holy smokes, flamethrowers and purple rain .......

Or the words of the prophets
are interpreted as cryptic predictions of the interpreter's own day,
as in the pesharim (commentaries).

Or even passages
from several different scriptural books are drawn together
to fashion a new plot, as in the Melchitsedek midrash or the Florilegium.
Behind all these techniques lies a conviction that scripture condemns certain contemporary practices rejected by the writers of the scrolls, foretells the imminent destruction of the wicked
and reveals the will of "G d" and the secrets of salvation to
"the righteous few".
The scriptures,
in short, are being moulded
into a world-view constituted by the beliefs
and practices of a particular form, or forms, of Judaism.


Thus we are concerned with ancient witnesses to an emerging canon for a least two thousand years.


During the period when the scrolls were written,
some of the Jewish scriptures were formally canonized
into a fixed list {probably by the initiative of the Hasmonaeans}.
These books were also divided into Law, Prophets, and usually other writings
[such as those attributed to David]
were additionally mentioned.


The scrolls seem largely to reflect this canon,
but we cannot be sure how quickly a firmly fixed list became the norm for them
or even for "all" other Jews. A sample of Jewish writers from the period illustrate the
degree of the fixity of the scriptural canon:


'SINCE
MANY THINGS
AND GREAT VISIONS
HAVE BEEN DELIVERED UNTO US
THROUGH LAW AND PROPHETS
AND THE OTHERS WHO FOLLOWED
AFTER THEM'

[2nd century BCE Ben Sira "Ecclesiaticus"]


'THESE THINGS
[A STORY ABOUT SOLOMON]
WERE NARRATED ALSO IN THE ARCHIVES OR MEMOIRS OF NECHEMYAH;
AS WELL AS HOW HE FOUNDED A LIBRARY AND COLLECTED BOOKS ABOUT THE KINGS AND THE PROPHETS, AND THE BOOKS OF DAVID AND LETTERS OF KINGS
ABOUT SACRED GIFTS'

[2nd/1st]


'... YOU MUST UNDERSTAND
THE BOOK OF MOSHE [AND THE WORDS
OF THE PRO]PHETS
AND OF DAVID ...'

{from an old letter}


'... LAWS
AND ORACLES DELIVERED THROUGH THE MOUTH OF PROPHETS,
AND PSALMS AND OTHER BOOKS BY WHICH KNOWLEDGE AND PIETY
MAY BE INCREASED AND PERFECTED.'

[Philo Alexandria 1st century CE]


'IN EVERYTHING
DO TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO TO YOU:
THIS IS THE LAW & PROPHETS'

[Matai around the end of the 1st century CE @ Antioch &/or Alexandria?]


'... WE DO POSSESS
MYRIADS OF INCONSISTENT BOOKS,
CONFLICTING WITH EACH OTHER.
OUR BOOKS, THOSE WHICH ARE JUSTLY ACCREDITED,
ARE BUT TWENTY -TWO,
& CONTAIN THE RECORD
OF ALL TIME'

[Josephus Flavius at the end of the 1st century CE @ Rome]


'MAKE PUBLIC
THE 24 BOOKS THAT YOU WROTE FIRST
AND LET THE WORTHY AND THE UNWORTHY READ THEM;
BUT KEEP THE SEVENTY THAT WERE WRITTEN LAST,
IN ORDER TO GIVE THEM TO THE WISE AMONG YOUR PEOPLE:
FOR IN THEM IS THE SPRING OF UNDERSTANDING,
THE FOUNTAIN OF WISDOM,
& THE ONLY RIVER
OF KNOWLEDGE'

[4 Ezra/2 Esdras
@ Yerushalayim]