In the NT they are usually called ypa/jL/iaTett {' scribes,' ' men of letters '), occasionally also vo/ii/toJ (' lawyers') and ro/iodiSda-KaXoi ('doctors,' ' teacliera
• Scribes are mentioned in Jer 88, where the prophet accuses them of falsifying the Law (cf. Giesebrecbt, ad toe). The term
Sopher occurs frequently in the OT in other significations, e.g. g 6", 2 K 2519, 2 Ch 26", Jer 37"-*> 6'2a» • muster-master, an officer who had charge of the enumeration and enrolment of the troops; a kind of adjutant-general' (Moore on Jg 6^*); Is ;{3H the official that rated the tribute or war-tax that had to be paid to the oppressor; Ezr 48t (NiEp], Ps 45i [Heb. 2j, Jer SOW as, Ezk 9>-> writer; 2S 8" 20», IK 48, 2K 1210 (Heb.") 1818.37 192 223. sir., 1 Ch 1816 246 27M, 2 Ch 34I6- 18- »>, Est 3>2 89, Is 36S- ^ ST', Jer 3610. 11 20. 21 secretary of the king, secretarj- of State. In 1 Mac 6*3 the ' scribes of the people ' are also militarj' officers, the 'captains of thousands, ancl captains of hundieds, and cap- tains of fifties, and captains of tens' of S". In Sir KV" scribe' probably means prefect of the people. Of. Deissmann [En;, tr.), liuff.
t The tradition regarding the Great Synagogue, which is said to have fixed the Canon of Scripture, has no historical founda- tion ; see Kuenen, Ge^ammeite Abhandtungeti, 125 ff. ; Montet, Etisai gur let wriginet des partit $aditci«n et pharieien, 91 fl. and art. Stnaoooub (Tob Grkat).
SCRIBES
SCRIBES
421
of the law'). These three terms are used almost synonymously (see art. Lawyer).* They practi- cally formed the same party as the Pharisees, though such expressions as ' the scribes of the Pharisees' (Mk 2") and 'the Pharisees and their scribes ' (Lk 5*", of. Ac 23') show tliat some of the scribes were Sadducees (see art. PliARISEKS, § ii. (1)). The main seat of their activity was Judoea ; but we tind them also in Galilee {e.g. Lk 5") ; and thej» were probably to be found even in the Dias- pora. They were indispensable wherever there was living zeal for the Law. Though any one qualilied might be called on by the ruler of the synagogue to read and expound the Scriptures in the Bvnagogues, tlie scribes, when present, were natur- ally most frecjuenlly invited to do so (cf. Mk 1^).
The scribes were verj' ambitious of honour (Mt 23'-", Mk 125«'-, Lk 11"" 20«), which they de- manded more especially from tlieir pupils. 'Let the honour of thy disciple be dear unto thee as the honour of thine associate ; and the honour of thine associate as the fear of thy master ; and the fear of thy master as the fear of Ueaven' (Ahoth iv. 17 in Taylor, !<ai/ing.s- of tlie Jevnsh Fathers^). The claims of one's teacher were to be preferred to those of one's father, unless the latter were also one of the learned. If one's father and one's teacher had lost anything, or were bearing burdens, or were in captivity, the teacher was to be assisted first (Baba mezia ii. 11 in Schiirer, GJV'u. 317, and Taylor, op. cit. 71). The honour which they demanded was freely accorded to them. They enjoyed a great reputation not only anion" their pupils, but also among the people generally. They were usually addressed as Rabbi {'yi, literally ' my lord ' ; it also meant ' ma.ster' in the sense of ' teacher,' Jn l^),t occasionally also as Babban or Rahbon (cf. Rahboni, addressed to Christ in Mk 10", Jn 20'"), father ( = abba) and »na«<cr ( = teacher, Mt23'-'").
ii. KUNCTlo.vs. — It was mainly, though not ex- clusively, with the Law that the scribes occupied themselves. In respect of it their functions were threefold: (1) they ha<l theoretically to develop the Law itself ; (2) they had to teach the Law to their pupils ; and (3) they had to act as judges in the Sanhedrin and in the various local courts. J
(1) The t/teoretical development of the Law. — Theoretically, the written Law, contained in the Pentateuch, was the absolute norm of life, the religious, civil, and penal code of Lsrael. The pious Jew wa-s required to observe it in its minutest details. But it was impossible for an average man to do so without special guidance. For this guid- ance they looked to the scribes. One of their chief functions was to study the exact letter of the Law, to harmonize and develop its various precepts into the minutest details, so as to secure its com- plete fulliliuent, and to show how its precepts were to be observed in daily life. This they did also with the great mass of urwritten legal tradi- tions, which in course of time had grown up along- side of the written Law. Ca-ses, however, were of frequent occurrence, in regard to which both (he written Law and tradition were silent, while the
• ' " Scribe *' (Ijvtt. tcrUta) unfortunately lays BtreM on the ety- mological wnse of the word (>'^^^uiTi<'r « Dni^b); '* lawyer" (mm^mc) ig scarcely better; Lc.'b ttiJL^tiarxitXM Is perhaps the moat exact title '(Swete on MI< 1*2). Josephus occanionally calls them »«c.«-T». {DJ i. xxxiii. 2, ll, x\-\\. 8, 9). "The word »»e»(, which In earlier times had been applied to one who woa skilled In any of tlie arte of lile . . . ha<l come to be applied, if not exclusively, yet at leant chiefly, to one who was slirewd with practical wlwloin, or who I<new the thou((hts and 8a\'in^'S of the •ndenW (Hatch's IliObert Lfc(uret, 2e). Hatch also reminds us (p. 28) that * by Grammar was meant the study of literature.'