The Process Jells at Jamnia

While all this was going on, other books were being written, so that by about 200 B.C. most of the Old Testament material had been gathered together. In addition to the Hexateuch there were other historical narratives, the writings of the prophets, a hymnbook, a short story, a book of sad wailings, regulations ranging from where to worship to the accepted way to slaughter animals, and so forth. The variety was covered under three headings. The first heading was known as the Law, and covered the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Prophets comprised the second grouping, and included not only the major and minor prophets, but also many of the historical books, such as Joshua, Judges, etc. The remaining books were known simply as the Writings.

This collection, which came to 39 books in all, became more and more generally accepted, and a council of Jewish rabbis, meeting at Jamnia, Palestine, about A.D. 90 or 100 decided that no more books should be admitted to the group of sacred writings.

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