in support of the claims of Christ, only accepted those Old Testament
books which (i) were written in Hebrew; (ii) conformed to the Torah; (iii)
pre-dated the time of Ezra; and (iv) written in Palestine. The Jewish
authorities now xenophobically considered the Septuagint “too gentile.”
Only the Ethiopian Jews retained the Septuagint version and still do so
today (Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 6, p. 1147).
As to what happened at Jamnia: first, it is questionable how a small
gathering of Jews could determine anything for Jews worldwide and
forever, with no Prophet, no Temple and no recognizable authority when
the nation had ceased to exist as a unit. Second, in any case, for Christians,
Jamnia is not authoritative, as all legitimate authority had passed to the
Catholic Church sixty years earlier at Pentecost. By rejecting the seven
additional books of the Septuagint, Protestants therefore effectively follow
the canon of the Old Testament as determined by a group of Jews at
Jamnia. If Protestants accord Jews the authority to decide on such a matter,
then why not consult Jews on whether Jesus is the Messiah? Third, digging
deeper into history, we find that the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church says, “The suggestion that a particular synod of Jamnia, held c. 100
A.D., finally settled the limits of the OT Canon, was made by H. E. Ryle;
4
though it has had a wide currency, there is no evidence to substantiate it.”
5
Second objection: “The Deuterocanonical books and the Septuagint
were never cited by Christ and the Apostles!”
This objection against the deuterocanonicals is derived from the unfounded
principle, “quotation equals canonicity.” It assumes that if a book was not
quoted by Christ or the Apostles it is not canonical and vice versa. This
argument is faulty for three reasons. First, “Jesus did many other signs …
which are not written in this book” (St John 20:30). We do not have every
quotation He ever made. Second, the New Testament authors quote a
number of works not in any Old Testament canon. St. Jude quotes the Book
of Enoch and the Assumption of Moses, while St. Paul quotes the
Ascension of Isaiah (Heb. 11:37) and pagan authors such as Epimenides,
Aratus and Menander (Acts, 1 Cor. and Titus). If quotation means
4
The Canon of the Old Testament (1892) p. 171 f.
5
Oxf. Dict. of the Christian Church, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 1997, in
“Jamnia” p. 861.
 |
 |
 |