I said very clearly The Jewish canon closed AFTER
and you then say Is it your contention that the Jewish people didn't have any idea what writings came from God and were authoritative prior to that time
Just as Christian canon was closed in the 300s, but the majority of books were known as canon, you had the same with the Jewish canon -- the first five books were canon and so were the historical books, but then from the prophets onwards there was contention.
Why do you think that the Samaritans have a different canon?
I just asked you a question, Cronos, not "putting words in your mouth". Why do you seem so quick to take offense? God's word convicts and speaks to my heart and its testimony is in word and in power that it IS from God. I've read the Deuts/Apocrypha, they are missing that sense. I don't hear God's voice through them. Once again, what would be the reason for the Jews to reject these extra books? There's nothing "Christian" in them. In fact, why would I or any other Christian reject them if they were truly God-breathed?
Just as Christian canon was closed in the 300s, but the majority of books were known as canon, you had the same with the Jewish canon -- the first five books were canon and so were the historical books, but then from the prophets onwards there was contention.
And just as Christians didn't NEED to establish an official canon before they would accept the Divinely-inspired Scriptures, neither did the Jews. I'm sure you understand that when the early Christians received the epistles from the Apostles they recognized their authority, knew to obey them, hold to them, teach, copy and disperse them and preserve them as their rule of faith just as they already did with the Old Testament. These writings were imbued (and still are) with power just as the Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Psalms were to the Jewish people. They heard the voice of God through them. It was why Jesus could use them as authoritative BEFORE there was an official canon. What you ought to question is why the inspiration of the Holy Spirit needs the approval or okay of men before it can be an authority? God commanded severe penalties for those who disobeyed His words - whether they received the writings as from God or not.
Why do you think that the Samaritans have a different canon?
Why stop with them? Why did the Essenes? Why did Marcion of Sinope, etc. God's inspired written word doesn't depend upon whether men receive it that way or not. It has intrinsic authority because of its author. By the end of the first century, all the writings we now know as the New Testament were collected, copied and distributed.
I've seen some Roman Catholics here assert that it was the Catholic church that determined what writings were to be regarded as Scripture and belong in a canon. I get a picture of men toiling their way through a pile of books and picking out which ones are from God and which ones were not. It didn't work that way. Peter called Paul's writings "Scripture" and that was within a few decades of Christianity's start. The church was to be in submission to the word, the word was not in submission to the church.