Why did the Jews reject the deuterocanonical books, and when was the Tanakh's canon set?
A viewer asks why the Jews rejected the seven deuterocanonical books in their Tanakh, and when the canon of the Tanakh was agreed upon.
Answer
Around 95 AD, after the Church had taken over the gospel and after the Temple and priesthood were destroyed, the Jews were floundering and had to decide whether to accept the deuterocanonical books. There was a division between Alexandrian Jews, who knew Greek and had little problem with them, and Palestinian Jews, who favored Hebrew. Most of the deuterocanonicals were written in Hebrew, but two were written in Greek. At the Council of Jamnia, dominated by Palestinian Jews, they drew the line at Ezra and Nehemiah, all written in Hebrew, and claimed there was silence from God after them; their criterion was that anything with a possible Greek predecessor could not be trusted, whereas Ezra and Nehemiah were pure Hebrew. The early fathers were tempted to treat the Greek Septuagint translation as inspired, but the Council of Trent correctly said the Septuagint was not inspired; only the Hebrew was inspired, except for the two deuterocanonical books originally inspired in Greek. So a lot of Catholics wrongly think the Septuagint was inspired, but Jerome saw that it was not.