How does our English Old Testament relate to the Hebrew Canon and to the Alexandrian Canon?

The English Old Testament Bible relate with the Hebrew Canon in its content while its divisions was patterned after the Greek Canon.  

Dr. Viertel mentioned that there are two Jewish canons that exist: “Palestinian Canon” and the “Alexandrian Canon.”[1] These canons were formed and named according to where they were canonized. The Palestinian cannon  was formed when the Jewish Scholars who went to Jamnia held a council in 90 AD to discussed which book should be bound in the Old Testament and its resulted to “24 books” as “officially” accepted.[2] They rejected the apocrypha.  In the other hand, the Jewish people at Egypt, they formed their own canon which was known as “Alexandrian Canon” with the Apocrypha.[3]  Thus, they have more than books in the canon than the Jewish in Palestine.

 The old English Bible had followed the content of the Palestinian canon as Viertel said that the 24 books Hebrew Old Testament as recognized by the “council of Jamnia” is what the “39 book in the English Bible.”[4] The apocrypha was not included in the English old Bible because of some reasons like: The New Testament had never been quoted apocrypha and the Jewish at Palestine did not recognize apocrypha as inspired,[5]prophetic authorship, and Spirit guided.[6] However, the English Old Testament “followed” the pattern of division of the Greek Bible. Both have the same arrangement: “Law, History, Poetry, and Prophecy.”[7] Dr. Mac once said, “Our Old testament” adopted the “Hebrew Old Testament” yet “we followed the Greek arrangement.”[8]

Another thing that appears possible that the Old English Bible relates with the Palestinian canon is because Christianity rose up from the Jewish community that used the Hebrew Old Testament. Christianity was not started in Egypt where Greek canon was formed but rather in the Palestine side. However, since the Old Testament has contained also history, the English Old Testament Bible rather adopted the Greek canon divisions.  Here, it has shown that the English Old Testament is both related with the Hebrew and Greek Old Testament. However, it can be said that the English Old Testament relates far heavier with the Hebrew Old Testament than the Greek Old Testament.

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[1] Viertel, Wieldon E. The Bible And Its Interpretation (Makati, Philippines: Church Strengthening Ministry, Inc., 1973), 86.

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] http://www.answering-islam.org/Bible/pbotapoc.html

[6] Viertel, 89.

[7] Viertel, 90.

[8] Michael R. Hanapin, Class notes for BI, Bible Introduction, PBTS, Baguio City, Philippines, June 2010.