1. The office of Scribe. — The scribes combined a scientific and technical knowledge of Hebrew laws, and of Hebrew scriptures generally, with the skill of trained teachers in expounding them to the common people. They were the / teachers of their countrymen. Holding the key of knowledge, they were charged with the duty of unlocking the mystery and bringing out the meaning of the written word. Ezra went up from Babylon ; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses. All know how much the restored exiles were indebted to him, how loyal he was to God, and how faithfully he served his generation. The office of scribe was alike useful and honourable, </ and they who filled it worthily deserved well of their contem- poraries. Our Saviour has taught us the value of the labours of a good scribe : " Every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a house- holder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."
^ A. Plummer. ST. MARK — 22
V
338 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
1 But there was a tendency in the profession to narrowness,
'to exclusiveness, to the traditionary, to the official. They sank
into copyists, into mere echoes of human voices, instead of
\** making the people understand the law of God." They paid
more attention to glosses than to the original text, to com-
jmentaries than to the Scriptures themselves, to tradition than
jto the revelation which God had made of His mind and will.
These scribes, in course of time, thought more of the lanterns of
human authorities than of the light of heaven ; " making void
wthe word of God by their tradition." For the most part, in the
V days of our Saviour, the scribes were " blind leaders of the blind."
i They no longer helped men into the Kingdom, but hindered those
t who would enter. It seems that there was even more of moral
than of intellectual degeneracy among them. They had not
only lost touch of eternal and Divine verities, but they had also
\ substituted men's devices for God's commandments ; their study
; of the letter had ceased to profit, while their refinements and
[rules had killed the spiritual and put into its place the cere-
{monial. The outcome of all this, its effect upon the scribes
themselves, is seen in the statement by our Lord : " Beware of
the scribes which desire to walk in long robes, and to have
salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the
synagogues, and chief places at feasts : they which devour widows'
houses, and for a pretence make long prayers : these shall
receive greater condemnation,"
2. This Scribe. — The praise which Jesus bestowed upon this lawyer is best understood when we take into account the circum- stances, the pressure of assailants with ensnaring questions, the sullen disappointment or palpable exasperation of the party to which the scribe belonged. He had probably sympathised in their hostility ; and had come expecting and desiring the dis- comfiture of Jesus. But if so, he was a candid enemy ; and as each new attempt revealed more clearly the spiritual insight, the self-possession and balanced wisdom, of Him who had been represented as a dangerous fanatic, his unfriendly opinion began to waver. For he too was at issue with popular views : he had learned in the Scriptures that God desireth not sacrifice, that incense might be an abomination to Him, and new moons and
ST. MARK 339
sabbaths things to do away with. And so, perceiving that He had answered them well, the scribe asked, on his own account, a very different question, not rarely debated in their schools, and often answered with grotesque frivolity, but which he felt to go down to the very root of things. Instead of challenging Christ's \/ authority, he tried His wisdom. Instead of striving to entangle Him in dangerous politics, or to assail with shallow ridicule the problems of the life to come, he asked, What commandment is "? the first of all ? And if we may accept as complete this abrupt '' statement of his interrogation, it would seem to have been drawn from him by a sudden impulse, or wrenched by an overmastering desire, despite of reluctance and false shame. The Lord answered \/^ him with great solemnity and emphasis. He might have quoted the commandment only. But He at once supported the precept itself and also His own view of its importance by including the majestic prologue, " Hear, 0 Israel ; The Lord our God, the Lord is one : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." The questioner saw all the nobihty of this reply ; \/ and the disdain, the anger, and perhaps the persecution of his associates could not prevent him from an admiring and reverent repetition of the Saviour's words, and an avowal that all the ceremonial observances of Judaism were as nothing compared with this.
Ill
Not Far from the Kingdom.
1. " Jesus saw that he answered discreetly." While the scribe was judging, he was being judged. As he knew that Jesug had answered well, so Jesus saw that he answered discreetly ; and in view of his unprejudiced judgment, his spiritual insight, and his frank approval of One who was then despised and rejected. He said to him, " Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."