B. Latter Prophets 17. Song of Solomon
Over the centuries, three widely recognized principles were used to validate those writings which came as a result of divine revelation and inspiration. First, the writing had to have a recognized prophet or apostle as its author (or one associated with them, as in the case of Mark, Luke, Hebrews, James, and Jude). Second, the writing could not disagree with or contradict previous Scripture. Third, the writing had to have general consensus by the church as an inspired book. Thus, when various councils met in church history to consider the canon, they did not vote for the canonicity of a book but rather recognized, after the fact, what God had already written.
With regard to the Old Testament, by the time of Christ all of the Old Testament had been written and accepted in the Jewish community. The last book, Malachi, had been completed about 430 B.C. Not only does the Old Testament canon of Christ's day conform to the Old Testament which has since been used throughout the centuries, but it does not contain the uninspired and spurious Apocrypha, that group of 14 rogue writings which were written after Malachi and attached to the Old Testament about 200–150 B.C. in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament called the Septuagint (LXX), appearing to this very day in some versions of the Bible. However, not one passage from the Apocrypha is cited by any New Testament writer, nor did Jesus affirm any of it as he recognized the Old Testament canon of his era (cf. Luke 24:27, 44).
By Christ's time, the Old Testament canon had been divided up into two lists of 22 or 24 books respectively, each of which contained all the same material as the 39 books of our modern versions. In the 22 book canon, Jeremiah and Lamentations were considered as one, as were Judges and Ruth. The following table shows how the 24 book format was divided.
The Hebrew Old Testament
THE HEBREW OLD TESTAMENT Law Prophets Writings 1. Genesis A. Former Prophets A. Poetical Writings 2. Exodus 6. Joshua 14. Psalms 3. Leviticus 7. Judges 15. Proverbs 4. Numbers 8. Samuel (1&2) 16. Job 5. Deuteronomy 9. Kings (1&2) B. Five Rolls (Megilloth) B. Latter Prophets 17. Song of Solomon 10. Isaiah 18. Ruth