Josephus the Jewish historian affirmed in his arguments in Contra Apion 1:7-8 the number of books in the Hebrew canon was numbered at 22, which according to Jewish numbering is the same as the 39 in the Protestant Old Testament.
That was before 90AD my friend.
Jerome (325-420 A.D.) The Biblical scholar of his day, and the translator of the Catholic Bible, the Latin Vulgate, clearly agreed with the Hebrew canon, being limited 39 books of the present Old Testament to the exclusion of the additional books of the Apocrypha.
Josephus is not a greater source than the Septuagint. Also, the concept of “canon” is completely alien to these times, there is no source for the concept of canon. The 22 is not the same, the 22 books equal the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Simply because he says we have “22 books” doesn’t mean he was speaking as a modern “canon”.
Moreover, Josephus does not represent the Sadducees, who only thought what we know as the first five books of the Old Testament was inspired. As they were virtually wiped out by the upheaval the Jewish wars, their views are not expressed there.
Finally, Ethiopian Jews, to this day, consider the Apochropha inspired.
St Jerome, of course checked the Septuagint against the known Hebrew texts of his day, which were done post 90 A.D. St Augustine strongly disagreed with his approach, as did the majority of the Church at that time. However, glad to see that when we are faced with some interpretive issues in antiquity, we can look at the Church Fathers like St Jerome and others to help guide us.
I wonder if Luther had the knowledge of Jewish texts we have today, and an understanding of what has been learned vance his time, would he have rethought excluding certain books etc? Interesting, but who knows.
Best to you,