Never perhaps, was so important a work done so silently. A later age honored them collectively as the men of the Great Synagogue. Of the scribes of this period, with the exception of Ezra and Zadok, ( Nehemiah 13:13 ) we have no record. ( Jeremiah 8:8 ) After the captivity the office became more prominent, as the exiles would be anxious above all things to preserve the sacred books, the laws, the hymns, the prophecies of the past. Comp ( 2 Kings 12:10 ) In Hezekiahs time transcribed old records, and became a class of students and interpreters of the law, boasting of their wisdom. ( 2 Samuel 8:17 20:25 1 Kings 4:3 ) We may think of them as the kings secretaries, writing his letters, drawing up his decrees, managing his finances. ( Judges 5:14 ) The men are mentioned as filling the office of scribe under David and Solomon. (2) The name of Kirjath-sepher, ( Joshua 15:15 Judges 1:12 ) may possibly connect itself with some early use of the title, and appears to point to military functions of some kind. The sopherim were so called because they wrote out the law, or because they classified and arranged its precepts, or because they counted with scrupulous minuteness every elapse and letter It contained. The explanation of the word has been referred to each of these. (1) Three meanings are connected with the verb saphar, the root of sopherim - (a) to write, (b) to set in order, (c) to count. indicates this entry was also found in Smith's Bible DictionaryĮaston, Matthew George. indicates this entry was also found in Torrey's Topical Textbook Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, Thus Gamaliel advised the Sanhedrin, when the apostles were before them charged with "teaching in this name," to "refrain from these men and let them alone" ( Acts 5:34-39 comp 23:9 ). Some of the scribes, however, were men of a different spirit, and showed themselves friendly to the gospel and its preachers. They afterwards showed themselves greatly hostile to the apostles ( Acts 4:5 6:12 ). They were in the time of our Lord the public teachers of the people, and frequently came into collision with him. The titles "scribes" and "lawyers" (q.v.) are in the Gospels interchangeable ( Matthew 22:35 Mark 12:28 Luke 20:39, etc.). It is evident that in New Testament times the scribes belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, who supplemented the ancient written law by their traditions ( Matthew 23 ), thereby obscuring it and rendering it of none effect. On them devolved the duty of multiplying copies of the law and of teaching it to others ( Ezra 7:6 Ezra 7:10-12 Nehemiah 8:1 Nehemiah 8:4 Nehemiah 8:9 Nehemiah 8:13 ). In later times, after the Captivity, when the nation lost its independence, the scribes turned their attention to the law, gaining for themselves distinction by their intimate acquaintance with its contents. Such, for example, was Baruch, who "wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord" ( Jeremiah 36:4 Jeremiah 36:32 ). They were engaged in various ways as writers. There was also a subordinate class of scribes, most of whom were Levites. They discharged various other important public duties as men of high authority and influence in the affairs of state. The scribes acted as secretaries of state, whose business it was to prepare and issue decrees in the name of the king ( 2 Samuel 8:17 20:25 1 Chronicles 18:16 24:6 1 Kings 4:3 2 Kings 12:9-11 18:18-37, etc.). 5:14 A.V., "pen of the writer " RSV, "the marshal's staff " marg., "the staff of the scribe"). The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation.
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