ical and
prophetic books, songs, _and letters from Persian kings_, not to form a
second collection, but for the purpose of saving them from being lost.
The scribes of Jerusalem, followers of Ezra, who were known as "the men
of the Great Synagogue," _were the collectors of the second and third
divisions of the Old Testament_. They collected together the historical
and prophetic books, songs, &c., which were then in existence, _and
after altering many of them_, they were added to the collection of
_sacred_ books. It must not be supposed that any fixed plan was pursued
in this work, _or that the idea was entertained from the first, that
these books would one day stand on the same level with the
Pentateuch_.[96:5]

In the course of time, however, many of the Jews began to consider
_some_ of these books as _sacred_. The Alexandrian Jews adopted books
into the canon which those of Jerusalem did not, _and this difference of
opinion lasted for a long time, even till the second century after
Christ. It was not until this time that all the books of the Old
Testament acquired divine authority._[96:6] It is not known, however,
_just when_ the canon of the Old Testament was closed. _The time and
manner in which it was done is altogether obscure._[97:1] Jewish
tradition indicates that the full canonicity of several books was not
free from doubt till the time of the famous Rabbi Akiba,[97:2] who
flourished about the beginning of the second century after Christ.[97:3]

After giving a history of the books of the Old Testament, the author of
"The Religion of Israel," whom we have followed in this investigation,
says:

"The great majority of the writers of the Old Testament had no
other source of information about the past history of Israel
than simple _tradition_. Indeed, it could not have been
otherwise, for in primitive times no one used to record
anything in writing, and the only way of preserving a
knowledge of the past was to hand it down by word of mouth.
The father told the son what his elders had told him, and the
son handed it on to the next generation.

"Not only did the historian of Israel draw from tradition with
perfect freedom, and write down without hesitation anything
they heard and what was current in the mouths of the people,
_but they did not shrink from modifying their representation
of the past in any way that they thought would be good and
u