2. Date and Institution. — The period of the Sopherim begins with the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivit}', and ends with the death of Simon the Just (B.C. cir. 458-300), embracing nearly a hundred and sixty years. Tliough there were popular teachers of the law in the Babylonian captivity, as is evident from Ezra viii, 16, wliere these official instructors are denom- inated sUllcd in the km (C^D*^-^), and from the fact that Ezra himself was at the head of such a class (Ezra vii, 12, 21; comp. Neh. xiii, 13); yet the language in which the sacred oracles were written was gradually dying out, and Hebrew ceased, in many instances, to be the language of the people (ver. 24). This rendered the understanding of the Scriptures by the people at large a difficult matter. Besides, the newly altered state after the return from the Babylonian captivity, which called for new enactments as well as for the ex- pansion and modilication of some Pcntateuchal laws, imperatively demanded that an authoritative body of teachers should so explain the law, which was regard- ed as the only rule of practice, as to adapt it to present circumstances. Hence Ezra, who reorganized the new state, also organized such a body of interpreters, of vvliich he was the chief. It is for this reason that lie is called Sopher — one occupied u- it h books, interpi-eter of the Book (vii, 0, 11, 12, 21 ; Neh. viii, 1, 4, 9, 13; xii, 20, 36), that he is denominated the second Moses (Sanhedrin, 21 b; Tosiphta, ibid. cap. iv ; Jerus. Megilla, i, 9) ; and that it is said " when the Thora was forgotten by Israel, Ezra came from Baliylon and restored it again" (Succa, 20 a; comp. 2 Esdras'xiv, 21-47). The skilled in the law, both from among the tribe of Aaron and the laity, who, with Ezra, and after his death to the time of the Tanaim, thus interpreted and fixed the divine law, are denominated
SCRIBES, JEWISH
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SCRIBES, JEWISH
Sopherim — "scribes," in the strict sense of the word. Many of these Sopherim were members of the Great Synagogue which was formed by Neheraiah after the death of Ezra ; hence the terms Sopherim and the men of the Great Sijnagogue (nbll^il n03D ilTSX) are fre- quently interchanged ; and hence, too, the canons which were enacted during this period are sometimes recorded in the name of the former and sometimes in the name of the latter, though they proceed from one and the same body. Reserving those enactments which are re- corded in the name of the Great Synagogue for that article [see Synagogue, The Great], we shall here specify the most important acts and monuments which have come down to us as proceeding from the Sopherim.
3. The Work of the Sopherim. — At the outset, the words of Ezra vii, 10 describe the high ideal of the new office. The scribe is "to seek (1^'^'^) the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." This, far more than his priesthood, was the true glory of Ezra. In the ej'es even of the Persian king he was *• a scribe of the law of the God of heaven" (vii, 12). He was assisted in his work bj' others, chiefly Levites. Publicly they read and expounded the law, perhaps, also, translated it from the already obsolescent Hebrew into the Aramaic of the people (Neh. viii, 8-13). In the succeeding age they appear as a distinct class — " the families of the scribes," with a local habitation (1 Chron. ii, 55). They compile, as in the two books of Chronicles, excerpta and epitomes of larger histories (1 Chron. xxix, 29; 2 Chron. ix, 29). The occurrence of the word midrash (" the story" [margin, " the cora- mentar}'"] "of the prophet Iddo"), afterwards so mem- orable, in 2 Chron. xiii, 22, shows that the work of com- menting and expounding had already begun.
In the later period, it is not too much to say that the work of these Sopherim embraces the whole field of civil and religious law, both as it is contained in the written Word of God and as it obtained in the course of time; and that it is most essential to the criticism and inter- pretation of the Old Test, to understand these enact- ments, inasmuch as they materially affect the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. This will be evident from the following brief description of some of the Sopheric work.
(1.) In accordance with the primary meaning of their name, the scribes, or Sopherim, copied the Pentateuch, the phylacteries, and Jlezuzoth for the people {Pesaehim^ 50 b), since it was only the codices which proceeded from these authoritative teachers that could be relied upon.
(2.) They guarded the Bible against any interpola- tions or corruptions, and for this purpose counted the letters of the Scriptures. Thus the scribes tell us that in five instances (Gen. xviii, 5; xxiv, 35; Numb, xxxi, 2; Psa. xxxvi, 7; Ixviii, 26), a vav crept into the text through a vitiated provincial pronuijciation, for which reason these Sopheric corrections are called the emenda- tions of the scribes (d^lSID "Il-j?, Nedarim, 37 b [see Keri andKethih; IMasorah] ; Ginsburg's translation of Jacob ben-Chajim's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible, p. 12).