Parts of the Hebrew Bible--specifically the Torah and some sections of the Nebhiim--appear to have been standardarized by about the year 300 BCE, as evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls (Pelikan 46). The rest was still in flux for 200 years. Sometime around 95 CE, perhaps twenty years after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem during the Jewish-Roman War, a council of exiled Jewish rabbis met in Jamnia (Western Palestine). The leader of this council was Rabbi Akiba (Pelikan 46). The council officially closed the canon of the Hebrew Bible, intending for no new works to be added. (In a moment, we will compare this to the way a church council near the end of the 4th century decided to close the Christian Canon by limiting it to a set number of books.) Before this time, the Song of Solomon, and Koheleth (Ecclesiastes) had been considered doubtful as sources. The council at Jamnia asserted that these should be considered real scripture.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 10:23:31 +0000
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