viz., "the other writings," as distinguished firom the Law and the Prophets (comp. the expression rd dSXa /3t/3Xia, used by the Son of Sirach, Ecclus, ProL) ; and that in process of time it was abbreviated into '' the writings." This part is oommonly cited under the title Hagiographa (q. v.).
5. The O.-T. Canon, as established in the time of Ezra, has remained unaltered to the present day. Some, indeed, have supposed that, because the Sept. version contains some books not in the Hebrew, there must have been a double Canon, a Palestinian and an Egyptian (Sender, Apparat. ad Uberaliorem V, T, inter- pret. § 9, 10 ; Corrodi, BeleuMtng der Gesck. des Jfi- disch. u, ChristluA. Kanons, p. 155-184 ; Augusti, EinUk, ins, A.T, p. 79) ; but this notion haa been complete- ly disproved by Eichhom {EtnUit, i, 28), H&vemick {Einl. i, § 16), and others. All extant evidence is against it The Son of Sirach, and Philo, both Alex- andrian Jews, make no allusion to it ; and Josephus, who evidently used the Greek version, expressly de- clares against it in the passage above referrcMl to (^Ap, i, 8). The earlier notices of the Canon simply designate it by the threefold division already considered. The Son of Sirach mentions ** the Law, the Prophets, and the other books of the fathers ;" and again, ** the Law, the Prophecies, and the rest of the books;" expressions which clearly indicate that in his day the Canon was fixed. In tiie New Test our Lord ft^uently refers to the Old Test under the title of '*llie Scriptures," or of "The Law" (Matt, xxi, 42; 3txii, 29; John x, 80, etc.); and in one place he speaks of "the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms" (Luke xxiv, 44) ; by the third of these titles intending, doubtless, to designate the Hagiographa, either after the Jewish custom of denoting a collection of books by the titie of that with which it commenced, ot, as Havemick suggests, using the term rpaXfioi as a general designa- tion of these books, because of the larger comparative amount of lyric poetiy contained in them {Einl, § 14). Paul applies to the Old Test the appellations "the Holy Writings" (ypa^ac ayiat. Bom. i, 2); "the Sa- cred Letters" (lipa ypafjifiaTa, 2 Tim. iii, 15), and "the Old Covenant" (17 vaXaid Sia9r}Krj,2 Cor. iii, 14). Both our Lord and his aposties ascribe divine au- thority to the ancient Canon (Matt, xv, 8 ; John x, 84-86; 2 Tim. iii, 16; 2 Peter i, 19-21, etc.); and in the course of the New Test, quotations are made from all the books of the Old except Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Canticles, Lamentations, and Ezekiel, the omission of which may be accounted for on the simple principle that the writers had no occasion to quote firom them. Coincidences of language show that the aposties were familiar with several of the apocryphal books (Bleek, Ueher d, Stelltmg d. Apohr. in the Stud, u, Krit, 1858, p. 267 sq.), but tiiey do not contain one authoritative or direct quotation from them, while, with the exception of Judges, Eccles., Cant, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah, every other book in the Hebrew Canon is used either for Ulustration or proof. Philo attests the existence in his time of the Upd ypdftfiaray describes them as comprising laws, oracles uttered by the prophets, hymns, and the other books by which knowledge and godliness may be increased and per- fected (De Vita Contemplai, in Opp, ii, 275, ed Mangcy) ; and quotations firom or references to the most of the books are scattered through his writings. The evi- dence of Josephus is very important ; for, besides geiv- eral references to the sacred books, he gives a formal account of the Canon as it was acknowledged in his day, ascribing five books, containing laws and an ac- count of the origin of man, to Moses, thirteen to the Prophets, and four, containing songs of praise to God and ethical precepts for men, to different writers, and afiirming that the faith of the Jews in these books is such that for them they would suffer all tortures and death itself {cent, Apion. i, 7, 8 ; Eichhom, Emkit. i, § 50; Jahn, Introduction p. 50). The popular belief
CANON
78
CANON
that the Saddncees received onlj the books of Hoses (Tertnll. De prater, haret, 46 ; Jerome, m MatiiL zz£i» 31, p. 181 ; Origen, c. Celt, i, 49), rests on no sufficient authority ; and if they had done so, Josephus could not have fiuled to notice the fact in his account of the different sects. See Saoducbbs. In the traditions of the Talmud, on the other liand, Gamaliel is repre- sented as using passages from the Prophets and the Hagiographa in his controversies with them, and the j reply with quotations from the same sources without scruple or objection. (See Eichhom, Einl, § 86; Lightfbot, fforce Hebr, et Talm, il, 616 ; Schmid, Et%arr, Sent ft Jotephi de Ubrit V, T, 1777 ; Gdldenapfel. Diuert. Jo$e^ de Sadd, Can, Smt. exhSbent, 1804.) In the Talmudic Tract entitled Baba Baihrct^ a cata^ logue of the books of the sacred Canon is given, which exactly corresponds with that now found in the He- brew Bible (Buxtorf; Tiberku, c. 11).
III. The Chrittian Ccman of the Old Te$tament.^M^ lito, bishop of Sardis in the second century of the Christian sra, gives, as the result of carefril inquiry, the same books in the Old-Testament Canon as we have now, with the exception of Nehemiah, Esther, and Lamentatbns ; the first two of which, however, he probably included in Ezra, and the last in Jere- miah (Euseb. Hiti, Ecdes. iv, 26 ; Eichhom, Eml, i, § 62). The catalogues of Origen (Euseb. ffigt, Ecdet, vi, 2, 6), of Jerome (Prol, CftSeat, in Opp, iii), and of others of the frithers, give substantially the same list (Eichhom, 1. c. ; Augnsti, EinL § 64; Cosins, Scholas- tical HisL of the Camm, ch. ill, vi; Henderson, On In- apirationy p. 449).