Timeline for What are the original twenty books of the Tanach
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
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| Jul 6, 2021 at 14:54 | comment | added | Lesley | No, because I think the person who asked me this question a year ago was mistaken. I am sure that there are 24 books, not 20. Thanks for enquiring. | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 14:47 | comment | added | Harel13 | Did you ever find out what the original 20 were and who makes that claim? | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 14:43 | history | edited | Lesley | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Found link to question that provides an answer
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| Jul 6, 2021 at 14:15 | answer | added | Chatzkel | timeline score: -1 | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 11:22 | history | edited | Dov | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 16 characters in body; edited tags
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| Jul 6, 2021 at 11:12 | comment | added | N.T. | The only time I have ever seen a number assigned to the books of Tanach, it is 24. This number is fairly ubiquitous. While there were other opinions as to whether certain books should be included or not, as far as I know nobody ever said that the number is 20. In fact, nobody even bothered to count how many books there were according to the various dissenters, since their opinions were discarded by time. It sounds like whoever wrote your question made a mistake. | |
| Jun 16, 2020 at 10:41 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Apr 13, 2020 at 7:35 | vote | accept | Lesley | ||
| Apr 13, 2020 at 7:30 | comment | added | Lesley | Yes, the collective name for all of the books is the Tanach - a simple and elegant answer. It is possible that there was a typo (although, as a touch typist with 50 years' experience, you need your right hand to select zero and your left hand to select two). Then again, some people use the numeric keypad to enter figures. But yes, it could have simply been an error. | |
| Apr 12, 2020 at 17:52 | comment | added | Gary | ah! The "called" at the end of the question makes it a lot simpler! They were/are called the Tanach, like you have in the OP. No list or number games needed. And the "20" is a typo. | |
| Apr 12, 2020 at 10:23 | comment | added | Lesley | @Binyomin – This is my problem – the question I was given to answer simply said “What are the original twenty books of the Masoretic Text called?” I have requested source information and evidence to support this claim, but so far, none has been forthcoming. And I know nothing about the Masoretic Text. Perhaps that’s a clue, but I’m still in the dark! Appreciate the information you (and the others) have provided but I think this is an unanswerable question because it is based on an assumption. Time to move onto more pressing issues.... | |
| Apr 12, 2020 at 3:38 | comment | added | Dr. Shmuel | It is not likely you will find such a source. | |
| Apr 11, 2020 at 19:24 | comment | added | Binyomin | lesley can you share what your source is that initially there were only 20 books? The gemara has numerous discussions about whether certain texts should have been canonized, as @gary mentioned, but I don't recall any mention of 20 books. Esther was the last book written, and the Talmud baba basra (I think daf 16?) lists the authorship of the other works, so perhaps you could find 20 before the last 4 were written. But are you referring to before they were written, or before they were canonized? | |
| Apr 10, 2020 at 18:01 | comment | added | Gary | I'm venturing a semi-educated guess: Josephus wrote that there were 22 books, but had them as 5 Torah, 13 prophets, and 4 "hymns and wisdom"...which doesn't help at first glance--different academics have different lists of the 22.. Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes were "canonized" last, after Josephus severed himself fm Jewish society, so that might be his 22. But 20? Some academics say Ruth was appended to Judges and Lamentations to Jeremiah in early scrolls, but there's no surviving scrolls to prove this--but that would make 20.Other folks here probably know more, hope you get a good answer. | |
| Apr 10, 2020 at 16:59 | history | asked | Lesley | CC BY-SA 4.0 |