The Life of Jesus in Harmony |
Index
scribes
Members of a learned class in ancient
Israel through New Testament times who studied the Scriptures from age 14 to 40 and
served as copyists, editors, and teachers.
After the Jews returned from the Captivity in Babylon, the era of the scribes
began. The reading of the Law before the nation of Israel by Ezra (Neh 8-10)
signaled the nation's return to exact observance of all the laws and rites that
had been given. Following the Law and the traditions that had grown up around it
became the measure of devotion and spirituality.
At first the priests were responsible for the scientific study and
professional communication of this legal code. But this function eventually passed to the
scribes. Their official interpretation of the meaning of the Law eventually
became more important than the Law itself.
This position of strength allowed these early scribes to enforce their rules
and practices with a binding authority. To speak of the scribes as interpreters
of Scripture means that they provided rules for human conduct out of their
study.
By the time of
Jesus, the scribes were a new upper class among the Jewish people. Large numbers of
priests in
Jerusalem before A. D. 70 served as scribes. One of these was Josephus, the Jewish
historian. Some scribes came from among the
Sadducees. Others came from the ordinary priestly ranks. But the largest group of
scribes came from among every other class of people, including merchants,
carpenters, flax combers, tent makers, and even day laborers, like Hillel, who became a
famous Jewish teacher.
Many writings of late Judaism contained great theological systems that were
understood only by the specially initiated. This was left to the confidential
teaching of the scribes. They believed that God intended to leave the mass of
people ignorant of His reasons for requiring certain things under the Law. These
truths were hidden from the masses because they could not be trusted to
understand and apply the Law.
The city of Jerusalem was the center of this scribal knowledge and
interpretation of the Law. Only ordained teachers could transmit and create the tradition;
this was the matter studied to perfection by students often beginning at age
14. When they completed their study at the age of 40, they could be ordained. As
members with full rights, they could act as judges, be called rabbis, and
occupy positions in administration of justice, government, and education. They
joined the
chief priests and aristocratic families who made up the SANHEDRIN. The scribes were held in
greatest esteem by the people.