The Integrity of the Biblical Canon in Light of Its Historical ...

MCDONALD: The Integrity of the Biblical Canon 113
C. Freedman's Alternative: An Early Twenty-Three Book Canon
David Noel Freedman, on the basis of his discovery of the symmetry
of the Hebrew Bible, 42 contends that, except for the Book of Daniel,
the whole of the OT biblical canon was closed for all intents and
purposes no later than the fifth century BCE and that the Law and
Former Prophets (Joshua through Kings) were recognized as canonical
scripture in Babylon before the Jews returned to the Land of Israel
in 538 BCE 43 He says that the original fixed Hebrew biblical canon
was a twenty-three book collection without the Book of Daniel and that
the biblical canon was consciously determined along symmetrical
lines roughly between 400 and 350 BCE, though he is not dogmatic
about the date. 44 Because there appears to be a well-balanced symmetry
of the two major parts of the Hebrew Bible, he concludes that
the editor(s)/collector(s) put these parts together with such a balance
in mind. 45 Freedman shows that the five books of the Torah are balanced
with the five major Ketubim (Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ezra-Nehemiah) which is also balanced with the five megillot (Ruth,
Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Esther). 46 The Former
Prophets containing four major books (Joshua, Judges, the Samuels
42. David Noel Freedman argues that the finalization of the Hebrew Scriptures,
except for the Book of Daniel, took place no later than between 400-350 BCE, but that
the Law and the Former Prophets (Joshua through Kings), were completed in Babylon
before the return of the Jews from Exile in 538 BCE ("The Symmetry of the Hebrew
Bible," ST 46 [1992] 83-108, here 102-5; see his "The Earliest Bible," 29-37, here 29 and
his more recent "The Symmetry of the Hebrew Bible," ST 46 [1992] 83-108). Freedman
claims that without the Book of Daniel the two parts of the Hebrew Scriptures are
evenly balanced, and this demonstrates for him the specific intentions of those in the
time of Ezra-Nehemiah to develop a well-balanced collection of Scriptures. He acknowledges
that certain other books may have been late (Esther and Ecclesiastes), but
that does not alter his picture by much. He is convinced that "without Daniel, the rest
of the Hebrew Bible as we have it reflects a symmetry that is astonishingly exact (as exact
as is likely in literary productions rather than mathematical ones)" (Freedman,
"Symmetry" 94). He claims that "if we consider numerical symmetry an important factor,
then there is really no choice: there was only one moment when the Bible and the
alphabet coincided and all the editorial factors were present. It was precisely in this
period (postexilic, Babylonian and Persian)" (p. 104).
43. Freedman, "Symmetry," 102-5.
44. Freedman, "Symmetry," 83-108.
45. The Torah and the Former Prophets have roughly 150,000 words compared to
the second part containing the Latter Prophets and the Writings, which also have
approximately 150,000 words. More specifically, Freedman has shown that there are
79,983 words in the Torah and 69,658 words in the Former Prophets (=149,641). The
Latter Prophets have 71,852 words and the Writings have 78,085 words (=149,937).
46. He also observes that Chronicles comes first in order of the Ketubim in both the
Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex and believes that Chronicles was originally
intended to be in first place since the concluding paragraph in Chronicles and the
opening paragraph in Ezra are essentially the same and such an overlap would not be