradually.
Misunderstanding: The Old Testament canon was fixed by Ezra.
Correction: Jewish tradition gives Ezra a great role in the preservation of the Scriptures, but historical evidence for a closed canon in Ezra’s time is lacking. The Prophets and Writings continued to take shape afterward.
Misunderstanding: Jesus and the apostles used the same list that Protestants use.
Correction: The New Testament does not give a list. It quotes the Greek and Hebrew text, and neither side can show an explicit endorsement of its exact boundaries. Protestants point to Jesus’ threefold description, and Catholics and Orthodox to wide use of the Septuagint.
Misunderstanding: The books at Qumran prove the canon was open.
Correction: They show that a variety of books were read and valued. Whether the community treated them as Scripture in the same way is debated, and the absence of a list does not by itself settle the matter.
Knowledge check
What does canon mean, and how does a canon differ from a library?
Canon comes from a Greek word meaning a rule or measuring reed, and refers to the list of books recognized as authoritative Scripture. A library collects books that are useful or interesting, but a canon names the books that a community treats as normative for faith and life. The difference lies in the recognized authority, not simply in age or popularity.
What are the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible?
They are the Torah (the five books of Moses), the Prophets (Nevi’im, both former and latter), and the Writings (Ketuvim), which include the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, Ruth, Esther and others. The Jewish name Tanakh is formed from the first letters of the three names. The Writings were the last group to be fixed.
Why do many scholars now doubt the theory of a Council of Jamnia?
The surviving rabbinic sources record discussions about whether certain books defile the hands, but they do not describe a council or a vote that set the canon. Some of the debates continued after 90. Scholars therefore think the Hebrew canon settled gradually, though some still defend a modified form of the older view.
What was the Septuagint, and why does it matter for the canon?
The Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, begun in Alexandria. Most New Testament authors quote from it, and early Christian Bibles in Greek include books beyond the Hebrew list. It is therefore central to the argument of Catholics and Orthodox for a longer Old Testament, while Protestants appeal to the Hebrew list.
Think it through
- How does it change your sense of Scripture to know that its collection took centuries?
- Which kind of evidence do you find more persuasive for the boundaries of the canon: use by the first Christians, or the Hebrew list? Why?
- How would you explain the Jamnia theory to someone who learned it from an older textbook?
Independent assignment
A timeline of the Old Testament canon
In your own notebook, make a timeline with at least eight entries, from the days of Josiah to the time of Jerome. For each entry give the evidence and say whether it is certain, probable or debated. Then write 150 to 250 words answering this question: what can be said with confidence about the closing of the canon? Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read the order of the books in the Jewish Bible and compare it with a Protestant Old Testament.
- Origen, On First Principles (De Principiis) Read selectively for early Christian reflection on the Scriptures of the Jews.
- Augustine of Hippo, The City of God Read selectively where Augustine discusses the Scriptures and their authority.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament Read the opening chapter for the background to the New Testament canon and the Old Testament it presupposed.
- Luke 24:44 The law, the prophets and the psalms.
- Nehemiah 8 Ezra reads the law to the assembly.
- Romans 3:2 To the Jews were committed the oracles of God.