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Easton's Bible Dictionary
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;" RSV, "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 Samuel 8:17; 20:25; 1 Chronicles 18:16; 24:6; 1 Kings 4:3; 2Kings
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" (Jeremiah 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;
Nehemiah 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 (Matthew 23), thereby obscuring it and rendering it of none
effect. The titles "scribes" and "lawyers" (q.v.) are in the Gospels
interchangeable (Matthew 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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Copyright Statement
These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible
Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy
freely.
Bibliography Information
Easton, Matthew George. "Entry for 'Scribes'". "Easton's Bible Dictionary".
1897.