(A) CANON OF TIIE OLD TESTAMENT. The word canon is a Semitic loan-word in Greek, meaning literally a rod or pole, a earpenter's rule: figuratively a model or standard; and in Alexandrian writers sometimes a list of classics. It was used by the pseudo-Aristeas (e.20 A.D.) to indicate the character of the Law; by the Gnos tic Ptolemy (c.200 A.D.) to denote the authority of the sayings of Jesus. and by Atbanasms in A.D. 367 to designate the collection of sacred books. In the churches, and probably already in the synagogues of Alexandria, volumes publicly read as sacred and inspired were termed 'eanoni cal,' in distinction from esoteric or heretical writings withheld from public use. Among the Palestinian Jews such books were at first sim ply said to he 'holy.' But in the First Century A.D. the Pharisees maintained that holy books "made the hands unclean." and that consequently an ablution was necessary after contact with them. The Saddueoes protested in vain against ascribing to them the same kind of sanctity that attached to henve-otrerings and dead bodies. This new ritual naturally tended to fix the limits of the canon. In the case of each book used in the synagogue, the question must be raised whether a washing, was obligatory. Thus the freedom of introducing new books was neces sarily curtailed, and doubts were suggested as to the fitness of some works that had been used.
As in the ease of the New Testament, the final ly established canon of the Hebrewhle was the result of a critical process reducing the number of books approved for public reading. Many works that maintained their place in the Alex andrian canon, such as Ecelesiasticus. .Judith, Tobit, Baruch, and I. 3laceabees, lost somewhat of the prestige they had had when they were first translated from the Hebrew or Aramaic original. Books like the Jubilees, the Psalms of Solomon, the Apocalypses of Enoch. Noah. Baruch, Ezra, and others were crowded out of the synagogue. A sphere of antilegomena was created: Ezekiel, Esther, Canticles. Ecclesiastes, and probably also Daniel, were held by some not to "render the hands unclean." While others deemed them worthy of a place with the accepted writings. This criticism naturally sought likewise to free the text from all supposed later accretions. Thus various additions to Daniel, Esther, and other books were removed. The critical eye was not keen enough to perceive the numerous inter polations in doh, Jeremiah. and elsewhere. and the best guide, the earliest Greek version. was distrusted. But to this critical movement we owe the text, as well as the canon preserved in our MSS. and editions of the Hebrew Bible.
At the end of the Second Century A.D. the canon recognized by most synagogues contained twenty-four books, divided into three parts, viz.:
(1) The Law, or the five books ascribed to Moses. (2) The Prophets, i.e. Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and The Twelve; and (3) The Writings, comprising Ruth, Psalms. Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Can ticles, Lamentations. Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Chronicles. Thee were not all placed on the -same level. As the Law had been the first to acquire authority, so it remained at all times the highest authority, and all non-Mosaic books were looked upon in the light of a commentary on the Law, and classed together as Qabbala, or 'tradition.' Among these books, however, the collection of Prophets' had been more sharply differentiated. In regard to Ezekiel the liberal policy had prevailed: but Daniel was no longer regarded as among the prophets. Ruth and Lamentations were counted as separate books belonging to the third collection; and Canticles, Ecclesiastes. and Esther were permitted to re main in this series. The three divisions evi -dently mark different degrees of estimation. Of this threefold canon we have no evidence earlier than Baba bathra, 13h 14a (c.200 A.D.).
Toward the end of Domitian's reign the num ber of canonical books seems to have been re duced to twenty-two (Josephus, Contra dpionon, i. 8, written c.95 A.D.), or twenty-four (Ap. Ezrre xiv. 44, 45), if Ruth and Lamentations were copied separately for convenience in use at the festivals of Shabuoth and 9th Ab. It was nat ural that the tendency seen in the arrangement of the alphabetic Psalms should also lead to a similar division of the canon. if the number had been fixed as twenty-four at the so-called synod of Yamnia (e.90 A.D.), Josephus is not likely to have changed it to twenty-two. Since he eonnts thirteen books as prophetic and four as poetic and didactic, it. is clear that the at tempt had not yet been made to reduce the pro phetic collection to the number of eight. Daniel and Ezra were very popular prophets at that time. The reaction came later, as a consequence of Christian apologetics. In II. Maw. ii. 13 (written c.35 A.D.), .Judas is said to have founded a library consisting of "books concerning kings and prophets. the poems of David, and letters of kings concerning gifts.' This 'library' is not yet a Canon, and the author is likely to have known as many 'prophets' as Jo sephus recognized. Ben Sira's grandson, who wrote after B.C. 132, was familiar with "the prophets and the other writings," as well as with 'The Law' (Eccles. i. ; but what books he counted as 'prophets' cannot be determined. The evidence seems to point to the Second Cen tury A.D. as the period during which a prophetic canon of eight books was definitely fixed, and with it inevitably the third group.