IN our English Bible there are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament, twenty-seven in the New Testament, sixty-six books in all. These books are not arranged in chronological order, nor in the order in which they stood in the original Hebrew Scriptures; but are arranged according to the order first adopted in the Septuagint version, of which mention has already been made. The re-arrangement of the order of the various books—and the titles given to those books—appears to have been of human origin. Both, however, seem to have been followed in almost all later translations and revisions.
But it must be acknowledged that the order in which the books appear in our Bibles is very remarkable from many points of view. Indeed, some regard it as having been divinely overruled.
The true names or titles of the books are, however generally indicated either in the opening words of each book, or in the meaning of the name of the leading character; viz.
Genesis 1 “In the beginning.”
Exodus 1 “These are the names.”
Samuel, “Asked of God.”
Isaiah, “The Salvation of Jehovah.”
A striking example of this in the New Testament is found in the Revelation, which we call “The Revelation of St. John the Divine,” but which is really, as chapter 1:1. states, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
As to the order and arrangement of the books, the Old Testament Scriptures were originally divided into three great parts, viz.—
1. The Law of Moses;
2. The Prophets;
3. The Psalms or other writings;
and upon this division Christ set His own seal, see Luke 24:4444And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44), “All things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me”; also in Luke 24:2727And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27), “Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures [or other writings] the things concerning Himself.”
Under these three headings the various books were originally arranged and almost always appear in the Hebrew manuscripts; and this order, which would appear to be the divine one, should be borne in mind in any comprehensive study of the Bible. Thus:
1. THE LAW — — — 5 books
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
2. THE PROPHETS — — — 8 books
The Former Prophets (4 books)
Joshua
Judges
Samuel (1St and 2nd Books)
Kings
The Latter Prophets (4 books)
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Minor Prophets:
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
All counted as one; the order not being always the same.
3. THE PSALMS OR OTHER WRITINGS — — — 11 books
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Song of Solomon
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles (1St and 2nd Books)
Total — — — 24 books
There was a fond idea among the early Christian fathers—an idea in which Josephus shared—of making these work out as twenty-two books, to correspond with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet; but twenty-four seems to have been the true number.
The Apocrypha
This is the name given to the following fourteen books. It is a Greek word meaning “hidden” or “secret,” and was probably adopted because the date, origin, and authorship of most of them is, to say the least, very doubtful. The date of some of them is supposed to be a few centuries B.C., while others were evidently written very much later. Their names are:
1 Esdras
2 Esdras
Tobit
Judith
Parts of Esther not found in the Hebrew or Chaldean originals
The Wisdom of Solomon
The Wisdom of Jesus or Ecclesiasticus
Baruch
The Song of the Three Holy Children
The History of Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
The Prayer of Manasses, King of Judah
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees.
It is a significant fact that from earliest times until the captivity no books, excepting those recognized as inspired, were ever spoken of as having a place in the sacred canon. Indeed, it was long after the captivity that any one dared to mix these spurious books amongst them. Some few of them—particularly the books of the Maccabees—may and do contain excellent history; but, generally speaking, they consist of a great deal of legendary nonsense, with some gross historical errors. They were never really acknowledged by the orthodox Jews or the Christian Church to be canonical, inspired, or authoritative.
It is assumed by many that because these apocryphal books are found mixed up indiscriminately among the inspired books of the Old Testament in the oldest copies of the Septuagint version in our possession, they must therefore of necessity have been inserted at the time when that Greek translation was first made. But such a theory seems quite impossible of adoption.
For Josephus, who was born in the year A.D. 37 and was therefore a contemporary of the apostles, wrote in his work, Against Apion, book I, sec. 8, as follows: “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 how firmly we have given credit to those 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 anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them.”
So that it is quite clear on the testimony of Josephus that, although some of the apocryphal books may have been written then, nevertheless, no attempt had been made up to the time of the apostles to include any of them among the sacred Scriptures.
But more than this, there is evidence that the first introduction of these spurious books among the sacred canon must have taken place hundreds of years later; for Cyril of Jerusalem, who was born about A.D. 315, actually referred to the Septuagint translation of his day, and incidentally showed that even at that time the apocryphal books had not been included in that Greek translation; for up to his day the Septuagint version of the Old Testament still contained only the twenty-two sacred books. His words are: “Read the divine Scriptures—namely, the twenty-two books of the Old Testament which the seventy-two interpreters translated” (i.e. the Septuagint translation).
Moreover, had the Septuagint translation really contained these apocryphal books in the days of our Lord, and with that addition been at all generally acknowledged amongst the Jews as a sort of Authorized Version, as some allege, it is natural to assume that Christ would have raised His voice in solemn protest against the impiety of including them in the sacred canon; but instead of this, no protest whatever is raised. And although there are in the New Testament about 263 direct quotations from, and about 370 allusions to, passages in the Old Testament, yet amongst all these there is not a single reference, either by Christ or His apostles, to the apocryphal writings.
The truth is that no living person knows exactly by whom or when they were written, or when they were first included among the books of the Bible. But inasmuch as we have seen they were not included up to A.D. 315, and they are included in the earliest copy of the Septuagint we possess—viz. the Vatican version, supposed to date from about the fourth century—it would appear that they must have been first included somewhere between A.D. 300 and 400, and it was probably as a protest against such action that the Greek Church, in A.D. 363, at the Council of Laodicea, denied that the apocryphal books were inspired, and prohibited their use in churches.
But there are yet two important factors to bear in mind before leaving this subject:
1. The more the Scriptures are studied, the more one is convinced that they are self-contained and absolutely complete—revealing a perfect plan throughout and having neither superfluity nor lack.
2. It is most significant that the Bible contains three solemn warnings against any attempt to add to the words of God’s inspired Book; and this significance is greatly enhanced by the fact that the first of such warnings was written by the first of all the writers of Scripture, the second is found very near to the middle of the Bible, while the third was written by the last of the writers; namely—
While John, to whom was granted such marvelous revelations of the future, wrote the third—viz, Revelation 22:1818For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (Revelation 22:18) and 19, “I testify to every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book.”
Thus we see how the Holy Spirit has anticipated in more ways than one this very question, and has placed these three sentinels as it were to keep the inspired Scriptures intact and to guard them from having any uninspired works included among them.
And yet, notwithstanding all this, the Council of Trent, which was under the immediate control and direction of the Pope, declared, on April 8th, 1546, tradition (or the unwritten Word) and the Apocrypha to be canonical and authoritative; and hence these apocryphal books are always found in Roman Catholic Bibles.
But the very fact that it was deemed necessary as recently as 350 years ago to issue such a decree is sufficient proof in itself that even up to that time these apocryphal books, although they had doubtless been included in some versions of the Bible for many years, had not been really acknowledged as forming part of the true Word of God.
The Lutherans still rightly deny their inspiration; while the Westminster Confession, which was framed in 1646 by over 150 learned Protestant divines, states that they are “of no authority,” “nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.”
Lost Books
But now, having considered the question of the apocryphal books, and having, as I trust, conclusively shown that they form no part of the canon of Scripture, we have to face a similar question in another form—viz. Have we really now the complete canon in our possession? For it is undeniable that there have been other books, some of them even written by prophets, containing Jewish records, etc., of more or less value, which are actually referred to in the Bible, but which have long since been lost. These are:
With the knowledge of these lost books the question is naturally asked, how can we assure ourselves as to the completeness of the Bible as we now have it, or satisfy ourselves that in it we have the whole revealed will of God? Out of this question two others naturally arise:
1. What was the real nature and purport of those lost books?
2. How was the canon of the Bible settled?
In regard to the first question, it seems clear, from the very brief references found in Scripture, that there were certain books written by prophets and others which have not found a place in the canon of Scripture. We are not actually told what their purport was, nor why they were allowed to disappear as they have done; while other books, included in the canon and older than they, have been preserved. It seems, however, safe to assume that they were of a purely local and limited nature, containing matters, for instance, relating to certain experiences in the wanderings of the Israelites (Num. 21:1414Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, (Numbers 21:14)), and incidents in the life of Joshua (Josh. 10:1313And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. (Joshua 10:13)), David (1 Chron. 29:2929Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer, (1 Chronicles 29:29)), Solomon (2 Chron. 9:2929Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? (2 Chronicles 9:29)), etc., which it was neither necessary nor desirable to have included in the permanent writings of Scripture. For in the Scriptures, it should be remembered, we have, not by any means all the details in the lives and doings of the Hebrews, but a divinely condensed summary of those doings, including only those things which would serve the divine purpose, as distinctly indicated in 2 Timothy 3:1616All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16), and be “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” And everything—even in the lives of God’s people—which did not serve this great purpose was omitted, albeit many matters of detail, interesting enough in themselves, may well have been recorded in uninspired contemporary books.
So that, when we read such an expression as, “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the Seer” (2 Chron. 9:2929Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? (2 Chronicles 9:29)), it is a simple statement of fact, recorded by the Holy Spirit, that in addition to the inspired record there were other, and possibly fuller, accounts of that strange and wonderful man’s life; while the very words used seem clearly to imply that the Scripture record contained all that God cared to preserve for our admonition, etc. (1 Cor. 10:1111Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)).
Moreover, when we think of the marvelous career of the Israelites, from the earliest days of their history to the time of their dispersion, the wonder is, not that there were some half-dozen books outside of the Bible, containing partial records of that unique people, but that we have not heard of many more such books. In any case, it is evident that those that are named were made to serve the divine purpose for the time being, as outside and independent evidence of, and testimony to, the truth of what the prophets wrote.
A very striking instance of this occurs in Joshua 10:1313And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. (Joshua 10:13) in connection with the sun standing still, a circumstance which has been attacked and discredited probably more than any other Bible story, by some as to its improbability, and by others as to its impossibility, on scientific grounds.
The Holy Spirit, however, who foreknew that there would come in the last days scoffers (2 Peter 3:33Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, (2 Peter 3:3)) who would disbelieve this wonderful story, actually anticipated such objections by referring at the time to an outside, uninspired, contemporary writer, who had recorded that very circumstance—the writer being none other than Jasher the Upright, who from his name would scarcely be suspected of writing anything but the truth.
But it would be as absurd to suppose that those lost books once formed a part of the sacred canon, merely because they are referred to in the Scripture, as it would be to say that some of the writings of the heathen poets must be considered as a part of the Bible, merely because Paul in addressing the Athenians made a quotation from them when he said, “As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring” (Acts 17:2828For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:28)).
In this connection we may refer to those very interesting discoveries made in Egypt as recently as 1897 and 1903, of some torn scraps of papyrus containing what purport to be some of the sayings of our Lord in Greek, known as the “Logia,” which have awakened so much interest and raised so many questions as to whether they should be looked upon as inspired and be reckoned as a part of the Scriptures. But there need be no doubt or difficulty at all about the matter, for the Scriptures distinctly tell us—as, indeed, seems most natural—that there were, besides the inspired gospels, many other uninspired accounts, written by good men, of the things that happened in Christ’s day. It is to this that Luke refers in Luke 1:11Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, (Luke 1:1) and 2, when he tells us that “many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,” etc.
And these “Logia,” or “Sayings of our Lord,” doubtless form one of those many uninspired accounts of Christ’s words, written no doubt from memory, and as a consequence they do not altogether agree with the inspired records of the evangelists and, of course, have no place in the canon of Scripture.
As to the second question—viz. how the canon of the Bible was settled—it may be interesting here to mention that, while it is quite impossible to fix any exact date, yet it seems clear the canon of the Old Testament was generally recognized as settled somewhere between the days of Ezra and Christ. According to Dr. Jacob’s Bible Chronology, Ezra arranged all the books of the Old Testament in order about 457 B.C. (excepting Nehemiah and Malachi, whose prophecies were written later). Josephus and other heathen historians witness to this fact.
As, however, the whole of the Old Testament was translated into Greek more than two centuries B.C. (see Septuagint), the canon must have been settled before then.
That of the New Testament does not appear to have been fully and finally recognized as settled until two or three centuries after Christ. In any case, in A.D. 397 the Council of Carthage published a list of books which were then acknowledged as genuine. That list contained all the writings of the New Testament without exception as we have them now, although many of the books were acknowledged as canonical long before that date.
How, then, did the inspired writings come to be recognized as the Scriptures of God, and to hold, as they do today, an absolutely unique place among all the other writings on the face of the earth?
Some of the books, especially the Pentateuch—i.e. the first five books of Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy)—were from the first regarded by the Jews as the very utterances of Jehovah, their divine origin and authorship having never at any time been questioned. Indeed, these books of Moses hold to this day a higher place in the minds of Jews than any other part of Scripture; so much so that every Jewish synagogue throughout the world has at least two or three copies of the Pentateuch, although in many cases they do not possess any other parts of the Old Testament. The Samaritans actually reject everything but the Pentateuch.
With some of the other books, however, it was different—that is, their true character was not at once discerned. All, however, in course of time were ultimately recognized as having come from God; and, although they have been collected and arranged in their present form by human hands, their selection from amongst all other literature was not left to the caprice of any man or body of men, whether church or council. Indeed, this was the fatal mistake made at the Council of Trent (in 1545-63)—which, by the way, was practically a Roman Catholic Council, being presided over and controlled by the Pope—when they decided that the fourteen uninspired books of the Apocrypha should be included in the canon of Scripture. But any child can see that that decision cannot really alter the true character of those uninspired books, which were written nearly two thousand years prior, any more than spurious metal can be converted into gold by being hall-marked! As Luther truly said, “The Church cannot give more force or authority to a book than it has in itself. A council cannot make that to be Scripture which in its own nature is not Scripture.”
How, then, was this all-important matter settled? It was decided by the internal testimony and intrinsic value of the writings themselves—just as the true character of a tree, though questioned and even vehemently denied for a time in the dead months of winter, will, nevertheless, soon be established beyond all doubt—not on the authority of some expert gardener or association of gardeners, but by its own answerable evidence in the flower and fruit it bears.
So with the books which form the canon of Scripture. It seems to have been the custom for the inspired writers to deliver their writings to the priests to be placed by the side of the Law for safe keeping (Deut. 31:99And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. (Deuteronomy 31:9)). Josephus tells us that this practice was always followed, copies being made for personal use by kings and others (Deut. 17:1818And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: (Deuteronomy 17:18)). But when first these sacred utterances were made and put in writing, they were in some cases only recognized as the “word of the Lord” by “the poor of the flock” (Zech. 11:1111And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. (Zechariah 11:11)), while by others they were often indignantly repudiated, and the writers themselves were imprisoned and slain (Jer. 36:5, 23, 245And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord: (Jeremiah 36:5)
23And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. (Jeremiah 36:23‑24)).
But sooner or later the tree was known by its fruit; and those very writings which were at first rejected became in course of time honored and revered, until every part of the true Word of God, which is declared to be “living and powerful” (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)), asserted its own authority. Though written by man, it came to be recognized as the voice of God and has ever since been regarded as such—in the case of the Old Testament by the Jews, and in the case of the Old and New by the whole Christian church.
And the very fact that those other books have been allowed to pass so completely away is sufficient proof in itself that they never were intended to be included in the canon of sacred Scriptures; for, had they ever formed a part of the true Word of the Lord, they must in their very nature have remained to this day, since it is written, “The Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever... The Word of the Lord endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23) and 25), etc.
But instead of abiding forever, what has happened to them? They served their little day and generation, and then, like their authors, fell on sleep and saw corruption. The fire that is to try every man’s work, of what sort it is (1 Cor. 3:1313Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:13)), has in a sense tried all those writings; and what has been the result? In comparison with the Scriptures they have proved but dross, and hence, like all other dross, they have perished; while those books that form the canon of Scripture—tried by the same process—have proved themselves to be as silver, tried in a furnace, and hence they have not perished, but are “purified seven times” (Psa. 12:66The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. (Psalm 12:6)).
As Dr. George Smith, of Trinity College, Dublin, has said, the Scriptures “by their own weight. . . crushed all rivals out of existence.”
And we can almost imagine we hear the Scriptures saying of those lost books, as John, writing by the Spirit, said of certain professors whose spurious character had been discovered: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:1919They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:19)).