Here's the second presentation on the Council of Jamnia. I will add a brief note that for all of these I was talking along with the handout. Without me talking they flow alright, but are at times disjointed, I apologize for that.
The Council of Jamnia
Key Terms
· Great Beth Din: The high judicial court, Sanhedrin, of Israel consisting of 71 judges
· Beth Din: A lesser court of Sanhedrin consisting of only 23 judges
· Birkath Hammini: Curse against heretics
· Yavneh, Jabneh, Yavne, Javneh: Jamnia
Location
Jamnia is located near the coast of Palestine south of Jaffa and is still inhabited.[1] A primarily gentile settlement until the Hasmonean period, Jamnia gained a substantial Jewish population only around 70 A.D. Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, before the fall of Jerusalem, sought and was granted permission by Vespasian to move and found a rabbinic school at Jamnia. For sixty years, 70-130 A.D., the city housed a rabbinic school as well as Beth Din[2] and twice the Great Beth Din, first in 70 A.D. then again in 116[3].
Books Under Debate
At Jamnia between six to eight books were evaluated and debated. Based upon the mentions found in the surviving documents the most prominent book debated was Ecclesiastes, followed by Song of Songs and then in no order Ruth, Esther, Proverbs, and Ezekiel.[4] Between all these books, only Ecclesiastes is charged with heresy for violating the Torah (e.g. Ecc 11:9b compared to Num 15:39). The remaining books all dealt with internal consistency issues, and all issues were eventually resolved.[5]
Arguments For Closing the Canon:
Traditionally Jamnia has said to be the official counsel that closed the Jewish scriptures. This view was propagated by Heinrich Graetz and H.E. Ryle who were looking for a closing event for the OT. Only three times in Jewish history had major governing bodies’ convened where canonicity might have been discussed.[6]
· Nehemiah – 400 B.C.
· Revolt of Shammai/Hillel – 65 A.D.
· Dismissal of R. Gamaliel II – 90 A.D.
Of the three, the latest would accommodate the latest possible dating for all canonical books. The activities of the rabbis there were recorded in rabbinic literature[7]. In them there are references to Jamnia including mentions of canonical questions being debate.
Arguments Against Closing the Canon
While the popular view for most of the past century was that Jamnia closed the OT canon, newer research has shed doubts on this view. There are a few salient points against the closing.
· The books under discussion at Jamnia all were canonical books[8]
· The arguments around the books were not of authorship, but rather of internal conflict or issues with unity
· At least two thirds of the Old Testament was already closed by the time of Jamnia. i.e the Law and Prophets.
· Christ himself recognizes the three parts of the OT canon. Luke 24:44 “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’”
Cursing of Jewish Christians
Birkath Hammini was supposedly added to eighteen other benedictions at Jamnia. Although literally meaning “Blessings on Heretics”, the blessing was a euphemism for a curse.[10] Samuel Krauss first proposed that the curse was targeted at Christians.[11] This claim was based on texts of the curse from the late 2nd to mid 3rd centuries, and the fact that Justin and Jerome speak of Christian being cursed in the synagogue.[12] Despite his claim, the Hebrew term for Christian does not appear in the text. Although the claim the curse was directed at Christians was dubious, a few facts can be established.[13]
· A curse was indeed developed at Jamnia
· We do not have a perfect copy of the original wording
· We don’t know who it was intended for
Bibliography
Cook, Stephen L. Jamnia: A Survey of its History and an Appraisal of its Influence on
Judaism Regarding the Canon of Hebrew Scriptures. Tennessee, 1997.
Lewis, J.P. “What Do We Mean by Jabneh?” The Journal of Bible and Religion 32 (1964) 125-132.
Lewis, J.P. “Jamnia After Forty Years,” Hebrew Union College Annual 70-71 (2000): 233-259.
Newman, Robert C. “The Council of Jamnia and the Old Testament Canon,”
Westminster Theological Journal 38 (1976), 319-349.
Aune, David E. “On the origins of the ‘Council of Javneh’ Myth”
Journal of Biblical Literature 3 (1991): 492.
Ryle, H.E. The Canon of the Old Testament. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1909.
Topic Questions
Is it important to know when the OT canon was closed?
Can the finalization of the canon preach? Should it preach?
[1] Robert C. Newman, “The Council of Jamnia and the Old Testament Canon,” Westminster Theological Journal 38 (1976), 319-349.
[2] F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 866.
[3] Newman, “Council”, 324.
[4] Ezra and Daniel are also mentioned, but no in a canonical debate context. Newman, “Council”, 336-337.
[5] Newman, “Council”, 339.
[6] David E. Aune, “On the origins of the ‘Council of Javneh’ Myth” Journal of Biblical Literature 3 (1991): 492.
[7] The text under discussion is Mishnah Yadaim 3:5, Jack P. Lewis, “Jamnia after Forty Years,” Hebrew Union College Annual 70-71 (2000): 233-259.
[8] Lewis, “Jamnia”, 252.
[9] See fn. #3
[10] Stephen G. Wilson, Related Strangers: Jews and Christians, 70-170 C.E. (Minneapolis, Fortress, 1995) 181.
[11] Samuel Krauss, “The Jews in the Works of the Church Fathers,” JQR 5 (1893), 549-659.
[12] Lewis, “Jamnia, 256.
[13] Daniel Boyarin, “Justin Martyr invents Judaism” Church History 70 (2001), 430.
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