The Completion of the Old Testament Canon

Part Two
Bibliology: 13 THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE
A DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY
By Charles F Baker

Thus far we have presented evidence from the Septuagint, from Sirach, from Josephus, and from Christ and the Apostles that the Canon of the Old Testament was recognized and was in existence at least as early as the middle of the third century B.C. For the Christian who accepts the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His testimony alone is sufficient grounds for belief in the inspiration of the Old Testament. This does not tell us, however, just how these 39 books were brought together into one volume, and there is very little information available on the subject. There is a tradition about the Great Synagogue, headed by Ezra the Scribe, having collected the books to form the Canon. Some have associated this Great Synagogue with the great convocation described in Nehemiah 8-10, but there is little similarity between the two. The Destructive Critics have denied altogether the existence of the Great Synagogue, since they would try to prove the very late date of the writing of most of the Old Testament. While much of the tradition about the Great Synagogue is no doubt fanciful and contrary to fact, it is altogether reasonable that the last five writers of the Old Testament who were more or less contemporaneous, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, were responsible for not only restoring the political and religious life of Israel after the Captivity, but also for collecting the sacred writings along with the books they were led to write. There were no inspired writers after their time who would have been in a position to do so important a work and thus it seems most reasonable to believe that there is some basic truth associated with the tradition that the Canon was formed under the leadership of Ezra, the founder of the guild of the Scribes.

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