Canon of Scripture: OT

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Above audio: The OT Canon of Scripture, Dr. Wayne Grudem

source: https://www.waynegrudem.com/chapter-03-the-canon-of-scripture-old-testament-canon-dr-wayne-grudem-4

Note: There are full-length videos located in the Resources lesson.

There is a difference between the canonicity of a book and the authority of that book. A book’s canonicity depends on its authority.

Definition

The English word “canon” goes back to the Greek word kanon and then to the Hebrew qaneh. Its basic meaning is “reed,” our English word “cane” being derived from it. Since a reed was sometimes used as a measuring rod, the word kanon came to mean a standard or rule. It was also used to refer to a list or index and when so applied to the Bible denotes the list of books which are received as Holy Scripture. Thus if one speaks of the “canonical” writings, one is speaking of those books which are regarded as having divine authority and which comprise our Bible.

-Lightfoot, Neil R.. How We Got the Bible (pp. 152-153). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

In early Christian usage the word canon came to mean the “rule of faith” or the normative writings (i.e., the authoritative Scriptures). The word canon was applied to the Bible in both active and passive senses. In the active sense, the Bible is the canon by which all else is to be judged. In the passive sense, canon meant the rule or standard by which a writing was judged to be inspired or authoritative.

Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (pp. 87-88). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

I personally think that Dr. Timothy Paul Jones is a bit off in his definition, trying to tie the tubular shape of a reed with a cannon (the weapon). That’s a bit of a stretch. The common connection of reed = papyrus = codex/biblios = Bible seems more likely.

Determining Canonicity

Inspiration is the means by which the Bible received its authority; canonization is the process by which the Bible received its acceptance.

-N. Geisler

“It is the inspiration of a book which determines its canonicity. God gives the divine authority to a book and men of God receive it. God reveals and His people recognize what He reveals. Canonicity is determined by God and discovered by man.”

Some Inadequate Views on What Determines Canonicity

  • Age determines canonicity
  • The Hebrew language determines canonicity
  • Agreement with the Torah determines canonicity
  • Religious value determines canonicity
  • Church Authority determines canonicity
  • Christian usage determines canonicity

Principles for Discovering Canonicity

  • Was it written by a prophet of God?
  • Did the writer have credentials from God?
  • Did it tell the truth about God, man, etc?
  • Did it possess the life-transforming power of God?
  • Was it received or accepted by the people of God for whom it was written?

Geisler himself cautions that, “we should not imagine a committee of church fathers with a large pile of books and these five guiding principles before them when we speak of the process of canonization. No ecumenical committee was commissioned to canonize the Bible.”

He then goes on to further expound on the patterns that he recognized while studying the historical context of the formation of the canon. Before listing the process for discovering canonicity, He says, “What is to be noted here is how the five rules for canonicity were used in the process of discovering which books were inspired of God and therefore canonical.”

  • Some principles are only implicit in the process.
  • Some principles operate as a negative test.
  • The most essential principle is propheticy

Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (p. 92). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

A book first has divine authority based on its inspiration, and then attains canonicity due to its general acceptance as a divine product. No church council by its decrees can make the books of the Bible authoritative. The books of the Bible possess their own authority and, indeed, had this authority long before there were any councils of the church.

-Lightfoot, Neil R.. How We Got the Bible (p. 153). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

God inspired the books, the original people of God recognized and collected them, and later believers categorized the canonical books according to the overall unity they perceived in them. This in brief is the story of the canonization of the Bible.

Development of the Canon

In order to understand how the OT canon was accepted over time, it is imperative to first understand how the Hebrew bible (TaNaK) came to be because this is the Bible Jesus and His disciples referred to when quoting the Old Testament scriptures

Note: Some scholars like Geisler and Comfort do not subscribe to the 3-fold TaNaK division of OT, but rather a twofold division of 'Law + Prophets' only.
source: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/old-testament-tanak/

The TaNaK

DOWNLOAD PDF: What Is The Bible?
DOWNLOAD: TaNaK Poster

I highly recommend going through Mackie’s in-depth class on The Hebrew Bible.

Another earlier podcast entitled: Crash Course on The Torah is also a great listen.

Another take on arrangement

“Josephus mentioned a twenty-two-book count of authoritative texts (Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων, 1: [8] 41). His count included the same texts as the twenty-four-book canon; the only difference is that Ruth was included in Judges and Lamentations was included as an appendix to Jeremiah.”

-Timothy Paul Jones

-source: Timothy Paul Jones, How We Got the Bible

Process of Collection + Preservation

3 Steps in the Process of Canonization

INSPIRATION BY GOD

RECOGNITION BY THE SPOKESPERSONS OF GOD

  • The writings of these men were accepted in their day:
    • Moses (Ex. 24:3)
    • Joshua (Josh. 24:26),
    • Samuel (1 Sam. 10:25),
    • Jeremiah (Dan. 9:2).
  • This recognition is further confirmed by New Testament writers in Matt. 19:7; Mark 7:10; Luke 20:28 as well as by Jesus Himself in Luke 24:27, 44.

COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION BY THE PEOPLE OF GOD

The Word of God was treasured by His people. For example,

  • the people preserved the writings of Moses by the ark (Deut. 31:26).
  • Samuel’s words were put “in a book and laid … before the LORD” (1 Sam. 10:25).
  • In Josiah’s day the Law of Moses was preserved in the temple (2 Kings 23:24).
  • Daniel had a collection of “the books” in which were found “the law of Moses” and “the prophets” (Dan. 9:2, 6, 13).
  • Ezra possessed copies of the law of Moses and the prophets (Neh. 9:14, 26–30).
  • New Testament believers possessed the whole of the Old Testament “Scripture[s]” (2 Tim. 3:16), both law and prophets (Matt. 5:17).

What the evidence demonstrates is that there was a continuing prophetic community that preserved, arranged, and even updated names and places, sometimes adding new revelations, but never making content changes in former revelation. A divinely inspired and inerrant writing has no mistakes in it to correct.

-Geisler

Process of Preservation: Walking through History

“There is not enough data to form a complete history of the Old Testament canon. Sufficient material is available, however, to provide an overall sketch and to illustrate some crucial links. The rest must be projected as a result of the exercise of reasonable judgment.”

– N. Geisler

After Moses, we see a succession of prophets and others, cross-referencing scripture:

  • Post Mosaic Period (Joshua references Moses)
  • During the Exile (Daniel references Moses/Prophets incl. colleague Jeremiah)
  • PostExilic Period (Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah reference Moses)
  • Intertestamental Period (Maccabees, Qumran Essenes referenced Law/Prophets)
  • New Testament Times (Jesus, Disciples/Apostles referenced Law/Prophets)

Self-Attestation of Scripture

A partial walk-through the OT starting with the first mention of God’s Word being written by God himself.

We then see a pattern of these laws, instructions, events/memorials, prophecies, psalms, and others – being passed down orally, then in writing.

Aside: Definitions in the OT

How It Started: Oral + Written by God

Exodus 31:18 ESV
And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Exodus 32:15-16 ESV
Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. [16] The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Oral 

Exodus 13:8-9 ESV 
You shall tell your son on that day, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' [9] And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.

Oral + Written

(First mention of Moses writing)

Exodus 17:14 ESV 
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." 

Exodus 24:3-4,7 ESV 
Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do." [4] And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. [7] Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient."

Notice reference to ‘Book of the Covenant’

Oral + Written

Exodus 24:12 ESV 
The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." 

Exodus 25:16, 21 ESV 
And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you. [21] And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 

Exodus 25:22 ESV 
There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

Oral + Written 

Deuteronomy 31:9-13 ESV 
Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. [10] And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, [11] when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. [12] Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, [13] and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."

Oral + Written 

Deuteronomy 31:19, 30 ESV 
"Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. [30] Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:” 

Joshua 1:8 ESV 
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Oral + Written 

Joshua 8:30-32,34-35 ESV 
At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, [31] just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, "an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool." And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings. [32] And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. [34] And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. [35] There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.
But the collection is quickly forgotten… 
Judges 2:7-8,10-13 ESV 
And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. [8] And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years… [10] And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. [11] And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. [12] And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. [13] They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

Written: Pre Exile

Isaiah 8:16-17,19-20 ESV 
Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. [17] I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. [19] And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? [20] To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Oral + Written: Post Exile

Zechariah 1:6 ESV
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers 

Zechariah 7:7, 11-13 ESV 
Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?'" [11] But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. [12] They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. [13] "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts,

Septuagint and Apocrypha – Where did they come from? Where do they fit in?

In the next lessons, we’ll take a look at these writings and how they ended up with the collection as it grew. We’ll also discuss their standing as part of the accepted canon – or not.