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FORMATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS AND THE COMPLETION OF CANON

Updated: Dec 12, 2022



Heading #1: Formation of the OT Books

Heading #2: Completion of Canon

Heading #3: Apocryphal books and OT completion


FORMATION OF THE OT BOOKS

The OT or the Jewish Hebrew Scriptures was the collection of books that were compiled over one hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

  • The list of books which are accepted as having authority for faith and practice is called Canon. Its authority comes from the belief that the books listed have been provided by God through his inspiration and revelation to the human writers.

  • The word “Canon” originally meant “measuring rule” and hence means a “standard”

  • Hence this is the chief application which was used to categories those books which are authoritative and so constitute our scriptures.


THE COMPLETION OF CANON

  • It is not certain that when the books within the 3 divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures were accepted in the Jewish community as Scriptures.

  • Some argue that it was Ezra the Scribe who arranged the Canon, since the Pentateuch and the most of the prophetical books were existed before his time. It was thought that the canonisation of the OT books happened in three stages. In other words, the Law received its canonical form by 400 BC, the prophets by 200 BC and the writings in 90 AD. However, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 has altered these views.

  • The Greek Septuagint was translated around 250 BC also shows that at least the first two divisions had been accepted before the date. But the council were sending a clear signal to the Jewish community that any books (NT) were not part of the Jewish canon.

  • They strongly refuted any book which written in Greek and accepted only those written in Hebrew as authoritative, making it as linguistic requirement.

APOCRPHAL BOOKS AND OTHER WRITINGS OF THE INTER-TESTAMENTAL PERIOD

  • In the post exilic period there had been no direct words from God through a living prophet for nearly 200 years.

  • The prophecies of the advent of the Messiah, the coming of God’s kingdom and the salvation of Israel had not been fulfilled.

  • Instead they lived under a series of evil kingdoms such as the Media-Persia, Greece and finally Roman rule.

  • The persecutions, forced idolatry, especially under the Greek Seleucid ruler of Syria led to the development of a Jewish writings that had its root in O.T prophesy. These were called “apocalyptic writings” derived from the Greek word “apokalypis” meaning “revelation” or “unveiling”

  • These claimed to reveal God’s secret purposes and were meant to meet the religious needs of the people. Since these were written in Greek they found their way into LXX.

  • However, these were included in the LXX, many of the Jews of the second century AD did not consider them as Scripture and rejected them especially those written in Greek, insisting that the prophesy begins with Moses ended with Ezra (440 AD).

 

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