03.03.06 400 B.C. +/- Hebrew Bible is “Canonized” 

A growing number of scholars believe that under Ezra and his contemporaries, the books of the Old Testament were gathered and made into the “official canonized” Hebrew Bible. They selected those books they felt were inspired by God.^[1]  Other scholars believe that the Council of Jamnia in A.D. 90 was the closing date of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Nonetheless, by the first century the Pharisees and other religious leaders had a solid concept of what books comprised their Bible.

The Old Testament closed with the Persian Empire’s rule of Judah and the New Testament opens with the Roman Empire in domination.  Between these two periods was the Inter-Testamental Period when the Greeks with their Hellenistic way of life greatly influenced the Jewish people. This caldron of cultural tension was intensified by conflicts between Jews and Samaritans.  The world was getting ready to receive the long awaited messiah, but not in the manner of anyone’s preconceived ideas. No one believed He would be the Messiah, the manifestation of God and man.

[1]. Blizzard, “Judaism: Part 1” Yavo Digest. 1:5, 6.