How come the Tanakh did not end up including the Apocryphal works?

Answer 1

Their are two answers to this question the historical and the traditional.

wikkipida dose a fine job detailing the debate among secular historians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon#Jewish_canon

the traditional explanation is that The Men of the Great Assembly canonized the Tanakh.

the two criteria that they used were
1. The book had to be of divine inspiration/ direct prophecy
2. It had to have a message for future generations (writings of a local prophet that only helped people find their lost things were not included)

As for the reason that the cannon was closed in the first place the reason given was that due to the Babylonian diaspora the age of prophecy was at the end and that no books written latter would be divine in nature as to be part of the Tanakh.

If you want my opinion it was probably a mixture of both. The Men of Great Assembly closed the third part of the Tanach just like the other two parts were "closed."

and that their was the possibility that a fourth part would be written over time that would include such works as the Maccabees. Unfortunately due to civil unrest that never happened.

but hey this is just my opinion.

good question by the way

as to Ponderingwisdom
thanks for the correction ;)

Answer 2

The Tanakh includes scripture that is much older.

The Apocryphal works were influenced by Greek beliefs.

"Certain circles in Judaism, such as the Essenes in Palestine and the Therapeutae in Egypt, were said to have a "secret" literature (see Dead Sea scrolls). A large part of this "secret" literature consisted of the apocalypses. Based on unfulfilled prophecies, these books were not considered scripture, but rather part of a literary form that flourished from 200 BCE to 100 CE."(wikipedia)

Answer 3

Those at the Council of Jamnia set up 4 criteria that all books had to meet in order to be included.

1. The books had to conform to the Pentateuch (the first 5 books).

2. The books had to be written in Hebrew.

3. The books had to be written in Palestine.

4. The books had to be written before 400 B.C..


Books of the Apocrypha for one reason or another did not meet one of the above criteria.

The issue of canonicity for both Jewish and Christian Bibles is far more complex than what I have included here, and is an issue that is still debated today.

Answer edited thanks to gratvol who caught erroneous material pasted above --much appreciation!!

Answer 4

The jewish sages did not think that they were either accurate (and that includes doubts to the alleged prophetic nature of the books) or relevant.