Jurists

Scribes were passionate about the preserving of the law and the Jewish way of life, and during the last couple of centuries before Christ the Jewish law gradually became an extensive and complicated science. This academic development of the law was unwritten and propagated by oral tradition. If one was to pursue it, it would take intense study to obtain even a general acquaintance with it.

The Scribes felt it necessary to discover what was definitely binding and then develop minute details (see A Fence Around the Law). In order to make their traditions binding upon all, it was necessary to come as near as possible to a general consensus of opinion. Therefore the entire process of systematizing the law was carried on by oral discussion and the recognized authorities instructed their pupils in the law and debated legal questions with each other.

Gradually the theories of the scribes became valid law, and their "wise" teachings and proverbs were taken as truth.

The recognized authorities would also dwell in central locations to give instruction and render legal decisions. The judgment of the rabbinical scribes determined what was valid law and they were the power of the Sanhedrin. In legal matter if there was any reasonable doubt the matter was brought "before the learned," who pronounced an authoritative decision.

The chief center of Judaism was at Jerusalem until the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D. and then it moved to other localities, such as Jamnia and Tiberias.