Chapter IV

THE CANONICAL BOOKS. SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH.

=1. The word “Canon”= is a Greek word and means a “measure,” or “rule.” It was first used in the fourth century of the Christian era to designate the authorized books of the Bible.

But the question arises, By whom were these books determined? The history is as follows.

=2. During the captivity of Judah= a spirit of reverence for the Law arose, and after they came back to Palestine it was cherished to an extent never before known.

=3. At no time= in the history of the Jews had a period existed when a true Canon of the Old Testament writings could better have been formed. The large number of learned and devout men who were found by Ezra competent to explain the Scriptures, as recorded by Nehemiah, chapters eight and nine, proves that the study of the Law had not been neglected during the captivity; and, as we know, several of the prophets uttered their prophecies to the nation not long before, as well as soon after, the return.

=4. The tradition seems= to be well sustained that this was the era when more careful attention was paid to the “collecting, authenticating, and defining the canonical books of the Old Testament and in multiplying copies of them, by careful transcription,”[119] than ever before or since.

=5. The traditions of the various sects had= not yet distracted attention from that which was more trustworthy in Jewish history and in the clearer and more certain deliverances of their ancient seers and prophets.

=6. We must now remember= that all the books, except the Mosaic books of the Pentateuch, were in separate manuscripts. Those which Ezra had were either copies of those which had escaped the destruction of Jerusalem, or they were the original manuscripts themselves.

=7. That some manuscripts did escape= that destruction is evident from the words of Daniel (9:2), by which we see that he, while in Babylon, was in possession of the writings of Jeremiah and of other books “and of the Law of Moses the servant of God,” verses 11, 13, seventeen years before the close of the captivity, namely B. C. 553.

But even without any definite statement as to the actual existence of the manuscripts of the Old Testament books, it is incredible that with all their devotion to the Law there should have been no copies in the possession of any one. When we remember their intense regard for their ancient history and for the songs of Zion; and when we consider the reverential learning and ability of such men as Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi and others, it is not reasonable to suppose that there should have been no copies of the sacred books extant at the time of the return.

=8. Ezra was not only skilled= in the Hebrew, but also in the Chaldee, called Aramaic. He was thoroughly acquainted with the literature of the Jewish nation and deeply imbued with the spirit of his office as priest and scribe. And Ezra was not alone in this respect.

=9. It was in his time=, as the Jewish writings tell us, that able and devout men among the Jews, called elders, were assembled under Ezra’s direction with the purpose of forming a body sometimes called the Great Council or Synagogue.

These elders, with Ezra and probably Nehemiah, the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and years afterward Malachi, continued to meet through many years, some of the most learned and devout taking the places of those who died, until the death of one “Simon the Just,” about B. C. 300,[120] when this council was apparently resolved into that court of the Jews called the “Sanhedrin.” Jewish tradition asserts that the entire number of the Great Synagogue was one hundred and twenty, during about as many years.

=10. This body of “The Great Synagogue”= determined the number of the books.

A letter to some of the Jews in Egypt after the Temple was built states that Nehemiah had already collected “a library” in the Temple.

In this account it is said that Nehemiah, while founding a library, gathered together the writings concerning the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about offerings.[121] But the chief object was to collect those writings which were not only ancient and were copies of the ancient history, but those which had to do with the relations of God to the people and their duties towards God.

=11. From many allusions= to these times it is evident that there never was a period when the people were so willing, and even earnestly desirous, to learn and obey whatever was duty.[122]

What was now wanted by the whole Jewish people was such a collection from all their literature that it should be well authenticated and trustworthy as history, and at the same time authoritative as a guide and as a rule of faith and practice.

=12. From what we have now said=, it is evident that no one was more competent for the work of gathering these records than were Ezra and his associates, and the Jewish records assert that he, with Nehemiah and others, performed this work of gathering and selecting, and thus forming that collection of the ancient writings which not only he, but those of this the most learned and devout age, considered to be truthful, and, as Josephus says, “directions of God,” or as Eusebius quoted him, “justly considered divine.”

=13. When these writings were gathered= and pronounced to be the books which, Josephus says, were those “comprising a record of all time and justly confided in,” as he declares, “no one ever after ventured to add anything to them, nor take away from them, nor alter them.”[123] The Old Testament was now formed and settled and the Canonical period was closed.

THE INSTITUTION OF THE SYNAGOGUE.

=14. The meaning of the word synagogue= is simply “a gathering together,” but the name became, in after years, a term for the place and building where the Jews gathered for worship, and this meaning continues to the present day.

=15. After the exile began=, the Jews, having no temple in Babylonia, may have had meeting-places, but the synagogue, as it existed in the time of our Saviour and since, does not appear to have been instituted till long after the return from the captivity.

=16. Immediately after the captivity= the synagogue became fully organized as a place where the Jews gathered to read the law, and have it read and explained in the language of the people; for during the captivity the ancient pure Hebrew was to a great extent forgotten among the common people, and the Chaldæan language, which was that of their conquerors, was adopted. This language was unlike the ancient Hebrew, and was called the Aramæan or Aramaic, and after the captivity, at the synagogues, there were always present some who were able to read and explain the books of the law in both dialects,[124] Neh. 8:8. Although the institution of the synagogue, simply as such a gathering as we have just mentioned, took place before the second Temple was finished, it was continued ever afterward.

=17. The distinctive purpose of the Temple= was for the offering of the sacrifices, and that of the synagogues was for prayer and hearing the Scriptures. In later times, just before and after the Christian era, it became in addition a place for the meeting of Jewish courts, and not only was sentence pronounced in these courts, but punishment followed upon sentence immediately. Hence we read that scourging might, at some time, be inflicted there. See Matt. 10:17; Mark 13:9, and elsewhere.

WHO WERE THE SAMARITANS?

=18. When the ten tribes were carried= away captive by Sargon, B. C. 721, other nations were transferred from the region to which these captives were taken, according to the custom which we have mentioned (pages 160 and 161). A large number of other captives from other lands were imported to Samaria, the former capital and region of the ten tribes. Many of these imported heathen captives joined with the remnant of the Israelites still remaining after the captivity, and made up a mixed worship of Jehovah as taught by one of the priests, 2 Kings 17:34. This priest, at their request, the king of Assyria returned to them, to teach them the Jewish way of worship, 2 Kings 17:27. This state of things continued in Samaria until after the return of Judah from the captivity.

When the Jews undertook to rebuild the Temple under Zerubbabel, these Samaritans made application to join them in that work and were refused. The refusal aroused their enmity and active opposition, which was greatly increased in after times, as we shall see.

SHECHEM AND SAMARIA.

=19. Shechem was thirty miles north= from Jerusalem and five miles southeast from the city of Samaria. The _district_ of Samaria must be distinguished from the _city_ of Samaria; the latter having been the residence of the kings of Israel, or of the northern kingdom, for many years. At the time of Alexander the Great the Samaritans were expelled from this city because of a mutiny against one of his appointed governors of Syria; but a remnant was permitted to occupy Shechem,[125] where they have dwindled down to the present day.

THE SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH.

=20. One very ancient copy= of the Pentateuch, or first five books, called the Law of Moses, remains among this remnant of the Samaritans, at Shechem in Palestine. It is written in the ancient Hebrew letters used before the captivity, and this particular copy is the oldest in the world, so far as is at present known.

It is written in the pure old Hebrew language, but contains only the first five books of the Old Testament in one single roll. It is called the Samaritan, only because it is owned by the Samaritans and has been in their possession from a period several centuries before the Christian era down to the present time.[126]

=21. It has been proven= that during and after the captivity all the writings of the Scriptures, and especially the books of Moses, were transcribed only into the square forms of Hebrew letters which are now used in all our Hebrew Bibles.[127] It seems highly probable therefore that this Samaritan manuscript has been in existence ever since the time when, at the request of the Samaritans, the Assyrian king sent back a priest (page 190) to teach them, and “he taught them the fear of the Lord,” 2 Kings 17:28, B. C. 720.

=22. But it is proper here to state= that this manuscript is thought, by some, to owe its origin to the time when Nehemiah expelled from Jerusalem the grandson of the high-priest, Manasseh by name, because he had married the daughter of Sanballat, their Samaritan enemy. This expulsion of Manasseh took place B. C. 434 (according to Ussher). After this Sanballat built a Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim and made Manasseh high-priest.[128] The enmity already existing between the Jews and the Samaritans was made more bitter by this act, and it continued ever after.

=23. But although the Samaritans= at some time must have obtained their copy of the Law of Moses from the Jews, as the latter say, yet it is not probable that this copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch was obtained from them after this enmity sprang up, and, moreover, because it is written in those letters in which Ezra did not write the law after the captivity. If it was written before, then there is at least one manuscript copy which escaped the misfortunes of the captivity and has come down to the present day.

=24. This manuscript has been mentioned= by several of the early fathers of the third century and has been copied several times during the past three centuries. With the exception of some dates, the variations from the present Hebrew copies are unimportant.