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Following the Gemara’s interpretation of a series of difficult passages from Sefer Yeḥezkel, Rav Yehuda quoted Rav as saying:
That man is to be remembered for good, and Ḥanina ben Ḥizkiyya is his name; for were it not for him the Book of Yeḥezkel would have been suppressed, since its sayings contradicted the words of the Torah. What did he do? He took up with him three hundred jugs of oil and remained there in the upper chamber until he had explained away everything.
Ḥanina (or Ḥananya) ben Ḥizkiyya ben Garon (or Guryon) was one of the important scholars who lived in the generation following Hillel and Shammai. Ḥanina’s attic served as an important meeting place for the Sages of that time, where significant issues were discussed and decided. Among his most noteworthy works was Ḥanina’s collection of Megillat Ta’anit, the first time Rabbinic oral traditions were set into writing. In this effort he was assisted by his son, Rabbi Eliezer, who may, in fact, have done most of the work in organizing and producing that material.
We explore the canonization of the Tanach and how this story fits in.