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By the time of Christ, the Old Testament canon was firmly established. In a paper written by the Jewish historian Josephus, he states this:
For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have,] but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. It is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add any thing to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it is become natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them.i
We see that around 100 AD Josephus plainly states the contents of the Old Testament was written between the time of Moses and the days of Artaxerxes I (king of Persia from 465 to 424 BC).
According to Josephus, the Jews recognized 22 books as the Scriptures of the Jewish Bible. Since modern Protestant Bibles list 39 books in the Old Testament, why is there a difference in the number of books? The answer is simple: the Jews group the books differently. In a typical Jewish printing of the Scriptures the arrangement is as follows:
• The Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: 5 books
• The Prophets: Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah-Lamentations, Ezekiel,
The book of the twelve (Hosea to Malachi): 7 books
• The Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth-Judges, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles: 10 books
In Protestant Bibles, many of the books are divided—Samuel becomes 1 and 2 Samuel, Chronicles becomes 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah are separate books, as are Ruth and Judges.
Ahead to Testing the Gospel of Thomas
Back to The Lost Books
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i. Flavius Josephus Against Apion, translated by William Whiston (University of Cambridge, 1736).
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The contents of this article and website are not intended to accuse individuals. There are many priests and faithful believers in Roman Catholicism who serve God to the best of their ability and are seen by God as His children. The information contained herein is directed only towards the Roman Catholic religio-political system that has reigned in varying degrees of power for nearly two millennia. It is our sincere desire to lay the clear Word of God before you, the truth-seeking reader, so you may decide for yourself what is truth and what is error. If you find herein anything contrary to the Word of God, you need not accept it. But if you desire to seek for Truth as for hidden treasure, and find herein something of that quality, we encourage you to make all haste to accept that Truth which is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.
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