2. The Canon of the Bible

1
2. The Canon of the Bible

• 2.2 The Canon of the First Testament
• Sadducees, Qumran, Rabbinic, Greek Bible The
  Christian OT Canon

2
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 1.1 Traditionally the Sadducees' canon was
  considered to be limited to the Torah since
  resurrection is not mentioned in the Pentateuch.

3
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 1.2 "The idea that the Sadducees (like the
  Samaritans) acknowledged the Pentateuch only as
  holy scripture is based on a misunderstanding
  when Josephus, for example, says that the
  Sadducees admit no observance at all apart from
  the laws he means not the Pentateuch to the
  exclusion of the Prophets and the Writings but
  the written law (of the Pentateuch) to the
  exclusion of the oral law (the Pharisaic
  interpretation and application of the written
  law, which, like the written law itself, was held
  in theory to have been received and handed down
  by Moses). It would be understandable if the
  Sadducees did not accept Daniel which contains
  the most explicit statement of the resurrection
  hope in the whole of the Old Testament." Bruce,
  40-41

4
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 2. Josephus
• 2.1 "The Sadducees teach that the soul dies along
  with the body, and they observe no tradition
  apart from the written laws. Whenever they
  assume office, however, they submit to the
  formulas of the Pharisees, because the masses
  would not tolerate them otherwise." Ant. 18.16
• 2.2 "What I would now explain is this, that the
  Pharisees have delivered to the people a great
  many observances by succession fro their fathers,
  which are not written in the

5
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• law of Moses and for that reason it is that the
  Sadducees reject them and say that we are to
  esteem those observances to be obligatory which
  are in the written word, but are not to observe
  what are derived from the tradition of our
  forefathers." Ant. 13.297

6
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 3. Not only the Torah
• 3.1 "My guess is that Josephus implication that
  the Sadducees rejected anything that was not
  written in the laws of Moses (that is, from Ex.
  12 to the end of Deuteronomy) is an
  overstatement, and that in fact they rejected the
  Pharisaic traditions of the fathers, as well
  as, of course, the special Essene revelations.
  Put another way, they rejected non-biblical
  traditions of which they did not approve,
  especially those that characterized the other
  parties." E. J. Sanders, Judaism Practice
  Belief 63BCE-66BC, 334

7
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 3.2 ". . . as the more or less parallel account
  of the Sadducees in Ant. 13.10.6, or 13.297,
  explicitly states, the contrast is not between
  the Laws of Moses and the other books of the
  canon but between the Laws of Moses and oral
  tradition. Josephus elsewhere states that "all
  Jews", presumably including the Sadducees, accept
  the 22 books of the canon (Against Apion 1.8 or
  1.39-43)." Beckwith, The Old Testament Canon . .
  . , 88

8
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 3.3 "Based on this text alone, the Sadducees
  could have rejected the Prophets, the Writings,
  and the oral traditions of the Jews." McDonald,
  The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon, 68

9
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• 3.4 "It seems . . . that for as long as the
  Temple stood there was no essential disagreement
  among the different Jewish schools about the
  public canon. And if that was so, the very
  rivalry between the schools must have been one of
  the main factors responsible. This rivalry,
  between Pharisees, Sadducees and Essences, had
  first become important about the time of the
  high-priesthood of Jonathan Maccabaeus (152-142
  BC), as a statement to that effect by Josephus
  (Ant. 13.5.9, or 13.171-3) and other evidence
  indicates. From then onwards it is likely, in
  view of the intensity of rivalry, that the canon
  remain unaltered until the suppression of the
  first Jewish revolt and the destruction of the
  Temple in AD 70,

10
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• as a result of which events the Essenes and
  Sadducees lost most of their influence, and the
  Temple Scriptures were dispersed. Any literature,
  consequently, which is referred to as canonical
  by Pharisaic or Essene writers, or both, during
  the period of just over two centuries preceding
  the destruction, was probably canonical
  throughout the period of all three schools and
  though, when the period had ended, it would have
  been possible for the Pharisees to have added
  further books to the canon, they would hardly
  have thought such action appropriate after the
  canon had remained unchanged for so long. Both
  their traditionalism and their continuing
  veneration for the Temple would have restrained
  them. Certainty, they are

11
1. The Canon of the Sadducees

• not likely to have celebrated their triumph by
  making concessions to Essenism, and it follows
  that any book included in the later form of the
  Pharisaic canon, which is also reckoned canonical
  by Essene writers of the Temple period, is a
  probable part of the common heritage of both
  schools, dating back to the time before their
  longstanding rivalry began." Beckwith, The Old
  Testament Canon . . . , 90-91

12
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.1 Introduction
• "The so-called Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered
  between 1947 and 1961 (with perhaps others yet to
  come in), include the scrolls and tens of
  thousands of fragments of scrolls found in the
  eleven caves just N of the Wadi Qumran at the NW
  end of the Dead Sea, as well as others found in
  Judean desert caves (??????????, ??????,
  ????????, ???????) containing literature dating
  between the two Jewish Revolts (70 to 135 CE), in
  the Palace/Fortress at Masada (68-73), and in
  caves in the Wadi ed-Daliyeh SE of Nablus."
  Sanders, "Canon," ABD

13
2. The Canon at Qumran

• ". . . manuscripts, albeit fragmentary and
  incomplete, of the books of the Pentateuch, the
  Prophets, especially the Twelve, dating from the
  second century BC, which rule out categorically
  speculations about extremely late additions to
  prophetic works. Indeed it is probable that no
  canonical work postdates the Maccabean age. An
  exception, at least theoretically, may be made in
  the case of the Book of Esther, missing at
  Qumran. More likely, however, Esther was rejected
  by the sectaries, as suggested by H. L. Ginsberg,
  or is missing purely by chance. Ecclesiastes,
  sometimes dated in the second, or even in the
  first century BC, by older scholars, appears in
  one exemplar from Cave IV (4QQoha) which dates
  ca. 175-150

14
2. The Canon at Qumran

• BC. Since the text of the manuscript reveals
  textual development, it is demonstrably not the
  autograph, and hence the date of composition must
  be pushed back into the third century or earlier.
  A second-century BC copy of the canonical Psalter
  (4QPsaa), though fragmentary, indicates that the
  collection of canonical psalms was fixed by
  Maccabean times, bearing out the current tendency
  to date the latest canonical psalms in the
  Persian period." F. M. Cross, The Ancient
  Library of Qumran, 121-22

15
Hebrew Bible Manuscripts
16
Hebrew Scrolls According to Caves
17
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.2 Biblical Scrolls
• Some scrolls contain more than one book.
• 7 copies of Greek biblical scrolls.
• ". . . the total for the biblical manuscripts is
  202 copies, or about one-quarter of the eight
  hundred manuscripts found at Qumran." VanderKam,
  31
• 19 other manuscripts found at other Judean desert
  sites.

18
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.2 Other Biblical Manuscripts
• Targums Lev (4Q156) Job (4Q157), (11Q)
• Tefillin 4Q128-48, 1 - 1Q 3 5Q 1 8Q 4
  more from ?
• Mezuzot 7 4Q149-55 1 Q8

19
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.3 Other Manuscripts
• Tobit 4Aram, 1Heb (4Q196-200)
• Sirach 2Q18 but 11QPsa had Sirach 51.
• Letter of Jermiah Baruch 6 (7Q2)
• 1 Enoch Aram (4Q) 7- the Book of the Watcher
  (chps. 1-36), Book of Dreams (83-90), Epistle of
  Enoch (91-107) 3 Astronomical Book (chps.
  72-82). None contained the Similitudes of Enoch
  (chps. 37-71)

20
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.3 Other Manuscripts
• Jubilees 2 1Q 2 2Q 1 Q3 9/10 4Q 1
  11Q. (15/16 total)
• Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs Testament
  of Naphtali (4Q215) Testament of Judah (3Q7
  4Q484, 538) Testament of Joseph (4Q539),
  Testament of Levi (4Q213-14 1Q21)
• The Genesis Apocryphon

21
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.3 Other Manuscripts
• Noah Text 1Q19 4Q246(?), 534.
• Jacob Text 4Q537
• Joseph Text 4Q371-73
• Qahat Text 4Q542
• Amram Texts 4Q543-48
• Moses Texts 1Q22, 29 2Q21 4Q374-75, 376 (?),
  377, 388a, 389, 390
• Joshua Text 4Q378-79
• Samuel Text 4Q160 6Q9

22
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.3 Other Manuscripts
• David Text 2Q22
• Jeremiah Texts 4Q383-84(?)
• Ezekiel Texts 4Q384(?)-90, 391
• Daniel Texts 4Q242 Prayer of Nabonidus, 243-45,
  551(?)

23
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.4 Commentaries
• Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab)
• Nahum Commentary (4Q169)
• Psalm 37 Commentary (4Q171, 173)
• Florilegium (4Q174) 2 Sam 7 Psa 1, 2
• Testimonia (4Q175) Deut 5.28-29 18.18-19 Num
  24.15-17 Deut 33.8-11 Josh 6.26
• Melchizedek Text (11QMelch)
• Genesis Commentary (4Q252)

24
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.5 Legal Texts
• The Damascus Document Cairo Genizah A B
  4Q266-73 5Q12 6Q15.
• Manual of Discipline 1Q 4Q255-64 5Q11, ?5Q13
  combination of DDMD 4Q265.
• Temple Scroll (11QTemple)
• Works of the Torah (4QMMT) 4Q394-99

25
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.6 Writings for Worship
• The Cycle of Worship "The first Psalms scroll
  from Cave 11 says that King David composed '52
  songs for the Sabbath offerings". Thus, he wrote
  one for each sabbath in a solar year. Another
  document, which has been called "The Angelic
  Liturgy" or Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice"
  (4QShirShabb), presents thirteen such poems,
  enough to cover one-fourth a year." (8 copies in
  Cave 4, 1 in Cave 11 and 1 at Masada) VanderKam,
  61

26
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.7 Writings for Worship
• The Cycle of Worship Calendar Texts (4Q317-30)
• Poetic Compositions
• Thanksgiving Hymns (1Q, 4Q427-33) These are 25
  individual psalms of thanksgiving.
• Other Poems Psalms of Joshua (4Q378-79),
  Apocryphal Psalms (4Q380-81), liturgical works
  (4Q392-93), "my soul, bless (4Q434-38), prayer
  and poetic texts (4Q286-93, 439-56), other
  similar compositions (11Q11, 14-16)

27
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.8 Eschatological Works
• (I Enoch Apocalypse of Weeks chps. 91, 93,
  Animal Apocalypse chps. 83-90, Jubilees chps.
  23, Daniel, etc.)
• The War Rule (1QM, 4Q491-96)
• Texts about the New Jerusalem "Caves 1, 2, 4,
  5, and 11 have yielded seven copies of a
  composition that describes the New Jerusalem in
  the future.

28
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.1 Survey of Qumran Manuscripts
• 2.1.9 Wisdom Texts
• 4Q184 The adulteress woman
• 4Q185 become wise and remember the miracles of
  exodus
• Other texts that have been categorized as wisdom
  4Q408, 410-13, 415-22, 423-26, 472-76, 525, and
  560(?).
• 2.6 The Copper Scroll (3Q15)
• 2.7 Documentary Texts

29
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.2 Qumran Canon
• 2.2.1 Threefold Division "And also we have
  written to you that you may have understanding
  in the book of Moses and in the words of the
  prophets, and in David" (4QMMT, C9-10)
• 2.2.2 Criteria for canon quoted as
  authoritative, worthy of pesher.
• 2.2.3 The Manual of Discipline (1QS), the
  Damascus Document (CD), the War Rule (1QM), the
  Florilegium (4QFlor), the Testimonia (4QTestim),
  and the Melchizedek text (11QMelch)

30
Cited as Authoritative Law
31
Cited as Authoritative Former Prophets
32
Cited as Authoritative Later Prophets
33
Cited as Authoritative Later Prophets
34
Cited as Authoritative Writings
35
Cited as Authoritative Writings
36
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.2 Qumran Canon
• 2.2.4 Summary of Citations
• "All the books of the Law serve as proof texts,
  Isaiah does more than any other book, and other
  prophetic books serve in similar capacity (Ezek,
  Hos, Amos, Mic, Zech, and Mal). The historical
  books are rarely used in such contexts, while the
  shorter prophetic books and most of the Writings
  (other than Psa and Dan, with Prov) do not
  function as sources of proof texts. Surprisingly,
  Jer is not cited as an authority . . . ."
  VanderKam, 152

37
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.2 Qumran Canon
• 2.2.5 Commentaries
• Isaiah (6), Psalms (3), Hosea (2), Micah (2),
  Zephaniah (2), Nahum (1), and Habakkuk (1).
• 2.2.6 Other Authoritative Books
• Jubilees (15/16 copies from 5 different caves),
  cited as authoritative in CD and 4Q228
• ". . . The book is represented on more copies
  than all but five biblical books at Qumran it
  presents itself as divine revelation and
  reference is made to it as an authority in
  perhaps three passages in Qumran literature. In
  addition, several other texts have been called
  "Pseudo-Jubilees" because.

38
2. The Canon at Qumran

• they employ Jubilees-like language or concepts
  (4Q225-27). Jubilees, then, has all the traits
  that make a book as authoritative at Qumran
  except the quality of having a commentary based
  on it. Subsequently, the book became canonical
  for some Christian groups, including the
  Abyssinian Church in Ethiopia. The high esteem it
  enjoyed in Ethiopia insured its preservation
  after the original Hebrew and the Greek
  translation based on it had disappeared. One
  complicating fact in the discussion of the status
  of Jubilees at Qumran is that a newly published
  text, 4Q252, shows that Jubilees' chronology of
  the flood was not accepted in all the pertinent
  documents at Qumran. Moreover, some calendrical
  texts set forth the schematic lunar

39
2. The Canon at Qumran

• calendar that Jubilees condemns. Consequently,
  while most indicators demonstrate that Jubilees
  was a highly regarded source, not everyone at
  Qumran agreed with all the details in it."
  VanderKam, 154-55

40
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.2.6 Other Authoritative Books
• 1 Enoch ". . . If one considers all of these as
  part of one large composition, the number of
  copies is twenty a very high total for any work
  at Qumran. . . . also makes revelatory claims
  for itself throughout. . . ." VanderKam, 155
• "Qumran literature does not seem to name . . . 1
  Enoch as an inspired or revealed source, unless
  one view Jub 4.17-24 in this capacity. . . . 1
  Enoch's use of the schematic solar and lunar
  calendars served as a model in the calendrical
  texts from Qumran. 1 Enoch became a canonical
  book for a number of early Christians, including
  the writer of the New Testament Epistle of Jude .
  . . ." VanderKam, 155-56

41
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.2.6 Other Authoritative Books
• Temple Scroll "It is attested in fewer copies
  than either Jubilees or the various parts of 1
  Enoch two copies from Cave 11 . . . one fragment
  from Cave 4. Nevertheless, the text lays a
  powerful claim to its own inspiration its
  contents are cast as the direct speech of God to
  Moses on Mount Sinai." VanderKam, 156
• "Yigael Yadin, . . . Has argued convincingly that
  the Temple Scroll was the Essence Torah and equal
  in importance with the traditional Torah, and
  thus was venerated as a holy book in the Essene
  community." McDonald, 72
• N.B. the use of "I" or "Me" instead of the
  tetragrammaton.

42
2. The Canon at Qumran

• 2.3 Summaries
• "The Qumran literature is the only example that
  we have of a Jewish library from the last
  centuries B.C. and the first century A.D. in
  which we can examine the evidence for a
  "canonical" consciousness. The texts prove that
  the books of the Law and Prophets were paid high
  honor there, as were Psalms and Daniel. They show
  little or no evidence that several of the books
  in the later category of the Writings were held
  in such regard. They also demonstrate that other
  books were authoritative Jubilees and parts of 1
  Enoch in particular but also the Temple Scroll
  and probably others such as commentaries. Thus,
  one gets the impression that the Qumranites

43
2. The Canon at Qumran

• did not have a closed, precisely defined list of
  books that constituted a Bible or perhaps more
  precisely, we sense that the residents of Qumran
  included in their category of authoritative books
  several works that never became parts of the
  Hebrew Bible. The community certainly believed
  that revelation continued to be given in their
  time." VanderKam, 157
• "In short, though the books constituting the
  inner core of the collection, viz., the Torah and
  the main prophets, were clearly considered
  authoritative works of Scripture, and their order
  was largely but not fully set, works nearer the
  periphery were still finding their place."
  Ulrich, "The Bible in the Making," 82

44
2. The Canon at Qumran

• "We may confidently say, therefore, that the
  'canon' of the Qumran community included the
  Pentateuch, the Prophets, the Psalms (possibly
  with a few supplementary psalms). It also
  included the book of Daniel, who is called
  'Daniel the prophet' (as in Matt. 24 15), and
  probably Job (an Aramaic targum or paraphrase of
  Job was found in Cave 11 at Qumran). . . . But
  what of Tobit, Jubilees and Enoch,36 fragments of
  which were also found at Qumran? . . . . There is
  no evidence which would justify the answer 'Yes'
  on the other hand, we do not know enough to
  return the answer 'No'." Bruce, 39-40

45
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 The Primacy of the Torah
• "The Rabbinic view of the canon singled out the
  Torah for special recognition and authority . . .
  . according to the Talmud, the Torah scrolls
  alone could not be divided (for inheritance
  purposes), even though the rest of the holy books
  could be divided in their appropriate seams and
  under certain conditions. The scrolls of the
  Torah were kept in a separate place from the
  other scrolls of the scriptures and were first in
  the tevah where they were placed in bins and
  bound. By the fifth century they were kept
  separately in the prayer room in an ark behind a
  curtain, a parochet, which recalled the curtain
  in front of the Holy of Holies in the temple."
  McDonald, 75

46
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 b. Baba Bathra 14.14b-15a
• "Our Rabbis taught The order of the Prophets is,
  Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
  Isaiah, and the Twelve Minor Prophets. Let us
  examine this. Hosea came first, as it is written,
  God spake first to Hosea. But did God speak first
  to Hosea? Were there not many prophets between
  Moses and Hosea? R. Johanan, however, has
  explained that what It means is that he was the
  first of the four prophets who prophesied at that
  period, namely, Hosea, Isaiah, Amos and Micah.
  Should not then Hosea come first? Since his
  prophecy is written along with those of Haggai,
  Zechariah and Malachi, and Haggai, Zechariah and
  Malachi came at the end of the prophets, he is

47
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 b. Baba Bathra 14.14b-15a
• reckoned with them. But why should he not be
  written separately and placed first? Since his
  book is so small, it might be lost if copied
  separately. Let us see again. Isaiah was prior
  to Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Then why should not
  Isaiah be placed first? Because the Book of Kings
  ends with a record of destruction and Jeremiah
  speaks throughout of destruction and Ezekiel
  commences with destruction and ends with
  consolation and Isaiah is full of consolation
  therefore we put destruction next to destruction
  and consolation next to consolation. The order of
  the Hagiographa is Ruth, the Book of Psalms, Job,
  Prophets, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs,
  Lamentations, Daniel and the Scroll of Esther,
  Ezra

48
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 b. Baba Bathra 14.14b-15a
• and Chronicles. Now on the view that Job lived in
  the days of Moses, should not the book of Job
  come first? We do not begin with a record of
  suffering. But Ruth also is a record of
  suffering? It is a suffering with a sequel of
  happiness, as R. Johanan said Why was her name
  called Ruth? Because there issued from her David
  who replenished the Holy One, blessed be He, with
  hymns and praises."
• "Who wrote the Scriptures? Moses wrote his own
  book and the portion of Balaam and Job. Joshua
  wrote the book which bears his name and the
  last eight verses of the Pentateuch. Samuel
  wrote the book which bears his name and the Book
  of Judges and Ruth. David wrote the Book of
  Psalms,

49
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 b. Baba Bathra 14.14b-15a
• including in it the work of the elders, namely,
  Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Heman,
  Yeduthun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah.
  Jeremiah wrote the book which bears his name, the
  Book of Kings, and Lamentations. Hezekiah and his
  colleagues wrote Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song of
  Songs and Ecclesiastes. The Men of the Great
  Assembly wrote Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor
  Prophets, Daniel and the Scroll of Esther. Ezra
  wrote the book that bears his name and the
  genealogies of the Book of Chronicles up to his
  own time. This confirms the opinion of Rab, since
  Rab Judah has said in the name of Rab Ezra did
  not leave Babylon to go up to Eretz Yisrael until
  he had written his own genealogy. Who then

50
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 b. Baba Bathra 14.14b-15a
• finished it the Book of Chronicles? Nehemiah
  the son of Hachaliah."
• ". . . As a baraita, that is, a tradition from
  the tannaitic period, 70 CE 200 CE. Beckwith
  places it before Josephus and possibly from the
  time of Judas Maccabeus in 164 BCE, but Childs,
  more cautiously, says that it dates no later than
  200 CE." McDonald, 76
• "For the most part the baraita sections of the
  Talmud originated in the Tannaitic period (I.e.
  pre-A.D. 200) but were not included in the
  collection of Tannaitic traditions, the Mishnah."
  E. E. Ellis, The Old Testament of the Early
  Church, 12

51
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.1 b. Baba Bathra 14.14b-15a
• "It is significant that the baraita is concerned
  not with the identity of the canonical books but
  with their order. That is, it suggests no
  controversy about the limits of the canon, but it
  may reflect a situation in which there were
  uncertainties or divergent traditions among the
  Jews about the sequence and divisions of the
  canon . . . ." Ellis, 12

52
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.3 Mishnah Yadayim 5.3
• ALL THE HOLY WRITINGS RENDER UNCLEAN THE HANDS.
• THE SONG OF SONGS AND ECCLESIASTES RENDER UNCLEAN
  THE HANDS.
• R. JUDAH SAYS THE SONG OF SONGS RENDERS UNCLEAN
  THE HANDS, BUT THERE IS A DISPUTE ABOUT
  ECCLESIASTES.
• R. JOSE SAYS ECCLESIASTES DOES NOT RENDER
  UNCLEAN THE HANDS, BUT THERE IS A DISPUTE ABOUT
  THE SONG OF SONGS.
• R. SIMEON SAYS THE RULING ABOUT ECCLESIASTES
  IS ONE OF THE LENIENCIES OF BETH SHAMMAI AND ONE
  OF THE STRINGENCIES OF BETH HILLEL.

53
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.3 Mishnah Yadayim 5.3
• R. SIMEON B. AZZAI SAID I RECEIVED A TRADITION
  FROM THE SEVENTY-TWO ELDERS ON THE DAY WHEN THEY
  APPOINTED
• R. ELEAZAR B. AZARIAH HEAD OF THE ACADEMY THAT
  THE SONG OF SONGS AND ECCLESIASTES RENDER UNCLEAN
  THE HANDS.
• R. AKIBA SAID FAR BE IT! NO MAN IN ISRAEL
  DISPUTED ABOUT THE SONG OF SONGS BY SAYING THAT
  IT DOES NOT RENDER UNCLEAN THE HANDS.

54
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.3 Mishnah Yadayim 5.3
• FOR THE WHOLE WORLD IS NOT AS WORTHY AS THE DAY
  ON WHICH THE SONG OF SONGS WAS GIVEN TO ISRAEL
• FOR ALL THE WRITINGS ARE HOLY BUT THE SONG OF
  SONGS IS THE HOLY OF HOLIES.
• SO THAT IF THEY HAD A DISPUTE, THEY HAD A DISPUTE
  ONLY ABOUT ECCLESIASTES.
• A. JOHANAN B. JOSHUA THE SON OF THE FATHER-IN-LAW
  OF R. AKIBA SAID IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WORDS OF
  BEN AZZAI SO THEY DISPUTED, AND SO THEY REACHED A
  DECISION.

55
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.3 Mishnah Yadayim 5.3
• "From the comments made about Song of Songs and
  Qoheleth . . . it is clear that some dispute and
  question did arise as to their sacred status."
  McDonald, 80
• 3.4 Recognition of Sirach as "Scripture"
• Qumran - Sir 6.20-31 (2Q18) Sir 51.13-19, 30
  (11QPsa) Masada Sir 39.27-32 40.10-44.17.
• "Leiman contends that the book of Sirach was
  venerated among the Tannaim and the Amoraim, but
  it did not receive a canonical status from them.
  When sectarian groups of Jews (Christians?)
  included Sirach in their biblical canons, Rabbi
  Aqiba banned the book from being

56
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.4 Recognition of Sirach as "Scripture"
• as scripture, which suggests either that Aqiba
  gave only his own private opinion on the status
  of the book or that the portions of Sirach quoted
  as scripture came, not from the book of Sirach,
  but from quotations that were cited from memory
  in the rabbinic traditions formulated before the
  Aqiba ban. Leiman acknowledges that the book was
  also cited as scripture by Simeon b. Shetah from
  the first century BCE." McDonald, 81-82
• 3.5 The Mishnah Its Use of Scripture
• Only one tractate of the Mishnah, Aboth, out of
  the 62 tractates has any references to scripture.
  (Tannaim Period 70-200CE)

57
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.5 The Mishnah Its Use of Scripture
• N.B. the contrast with the NT and its use of
  quotes of the OT.
• 3.6 Outside Books (R. Aqiba, 130s CE)
• But the following have no share in the world to
  come he who maintains that the resurrection is
  not intimated in the Torah, or that the Torah was
  not divinely revealed, and an Epicurean. R. Akiba
  (110-135) adds one who reads the outside books,
  and one who whispers a charm over a wound and
  recites I will not bring upon you any of the
  diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I
  the Lord am your healer (Exod 15.26) . . . . m.
  Sanh. 10.1)

58
3. Rabbinic Tradition, 90-500CE

• 3.7 Cairo Geniza (882 CE 1890)
• "Among what was found were copies of the
  Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, and versions of
  the Bible in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic. There
  are also a number of boxes of the Talmud
  (Yerushalmi). The total number of fragments found
  in Cairo are estimated to be over 200,000.
  Fragments of the Damascus Document, which was
  also found at Qumran, a Hebrew text of Sirach,
  and Aquila's Greek translation of the Bible were
  discovered." McDonald, 84
• Geniza "withdrawn"

59
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.1 Name
• "The name of the Septuagint derives from the
  legend that 72 (70) elders translated the
  Pentateuch into Greek. In the second century C.E.
  this tradition was extended to all the
  translated books of the Bible, and finally the
  name 'Septuaginta' referred to all the books
  contained in the canon of the Greek Bible,
  including books that are not translations of an
  original Semitic text." Tov, The Septuagint,
  161
• "Ancient sources mention 72,70 or 5 translators
  of the Pentateuch. The main tradition-which is
  found in rabbinic, Jewish-Hellenistic and
  Christian sources - mentions 72 or 70 elders,
  and only a few sources (e.g. Avot de-Rabbi Natan
  B 37, 94f.) mention 5

60
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.1 Name
• translators. The numbers 70 and 72 are probably
  legendary and the precise relationship between
  them is unclear. Possibly the original tradition
  referred to 72 translators (6 elders from each
  tribe as mentioned in the Epistle of Aristeas)
  and this number was then rounded off to 70."
  Tov, 161
• "Greek. In order to distinguish between the two
  usages of the word, the collection of
  Jewish-Greek Scripture is generally called the
  'Septuagint', while the first translation of the
  Bible is often named 'the Old Greek
  (translation)'." Tov, 161
• "The canon of the Septuagint contains three types
  of books a) A Greek translation of the 24
  canonical

61
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.1 Name
• books of the Hebrew Bib1e.b) A Greek translation
  of books not included in the Hebrew canon. c)
  Books written in Greek as the Wisdom of Solomon
  and the Additions to Daniel and Esther. The
  latter two groups together form the so-called
  Apocrypha." Tov, 162

62
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.2 Date Origin
• "The Greek translation of the scriptures was made
  available from time to time in the third and
  second centuries BC (say during the century
  250-150 BC). The law, comprising the five books
  of Moses, was the first part of the scriptures to
  appear in a Greek version the reading of the law
  was essential to synagogue worship, and it was
  important that what was read should be
  intelligible to the congregation. At first,
  perhaps, the law was read in Hebrew, as it was
  back home in Palestine, and someone was appointed
  to give an oral translation in Greek. But as time
  went on a written Greek version was provided, so
  that it could be read directly." Bruce, 43-44

63
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.2 Date Origin
• "A major undertaking to translate the law of
  Moses took place in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime
  during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (ca.
  285-246 BCE). According to the Letter of Aristeas
  (ca. 130-170 BCE), a legendary account of the
  event, King Ptolemy II wanted to have a copy of
  the law of Moses for his library and took
  remarkable steps to insure the integrity of the
  translation itself. Although no one today takes
  seriously everything in this composition and
  anachronistic account, it is probably fair to say
  that the translation of the Greek scriptures
  began during the Egyptian reign of Ptolemy II
  over Palestine, when relations were very positive
  between Alexandria

64
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.2 Date Origin
• and Jerusalem and good Hebrew manuscripts and
  capable Jewish scholarship to help with the
  project were easily obtainable." McDonald, 85-86

65
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.2 Date Origin
• "Only a few data are known concerning the time of
  composition of the translations contained in the
  canon of the 'LXX'. According to the Epistle of
  Aristeas the Pentateuch was translated in the
  third century B.C.E. this seems plausible in the
  light of the early date of some papyri of the
  Pentateuch (middle or end second century B.C.E.).
  The books of the Prophets and Hagiographa were
  translated after the Pentateuch, since in them
  extensive use is made of its vocabulary and it is
  often quoted. As for the terminus ad quem, since
  the grandson of Ben Sira knew the translation of
  the books of the Prophets and part of the
  Hagiographa (132 or 116 B.C.E., according to
  different

66
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.2 Date Origin
• computations), these translations were probably
  finished before the first century B.C.E. Most of
  the books may have been translated at an early
  stage (beginning second century B.C.E. or
  earlier)." Tov, 162
• "One may note that the following books are quoted
  in early sources Chronicles is quoted by
  Eupolemus (middle second century B.C.E.) and Job
  by Pseudo-Aristeas (beginning first century
  B.C.E.). Additionally, Isaiah contains allusions
  to historical occurrences which indicate that it
  was translated in the middle of the second
  century B.C.E." Tov, 162

67
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.3 Position within Judaism Christianity
• Letter of Aristeas "When the work was completed,
  Demetrius collected together the Jewish
  population in the place where the translation had
  been made, and read it over to all, in the
  presence of the translators, who met with a great
  reception also from the people, because of the
  great benefits which they had conferred upon
  them. They bestowed warm praise upon Demetrius
  too, and urged him to have the whole law
  transcribed and present a copy to their leaders.
  After the books had been read, the priests and
  the elders of the translators and the Jewish
  community and the leaders of the people stood up
  and said, that since so excellent and sacred and
  accurate a translation had

68
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.3 Position within Judaism Christianity
• been made, it was only right that it should
  remain as it was, and no alteration should be
  made in it. And when the whole company expressed
  their approval, they bade the pronounce a curse
  in accordance with their custom upon anyone who
  should make any alteration either by adding
  anything or changing in any way whatever any of
  the words which had been written or making any
  omission. This was a very wise precaution to
  ensure that the book might be preserved for all
  the future time unchanged." APOT, 2.83-84

69
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.3 Position within Judaism Christianity
• "Originally the LXX was a Jewish translation, and
  hence was quoted by Jewish historians (Demetrius,
  Eupolemus, Artapanus, Josephus), poets (Ezekiel)
  and philosophers (Philo). Especially the
  Pentateuch was also used in the synagogue
  service. However, at the end of the first century
  C.E. many Jews ceased to use the LXX because the
  early Christians had adopted it as their own
  translation, and by then it was considered a
  Christian translation. This explains the negative
  attitude of many Rabbis towards the LXX, which is
  reflected inter alia in Massekhet Soferim 17 "It
  happened that five elders translated the
  Pentateuch into Greek for King Ptolemy. That day
  was as hard for

70
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.3 Position within Judaism Christianity
• Israel as the day the calf was made, because the
  Pentateuch could not be translated properly."
  Tov, 163
• ". . . within Judaism the LXX was never esteemed
  as much as in Christianity, because the Jews
  possessed an inspired Hebrew Bible, while to most
  of the Christians the LXX was the only sacred
  source of the OT and to some of them it was their
  main source. At an early stage the belief
  developed that this translation was divinely
  inspired and hence the way was open for several
  Church Fathers to claim that the LXX reflected
  the words of God more precisely than the Hebrew
  Bible." Tov, 163

71
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 A Broader Canon
• The Alexandrian Canon Debate
• "The biggest problem with the theory of the
  Alexandrian canon is that there are no lists or
  collections one can look to in order to see what
  books comprise it. . . . Long ago E. Reuss
  concluded that we know nothing about the LXX
  before the time when the church made extensive
  use of it." McDonald, 91
• "Another problem . . . It has not been shown
  conclusively that the Alexandrian Jews or the
  other Jews of the Dispersion were any more likely
  to adopt other writings as sacred scripture than
  were the Jews of Palestine in the two centuries
  BCE and

72
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 A Broader Canon
• The Alexandrian Canon Debate
• the first century CE. Further, there is no
  evidence as yet that shows the existence of a
  different canon of scriptures in Alexandria than
  in Palestine from the second century to BCE to
  the second century CE." McDonald, 91
• "The reason for thinking that they did, and that
  it was a more comprehensive canon that that
  acknowledged in Palestine, is that Greek-speaking
  Christians, who naturally took over the Greek Old
  Testament which was already in existence, took
  over the Greek version of a number of other books
  and gave some measure of scriptural status to
  them also." Bruce, 43

73
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 A Broader Canon
• Additions Additions to Daniel (Song of the Three
  Children, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon)
  Additions to Esther Additions to Ezra (I.e., the
  material added in 1 Esdras) Additions to
  Jeremiah (the Epistle and Baruch) Tobit Judith
  Sirach Wisdom.

74
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 Septuagint Order
• "The order of books in copies of the Septuagint
  which have come down to us differs from the
  traditional order of the Hebrew Bible, and lies
  behind the conventional order of the Christian
  Old Testament. The law, comprising the five books
  of Moses, comes first in both traditions it is
  followed by the historical books, poetical and
  wisdom books, and the books of the prophets. As
  with the Hebrew Bible, so with the Septuagint,
  the order of books is more fluid when they are
  copied on separate scrolls than when they are
  bound together in codices. But there is no reason
  to think that the Christian scribes who first
  copied the Septuagint into codices devised a new
  sequence for its contents is more likely that
  they took over the

75
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 Septuagint Order
• sequence along with the text itself. It has been
  held indeed that the Septuagint order represents
  an early Palestinian order of the books in the
  Hebrew Bible, contemporary with, and possibly
  even antedating, the Hebrew order which became
  traditional." Bruce, 47
• "After the Pentateuch, the second division of the
  Septuagint corresponds largely with the Former
  Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, but Ruth is
  inserted (in keeping with its dramatic date)
  between Judges and 1 Samuel, and the books of
  Samuel and Kings (called in the Septuagint the
  four books of Kingdoms or Reigns) are followed by
  the books of Chronicles (called Paraleipomena,
  'things left over'), 1 Esdras (a variant Greek
  edition of the history from 2 Chron. 35l to Neh.

76
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 Septuagint Order
• 813), 2 Esdras (our Ezra-Nehemiah), Esther,
  Judith and Tobit. Judith and Tobit are not
  included in the Hebrew Bible Esther in the
  Septuagint is a considerably expanded edition of
  the Hebrew Esther. The third division contains
  the poetical and wisdom books Psalms, Proverbs,
  Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job, Wisdom and
  Ecclesiasticus (the book of Jeshua ben Sira). Of
  these, Wisdom (originally written in Greek) and
  Ecclesiasticus (originally written in Hebrew) are
  not found in the Hebrew Bible. An additional
  psalm (Ps. 151, known in Hebrew at Qumran) is
  appended to the Psalter. As for the fourth
  division (the prophetical books), the twelve
  minor prophets precede the others in the early
  uncial

77
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 Septuagint Order
• manuscripts (notably the Sinaitic, Vatican and
  Alexandrine codices). Jeremiah is followed not
  only by Lamentations but also by the book of
  Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah,neither of
  which is in the Hebrew Bible. Daniel is amplified
  by two stories not in the Hebrew text- the
  History of Susanna, which is put at the
  beginning, and the story of Bel and the Dragon,
  which is added at the end- while a prayer of
  confession and a canticle of praise to God
  Benedicite omnia opera) are put in the mouths of
  Daniels three friends in the fiery furnace, so
  that 68 verses are inserted between verses 23 and
  24 of chapter 3. The books of Maccabees- two,
  three or four in number - form a sort of appendix
  to the Septuagint they do not belong to any of
  its main divisions." Bruce, 47-48

78
4. The Greek Bible

• 4.4 Septuagint Order
• Pentateuch Gen, Exod, Lev, Num, Deut.
• Historical Books Josh, Judg, Ruth, 1-4 Kings, 1
  Esdras, 2 Esdras, Esther, Judith, Tobit.
• Poetic Wisdom Pss, Prov, Ecc, Song of Sol,
  Job, Wisdom, Ecclus.
• Prophetic The Twelve, Isa, Jer (Baruch, Lam,
  Ep. Jer), Ezek, Dan (Sus, Bel and Dragon).
• Maccabees 1-4

79
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.1 Introduction
• 1. "Early Christian writings reveal no trace of
  friction with other Jewish groups about which
  books carried divine authority. This remains the
  case in the second century even in Justin's
  Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, where any such
  divergence might be expected to surface."
• 2. "When the later Diaspora, now mainly gentile,
  church was uncertain about the precise extent of
  the Old Testament books, it sought an answer from
  Jewish or Jewish-Christian communities in
  Palestine."
• 3. "In what has been termed 'the crisis of the
  Old Testament canon,' the second-century church
  raised questions, in fact, not about the
  authority of the Old Testament but about its
  interpretation and

80
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.1 Introduction
• 4. "the heretic Marcion, who rejected the Old
  Testament, represented an aberration in Christian
  practice that was uncharacteristic even of the
  heretical movements."
• 5. "Admittedly, parts of the church later gave
  canonical status to certain Jewish apocryphal
  books. But this appears to have been the
  outgrowth of a popular and unreflective use of
  these writings, a case of custom triumphing over
  judgement." Ellis, 6-7

81
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 1. Justin Martyr
• "The story of the origin of the Septuagint, as
  told in the Letter of Avisteas, is summarized by
  Justin Martyr (c AD 16O), who evidently regards
  the Septuagint version as the only reliable text
  of the Old Testament. Where it differs from the
  Hebrew text, as read and interpreted by the Jews,
  the Jews (he says) have corrupted the text so as
  to obscure the scriptures' plain prophetic
  testimony to Jesus as the Christ. He tells how
  the compositions of the prophets were read in the
  weekly meetings of Christians along with the
  memoirs of the apostles the memoirs of the
  apostles indicated the lines along which the
  prophets words were to be understood." Bruce,
  70

82
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 2. Melito of Sardis (ca 170)
• "These are their names five books of Moses,
  Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy,
  Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four books
  of Kingdom, two books of Chronicles, the Psalms
  of David, the Proverbs of Solomon and his Wisdom,
  Ecclesiastes, the Songs of Songs, Job, the
  prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Twelve in a single
  book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras."
• ". . . Lamentations under Jeremiah and identifies
  Ezra-Nehemiah as Esdras Solomon's Wisdom is in
  all likelihood an alternative designation for
  Proverbs. If so, this list conforms to the
  present Old Testament with the exception of
  Esther, which was apparently omitted, either by
  accident or by design." Ellis, 11

83
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 3. Origen (ca 185-254)
• "Origen's chief contribution to Old Testament
  studies was the compilation called the Hexapla.
  This was an edition of the Old Testament which
  exhibited side by side in six vertical columns
  (1) the Hebrew text, (2) the Hebrew text
  transcribed into Greek letters, (3) Aquilas
  Greek version, (4) Symmachuss Greek version, (5)
  the Septuagint, (6) Theodotions Greek version.
  For certain books two and even three other Greek
  versions were added in further columns. Origen
  paid special attention to the Septuagint column
  his aim was to present as accurate an edition of
  this version as was possible." Bruce, 73

84
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 3. Origen (ca 185-254)
• "He proceeds to give the titles in Greek,
  followed by a transliteration of the Hebrew
  names 'Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
  Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges-Ruth, Kingdoms (1,
  2), Kingdoms (3, 4), Chronicles (1, 2), Esdras
  (1, 2), Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
  Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah-Lamentations-Letter,
  Daniel, Ezekiel, Job, Esther.' In conclusion
  Origen states, 'And outside of these are the
  Maccabees, which are entitled Sarbethsabaniel"
  Ellis, 13

85
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 3. Origen (ca 185-254) vs. Julius Africanus
• "Origen was aware of and reported the biblical
  canon of the Jews, but he did not reject the use
  of deuterocanonical literature for himself or in
  the churches, nor did he limit the OT scriptures
  to that twenty-two-book list. . . . Origen . . .
  Argues that there were many things in the Greek
  Bible that were not in the Hebrew scriptures, but
  that the church could not be expected to give
  them all up! . . . . Origen argued that the
  churches should use Tobit and Judith even though
  the Jews did not. . . . He encouraged the reading
  of some of the apocryphal books, including the
  Maccabees, and he included within his canon of OT
  scriptures the Letter or Epistle of Jeremiah . .
  . ." McDonald, 110

86
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 4. Canon of Laodicea (AD 363)
• "Canon 59 lays it down that no psalms composed
  by private individuals or any uncanonical
  (akanonista) books may be read in church, but
  only the canonical books (kanonika) of the New
  and Old Testament.' Canon 60 (the last of the
  series) then enumerates those canonical books.
  But the genuineness of Canon 60 is open to doubt
  it is probably indebted to the canon of
  Athanasius and other lists. It follows Athanasius
  closely, except that Ruth is attached to Judges .
  . . and Esther follows immediately . . . ."
  Bruce, 80

87
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 5. Cyril of Jerusalem (ca 350)
• "Cyril of Jerusalem, like Athanasius, has a
  twenty-two-book canon in which he refers to the
  LXX scriptures ("which were translated by the
  seventy-two interpreters") and he combines with
  Jeremiah both Baruch and the Epistle of
  Jeremiah." McDonald, 111
• 6. Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 370)
• "Gregory of Nazianzus made a list of canonical
  books that conformed to the twenty-two-letter
  Hebrew alphabet. He omitted Esther and divided
  Judges and Ruth in order to keep the same number
  of books." McDonald, 111

88
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 7. Epiphanius (ca 320-400)
• ". . . Bishop of Salamis . . . twenty-two-book
  list of canonical writings . . . . His list
  parallels the current Protestant OT canon, which
  also depended on the twenty-two Hebrew alphabet.
  . . . Although he excluded them, he clearly
  favored Wisdom and Sirach, which he said are
  "helpful and useful but are not included in the
  number of the recognized." McDonald, 112

89
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 8. Theodore of Mopsuesta (392-428)
• "Some of his views on the canonicity of Old
  Testament books were regarded as dangerously
  radical. In his commentary on Job he denies the
  'higher inspiration' of Proverbs and
  Ecclesiastes. Of the Song of Songs he had no
  great opinion at all." Bruce, 81

90
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 9. Conclusion
• ". . . Among the fourth-century writers of Asia
  Minor, Palestine and Egypt the scholarly
  judgement of the Eastern church is intelligible
  and relatively consistent, and it rests upon
  appeal to ancient Christian tradition. It is
  divided only on the sequence and numbering of the
  books and on the inclusion of Esther, which were
  points at issue already in Judaism. It departs
  from the rabbinic determinations only with
  respect to the Septuagint additions to Jeremiah
  and (apparently) to other books, seemingly
  content to follow the conviction of earlier
  Christian scholars . . . that the masoretic

91
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.2 Eastern Church Fathers
• 9. Conclusion
• rather than the Septuagint text was defective. At
  the same time these writers were quite prepared
  to recognize certain extra-canonical works as a
  second rank of holy books, to cite them
  authoritatively and to include them in the same
  volume with canonical scripture. In this matter
  also they followed ancient practice. However,
  while they were able to differentiate the two
  kinds of holy books, the popular mind
  increasingly mixed and confused them." Ellis,
  23-24

92
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 1. Introduction
• "The church in the West produced no list of Old
  Testament canonical books before the fourth
  century. . . ." Ellis, 24
• "Until Jerome produced a new translation of the
  Old Testament from the Hebrew text at the end of
  the fourth century, the Latin Old Testament was a
  rendering of the Septuagint, including the
  'Septuagintal plus'. There was little if anything
  to indicate to readers of the Old Latin version
  that the 'Septuagintal plus' stood on a different
  footing from the rest of the Old Testament."
  Bruce, 83-84

93
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 2. Tertullian
• "His Old Testament was evidently co-extensive
  with the Septuagint (including the Septuagint
  plus) indeed, in one place he implies that it
  might justifiably be extended beyond the limits
  of the Septuagint." Bruce, 84
• "The Apocalypse of Ezra (4 Ezra) was never
  included in the Septuagint for this reason its
  Greek text has not survived). But Tertullian
  knows and accepts its account of Ezras restoring
  the sacred scriptures of Israel which had been
  destroyed at the time of the Babylonian conquest.
  Another work which found no place in the
  Septuagint was the composite apocalyptic work
  called 1 Enoch. . . . Tertullian approved of it
  and would have been willing to see it included in
  the ancient instrumentum." Bruce, 85

94
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 3. Hilary of Poitiers (ca 315-367)
• "Hilary of Poitiers appears to follow Origen's
  example, but adds two extra books to his canon,
  namely Tobit and Judith, in order to make a
  twenty-four-book biblical canon, which he
  believed followed the Hebrew alphabet. He joins
  Cyprian and Ambrose in combining the Epistle of
  Jeremiah with Jeremiah and Lamentations and
  citing them as having been written by Jeremiah."
  McDonald, 112-113

95
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 4. Jerome (342-420)
• Vulgate "Jerome began his great work of
  biblical translation with a Latin rendering from
  the Septuagint but became convinced, largely by
  the use of Origen's Hexapla and his own knowledge
  of Hebrew, that the extant Greek version, no less
  than the Latin, suffered from many inaccuracies.
  Like Cyril, he still viewed the original work of
  the Septuagint as inspired but decided soon after
  his return to the East to start afresh with a
  translation directly from the Hebrew text, whose
  reliability he apparently did not question."
  Ellis, 30

96
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 4. Jerome (342-420)
• Prologue to Samuel Kings (A. D. 390) "This
  prologue to the Scriptures may serve as a kind of
  helmeted preface for all the books that we have
  rendered from Hebrew into Latin in order that we
  all may know that whatever is outside these is
  to be set apart among the apocrypha. Accordingly,
  the book of Wisdom, commonly ascribed to
  Solomon, and the book of Jesus son of Sirach and
  Judith and Tobit and the Shepherd are not in the
  canon."
• Prologue to 'the Three books of Solomon"As the
  church reads the books of Tobit and Judith and
  the Maccabees but does not receive the among the

97
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 4. Jerome (342-420)
• canonical scriptures, so also it reads these two
  volumes of Ben Sira and Wisdom for the
  edification of the people but not as authority
  for the confirmation of doctrine."
• "In this prologue to Jeremiah Jerome points out
  that he has not included the book of Baruch in
  his version of the major prophet because it is
  neither read nor recognized among the Hebrews . .
  . . In the prologue to his version of Daniel he
  points out that the current Greek form of that
  book is not the original work of the Seventy but
  Theodotions version- I do not know why, he
  adds (but if he had

98
5. Determination of the Canon

• 5.3 Western Church Fathers
• 4. Jerome (342-420)
• compared it with the Hebrew and Aramaic text he
  would have discovered why). Among the Hebrews,
  he says, the book of Daniel contains neither the
  history of Susanna nor the hymn of the three
  young men nor the fables of Bel and the dragon,
  but he has appended them to his translation of
  the book, he adds, lest among the uninstructed
  we should seem to have lopped off a considerable
  part of the volume." Bruce, 92
• "It is with Jerome that the question of the canon
  comes sharply i