[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World whiteboard.]

Eras of Canonization: Books of the Old Testament

The Old Testament consists of ancient books written by over two dozen authors over hundreds of years and makes up 77% of the Bible.

But with so many authors over so much time, how exactly was it composed?

Well, there are four major periods of canonization that we’ll review in this video.

Period 1: The Time of Moses (1500-1400 BC)

And the first one was the time of Moses.

Moses, the man God used to lead Israel out of Egyptian captivity, authored the first five books of the Bible.

Moses was highly educated, having been raised in the court of Pharaoh in his early life (Acts 7:22), giving him training that would aid him in his God-given task of recording the books of the Law.

At the end of his life he delivered to the Levitical priesthood the books that he had written, and the official copy of the Book of the Law was placed in the tabernacle beside the Ark of the Covenant.

Deuteronomy records:

So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel
(Deuteronomy 31:9).

So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you” (Deuteronomy 31:24–26).

We’ll note that the last few verses of Deuteronomy, speaking about the death of Moses, were likely written under the direction of Joshua.

And it’s also believed the book of Job was added during this period.

Later in this video, we’ll see how meticulous copies were made of the original. But those copies were used by the priesthood for teaching purposes. This included every seventh year, when the books of the Law were to be read to the people during the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 31:10).

And these books were protected and safely maintained until the next major period, and that was the expansion under David and Solomon (approximately 1000–950 bc).

Period 2: King David and King Solomon (1000-950 BC)

During this time, the historical writings of Joshua and Samuel were added. We read that:

[Then] Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord (1 Samuel 10:25).

Kings David and Solomon, helped and guided by the prophets Samuel and Nathan, oversaw the expansion of the canon of Scripture.

This would include the book of Judges, which was considered one book with the book of Joshua.

During his reign, King David oversaw the compilation of the first 72 psalms (Psalm 72:20). Other psalms attributed to David would be added at later dates as well.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Solomon wrote the wisdom books of Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.

In fact, it appears Ecclesiastes describes his involvement regarding the book of Proverbs, saying:

Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs (Ecclesiastes 12:9).

But immediately following Solomon’s reign, the nation of Israel was split into two nations (Israel and Judah) and experienced spiritual regression, including neglect of the temple, and eventual captivity, after which the last major portion of Scripture was canonized. And we’ll get to that in a bit, but first let’s examine the third major period of canonization.

Period 3: King Hezekiah and King Josiah (725-615 BC)

Period number 3: The era of Hezekiah and Josiah (approximately 725-615 bc).

King Hezekiah would reopen the temple, beginning a time of spiritual reform in the nation of Judah (2 Chronicles 29:1–5). During this time he oversaw the following additions to the Old Testament. (He was likely guided by the prophet Isaiah.) They include the last seven chapters of the book of Proverbs. We see this in Proverbs 25:1, where it says:

These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.

He added more psalms, including the Psalms of Asaph in Psalms 73–83 (2 Chronicles 29:30); the 15 Psalms of Degrees, Psalms 120–134, also known as the Songs of Ascent; and it appears likely that most of the two books of Kings were compiled by Isaiah during this time (2 Chronicles 32:32), along with [the book that bears the prophet’s name].

We read:

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, indeed they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 32:32).

Nearly 100 years later, Hezekiah’s great-grandson Josiah came to the throne. Sadly, Josiah’s grandfather, King Manasseh, had shut the temple down and taken the nation of Judah into spiritual darkness.

But it was during Josiah’s reign as king, with the guidance of Jeremiah the prophet, that Judah would experience a spiritual revival.

Josiah oversaw refurbishing the temple under the oversight of the Levitical priesthood. It was then that faithful copies of the existing scriptures were rediscovered and brought to Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:14–18).

And it was during this time the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations were added to scripture. We see this in 2 Chronicles 35:25, where it says:

Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah. And to this day all the singing men and the singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations. They made it a custom in Israel; and indeed they are written in the Laments.

Other books added during this period include:

• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah

So because of these efforts, Daniel would have access to these writings while in captivity in Babylon (Daniel 9:2, 13). And since Daniel found himself in an elevated position (Daniel 2:48), he would have likely had access to the royal library. In this way, the Bible was preserved until God’s time came to restore true worship in Jerusalem, which brings us to the last period of Old Testament writings we’ll examine, the time of Ezra the Scribe (approximately 539 bc).

Period 4: Ezra the Scribe (539 BC)

Ezra was allowed by King Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem with the temple scrolls and other treasures, which had been kept in Babylon since the days of Nebuchadnezzar (Ezra 7:6, 10–19).

And he came back to teach the scriptures to the people (Ezra 7:10) and to institute religious reform for people who were on the verge of losing their very identity and absorbing the syncretistic paganism of their neighbors. During these reforms, Ezra likely set the books of the Old Testament.

The historian Flavius Josephus, in the late first century AD, wrote that the Jewish scriptures had been compiled in their final form in the days of King Artaxerxes, who reigned in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. He emphasized that, while many books had been composed among the Jews since that time, they were not considered to have divine authority, because there had not been a succession of prophets since the time of Malachi, a late contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah (“Against Apion”, I, 8, Flavius Josephus of the Antiquity of the Jews.).

At this time, Psalms 90–119 and 135–150, Ruth, Esther, Ezekiel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and the books of Chronicles were added.

With that, the Old Testament was completed in the days of Ezra the Priest and Governor Nehemiah, and the Jews have faithfully preserved the books of the Old Testament since that time.

Romans 3:1–2 says:

What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

Through the God-guided efforts of these men, the books we call the Old Testament were compiled and preserved.

If you want to learn more about how the Bible has been preserved, check out our video How Did We Get the New Testament?