Victor R. Claveau, MJ
Origins of the Canon
Since the Bible is a primary source of God’s revelation it is vital that we understand the Bible’s origins; how, when, where and by whom were the books in the Bible decided; and why there is a difference between the Catholic and Protestant canons of Scripture.
We will begin our study with an historical and geographical overview of the origins of Sacred Scripture. Our story begins with the Exodus of the Jews after living in Egypt for 430 years. In the beginning of their sojourn in Egypt the Jacobites were few in number and as a productive people enjoyed the favor of the Pharaohs. As the years passed and their numbers continued to grow, they were viewed as a threat to the sovereignty of Egypt. Little by little the Jews were placed under submission. The account of this oppression and forced labor of the people of Israel, under the rule of Ramesses II (1301-1234 B.C.), is most likely a summary of a long history or the narration of its last phases (Ex. 1:8-22; 5:6-14). These repressive measures threatened to strangle and humiliate a minority that was large and, if not actually menacing, was certainly troublesome.
This was also the time of Moses, the great emancipator of his people. Moses was a Hebrew, a man born in Egypt and raised by Egyptians. His name can be connected with a Semitic root meaning “bring or take out, remove, extract.”
Under God’s direction, of whom he had an extraordinary and transforming experience on mount HÐ’reb, Moses became the instrument of God’s plan (Ex. 3:1-6). The drama with Pharaoh came to a conclusion with the Passover (Ex. 12:23-27; Is. 31:5). The word signifies the passage of Yahweh who passed over the Israelite houses while He struck down the first born of the Egyptians (Ex. 11:5). The Bible does not provide exact information concerning the time in which the Exodus of the Israelites took place, and understandably Egypt has left no reference to these facts. It is safe to assume that the Exodus began sometime around 1280 B.C.
Seven weeks after leaving Egypt Moses and God’s chosen people reached the mountainous wall of Sinai, which stands somewhere between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. It was here that the Creator revealed Himself to mankind. This exceptional religious event took place on the mountain, to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning, smoke and fire (Ex. 19:16-19; 20:18-21; Dt. 4:11-12, 33, 36; 5:22-26).
Jewish tradition holds that God’s revelation; the Torah’s essence and laws were given to Moses and the assembled people at Sinai. God spoke to them and Moses interpreted His “voice” (Dt. 4:12). On this belief and on the message received, they based their very existence. At Sinai, the history of the relationship between Yahweh (God) and His chosen people began. Yahweh, the Father of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob revealed himself as the One God, absolutely exclusive of other gods (Ex. 20:3). Moses and his people were the first to benefit from the revelation of Yahweh, but in addition they entered into a covenant with Him (Ex. 19:5): “I will take you for my people, and I will be your God” (Ex. 6:7).
This covenant was the inspiration for the Torah. The term “torah” is derived from the Hebrew, which means, “to teach” (Lev. 10:11). The meaning of the word is, therefore, “teaching”, “doctrine”, or “instruction”. In the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, it is used for all the body of laws. According to the rabbis of the Talmud (Jewish Rabbinical literature), the Torah was given to Moses, scroll by scroll, during the Israelites’ forty-year sojourn in the desert. These were the books that were placed near the Ark of the Covenant some 3800 years ago. The references in the Bible to “the Torah of Moses” refer particularly to the Pentateuch as distinct from the rest of the Bible (Josh. 1:7; Ezra 3:2; 7:6; 8:1,8; Mal. 3:22). The term is also used loosely to designate the Old Testament as a whole.
“The teachers of Israel reached back into their traditions-some dimly remembered and some with dazzling clarity-into the chronicles of their forefathers and the utterances of divine revelation which they had preserved as a holy trust, and from this material emerged a document which ever after was to tell their people who they were, why they were and must remain different from all other nations, and how great and unique were their God and their sacred laws and customs. The Pentateuch was not the work of a day, nor a single hand. It is in every sense the work of Israel, a work lovingly shaped and expanded by its inspired writers and editors throughout its long history. It is, in the end, a product of religious development that reached its climax probably in the fifth century B.C.”[1]
Both Catholic and Jewish tradition have consistently taught that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. In 1906 the Pontifical Biblical Commission[2] ruled that critical arguments to the contrary had not been of sufficient weight to undermine this traditional “substantial Mosaic authorship.” The commission stated that: (1) “that there is not sufficient evidence to prove that Moses is not the author of the Pentateuch;” (2) “it is possible to admit the hypothesis of those who think that he entrusted the composition of the work “itself, conceived by himself under influence of divine inspiration, to some other person or persons, but in such a manner that they render faithfully his own thoughts, wrote nothing contrary to his will, and omitted nothing; and the work thus produced, approved by Moses as the principal and inspired author, was made public under his name;” (3) “Granted, the substantial Mosaic authenticity and the integrity of the Pentateuch, it may be admitted that in the long course of centuries some modifications have been introduced into the work, such as additions after the death of Moses, either appended by an inspired author or inserted into the text as glosses and explanations; certain words and forms translated from the ancient language to more recent language, and finally, faulty readings to be ascribed to the error of amanuenses [copyists], concerning which it is lawful to investigate and judge according to the laws of criticism.”[3]
“Therefore, Moses is the author of the substance of the Pentateuch, but the Pentateuch is also the work of other inspired writers and editors who developed its laws and narratives, gathered its sources into one, and given its present form. This is what Father Joseph Chaine in his commentary on Genesis (1951) called the ‘substantial or mediate authorship’ of Moses.[4] More at length, the late Father M. J. Lagrange surmised in 1938 that the Biblical Commission was ‘less interested in Moses’ literary authorship than in his substantial authorship. Such authorship is what would result, moreover, in the additions made after his death in his same spirit. In the same way, a teaching which cannot be found in so many words in St. Thomas’ works, but which is considered by his disciples to be in harmony with his thought, is called by Thomists a teaching of St. Thomas.’[5] The Biblical Commission seems to have agreed with this interpretation in 1948 when it invited Catholic scholars to study the problem of Mosaic authorship ‘with an open mind in the light of sound criticism and of the results of other sciences which have their part in these matters,’ confident that ‘such study will without doubt establish the large share and the deep influence of Moses both as author and lawgiver.’ In other words, substantial Mosaic authorship may be seen to be rather of the order of quality than of quantity.”[6]
The critical acceptance of Mosaic authorship does not affect the inspiration of the books of the Pentateuch. Moses the original author was certainly inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The debt owed to Moses cannot be exaggerated. In the Book of Numbers his character is described: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3). His unique relationship with God can be seen as noted again in numbers: “My servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house” (Num. 12:7). And again, in Exodus: “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11).
He liberated the Chosen People, instructed them in the Knowledge of God, opened the paths of divine history, and as Scripture relates, there was none to surpass him until Christ. “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel” (Dt. 34:10-12).
Thus began the formulation of the Old Testament canon. The Jews of old never used the words Bible or Testament to describe the Holy Scriptures. They preferred to designate the Old Testament according to the three divisions of its books: (1) Torah, or Pentateuch, which as we said previously comprised the Law; (2) Nevi’im, or the Earlier Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and the Later Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; and (3) Ketubim, or the sacred writings consisting of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Modern Jewish literature refers to the Bible as Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, using the initial letters of the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim. Occasionally you may see the term “The Twenty-four Books.” This means that by combining several books into one (for example, the twelve Prophets as one book), they reduced the number of books from thirty-eight to twenty-four, or even twenty-two, to conform with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. As time went by other writings of significant importance were added to the Old Testament in Greek.
- [1] Bruce Vawter, A Path through Genesis, (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1955), p. 14.
- [2] The Pontifical Biblical Commission was founded in 1902 by Pope Leo XIII to encourage biblical studies by granting academic degrees in scriptural science and to decide questions submitted for judgement, both of which it still does.
- [3] See: James J. Megivern, “Fourteen Decisions of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 1905- 1915,” (On the Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch,” Official Catholic Teachings: Biblical Interpretation (North Carolina: McGrath Pub. Co. 1978), pp. 228-231.
- [4] Joseph Chaine, Le livre de la Genèse (Paris: editions du Cerf), p. 492.
- [5] “L’authenticité Mosaïque de la Genèse et la théorie des documents,” Revue biblique 47 (1938) 164.
- [6] Vawter, pp. 17-18.