Alexandria built B. C. 332. He then captured Gaza and entered Egypt and the Oasis of Ammon. He returned to Babylonia, and B. C. 331 at Gaugamela, ten miles east of Nineveh, defeated Darius, who fled and was murdered. The Persian Empire fell now to Alexander.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CANONICAL BOOKS. SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH.
1. The word “Canon” is a Greek word and means a “measure,” or “rule.” It was first used in the fourth century of the Christian era to designate the authorized books of the Bible.
But the question arises, By whom were these books determined? The history is as follows.
2. During the captivity of Judah a spirit of reverence for the Law arose, and after they came back to Palestine it was cherished to an extent never before known.
3. At no time in the history of the Jews had a period existed when a true Canon of the Old Testament writings could better have been formed. The large number of learned and devout men who were found by Ezra competent to explain the Scriptures, as recorded by Nehemiah, chapters eight and nine, proves that the study of the Law had not been neglected during the captivity; and, as we know, several of the prophets uttered their prophecies to the nation not long before, as well as soon after, the return.
4. The tradition seems to be well sustained that this was the era when more careful attention was paid to the “collecting, authenticating, and defining the canonical books of the Old Testament and in multiplying copies of them,by careful transcription,”[119] than ever before or since.
5. The traditions of the various sects had not yet distracted attention from that which was more trustworthy in Jewish history and in the clearer and more certain deliverances of their ancient seers and prophets.
6. We must now remember that all the books, except the Mosaic books of the Pentateuch, were in separate manuscripts. Those which Ezra had were either copies of those which had escaped the destruction of Jerusalem, or they were the original manuscripts themselves.