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scribesmore about scribes

scribes

 

  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Scribes 
  anciently  held  various  important  offices  in  the  public  affairs 
  of  the  nation.  The  Hebrew  word  so  rendered  (sopher)  is  first 
  used  to  designate  the  holder  of  some  military  office  (Judg. 
  5:14;  A.V.,  "pen  of  the  writer;"  R.V.,  "the  marshal's  staff;" 
  marg.,  "the  staff  of  the  scribe").  The  scribes  acted  as 
  secretaries  of  state,  whose  business  it  was  to  prepare  and  issue 
  decrees  in  the  name  of  the  king  (2  Sam.  8:17;  20:25;  1  Chr. 
  18:16;  24:6;  1  Kings  4:3;  2  Kings  12:9-11;  18:18-37,  etc.).  They 
  discharged  various  other  important  public  duties  as  men  of  high 
  authority  and  influence  in  the  affairs  of  state. 
 
  There  was  also  a  subordinate  class  of  scribes,  most  of  whom 
  were  Levites  They  were  engaged  in  various  ways  as  writers. 
  Such  for  example,  was  Baruch,  who  "wrote  from  the  mouth  of 
  Jeremiah  all  the  words  of  the  Lord"  (Jer.  36:4,  32). 
 
  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.  On  them  devolved  the  duty  of 
  multiplying  copies  of  the  law  and  of  teaching  it  to  others  (Ezra 
  7:6,  10-12;  Neh.  8:1,  4,  9,  13).  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  (Matt.  23),  thereby  obscuring  it  and  rendering  it  of 
  none  effect.  The  titles  scribes"  and  lawyers"  (q.v.)  are  in 
  the  Gospels  interchangeable  (Matt.  22:35;  Mark  12:28;  Luke 
  20:39,  etc.).  They  were  in  the  time  of  our  Lord  the  public 
  teachers  of  the  people,  and  frequently  came  into  collision  with 
  him  They  afterwards  showed  themselves  greatly  hostile  to  the 
  apostles  (Acts  4:5;  6:12). 
 
  Some  of  the  scribes,  however,  were  men  of  a  different  spirit, 
  and  showed  themselves  friendly  to  the  gospel  and  its  preachers. 
  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).




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