The Old Testament Canon
The word "canon" means "rule". When it is
used to refer to the set or collection of books of the Bible which
were identified as authoritative from God, it indicates those
books which were chosen according to certain rules. The decision
as to which books of the Bible are canonical, that is, inspired
by the Holy Spirit, is made according to a set of rules, or criteria,
described below.
God has several reasons for supplying an Old Testament Canon of
revealed Scripture to the people living before the time of Christ:
* That people might have a complete revelation from God in their
own time. It was important that people be given Gospel information
before the time of the Cross and that they understand Grace and
the Plan of God.
* That people might have the written word of God to live by.
* That manuscripts of the inspired writing might be preserved
from corruption and destruction. Therefore, a canon must be defined
so that non-canonical writings may be rejected as far as divine
authorship is concerned. The non-canonical writings include the
Antilogoumena, the Apocryphal writings, etc.
* That the people might know the limits of the inspired writings
and thus define which writings are spurious.
There are three kinds of prophets who wrote the OT; (1) those
who had the gift of prophecy, (2) those who had the office of
prophet, and (3) those who had both the gift and the office.
Moses is a unique prophet in that he had both the gift of prophecy
and the office. He wrote the Torah (meaning "doctrine"
or "law), the Pentateuch.
The prophets who had the gift of Prophecy were known as the nabiim.
Among these were Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and those who
were known as the "minor" prophets. These men were preachers,
communicators; they could marry and bury legally.
Some were called the "former prophets": Joshua, Judges,
Samuel, Kings -- The gospel is found in all of these writings.
The "latter prophets" were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and the twelve minor prophets. You will find the gospel message
in each of these books.
Those who had the gift of prophecy are called the kethubim
- "the writings". Of these we have :
The Poetical writers : Solomon, David, and Job
The Five Scrolls : Song of Solomon, Ruth, Ecclesiastes,
Lamentations, Esther. These were read at feasts (see below).
The Historical Books : Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles.
CRITERIA FOR CANONICITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
* Every extant book of an acknowledged messenger of God, who was
commissioned by God to make His will known, was immediately accepted
as the Word of God.
* The internal evidence of the books themselves bore witness to
the genuineness of the books. See Deut. 31:24-26; Josh. 1:8; Judges
3:4; Neh. 8:1-8; Dan. 9:2,5,6; Zech. 7:12; Jer. 36.
* The law of cause and effect. The books are not called canonical
because Israel recognized them as such, but because all evidence
showed them to be from God. II Kings 22: 23:1,2.
The completion of the canon of the Old Testament took place after
the Babylonian captivity. The writings were collected after the
people moved back into the land under Ezra and Nehemiah, because
the Scriptures were needed. By 425 B.C., all the books of the
Old Testament were written and collected.