We shall begin by giving a general account of the historical and
literary conditions under which the unique literature of the Old
Testament sprang up, of the stages by which it gradually reached its
present form, and (so far as this is possible) of the way in which the
Biblical books were brought together in a canonical collection. There
exists no formal historical account of the formation of the Old
Testament canon. The popular idea that this canon was closed by Ezra has
no foundation in antiquity. Certainly in the apocryphal book of 2
Esdras, written towards the end of the 1st century A.D., we read (xiv.
20-26, 38-48), that, the law being burnt, Ezra, at his own request, was
miraculously inspired to rewrite it; he procured accordingly five
skilled scribes, and dictated to them for forty days, during which time
they wrote 94 books, i.e. not only (according to the Jewish reckoning)
the 24 books of the Old Testament, but 70 apocryphal books as well,
which, being filled, it is said, with a superior, or esoteric wisdom,
are placed upon even a higher level (vv. 46, 47) than the Old Testament
itself. No argument is needed to show that this legend is unworthy of
credit; even if it did deserve to be taken seriously, it still contains
nothing respecting either a completion of the canon, or even a
collection, or redaction, of sacred books by Ezra. Yet it is frequently
referred to by patristic writers; and Ezra, on the strength of it, is
regarded by them as the genuine restorer of the lost books of the Old
Testament (see EZRA).
In 2 Macc. ii. 13 it is said that Nehemiah, "founding a library,
gathered together the things concerning the kings and prophets, and the
(writings) of David, and letters of kings about sacred gifts." These
statements are found in a part of 2 Macc. which is admitted to be both
late and full of untrustworthy matter; still, the passage _may_ preserve
an indistinct reminiscence of an early stage in the formation of the
canon, the writings referred to being possibly the books of Samuel and
Kings and some of the Prophets, a part of the Psalter, and documents
such as those excerpted in the book of Ezra, respecting edicts issued by
Persian kings in favour of the Temple. But obviously nothing definite
can be built upon a passage of this character.
The first traces of the idea current in modern times that the canon of
the Old Testament was closed by Ezra are found in the 13th century A.D.
From this time, as is clearly shown by the series of quotations in
Ryle's _Canon of the Old Testament_, p. 257 ff. (2nd ed., p. 269 ff.),
the legend--for it is nothing better--grew, until finally, in the hands
of Elias Levita (1538), and especially of Johannes Buxtorf (1665), it
assumed the form that the "men of the Great Synagogue,"--a body the real
existence of which is itself very doubtful, but which is affirmed in the
Talmud to have "written" (!) the books of Ezekiel, the Minor Prophets,
Daniel and Esther--with Ezra as president, first collected the books of
the Old Testament into a single volume, restored the text, where
necessary, from the best MSS., and divided the collection into three
parts, the Law, the Prophets and the "Writings" (the Hagiographa). The
reputation of Elias Levita and Buxtorf led to this view of Ezra's
activity being adopted by other scholars, and so it acquired general
currency. But it rests upon no authority in antiquity whatever.
The statement just quoted, however, that in the Jewish canon the books
of the Old Testament are divided into three parts, though the
arrangement is wrongly referred to Ezra, is in itself both correct and
important. "The Law, the Prophets and the Writings (i.e. the
Hagiographa)" is the standing Jewish expression for the Old Testament;
and in every ordinary Hebrew Bible the books are arranged accordingly in
the following three divisions:--