CHAPTER VI

The Scribes

[LITERATURE.—In addition to the literature given at the head of the next chapter reference may be made to Schürer II, i. pp. 306-379, German ed., II, pp. 363-447; Lightley, _Les Scribes, Étude sur leur origine chez les Israélites_ (1905). Also the articles “Scribes and Pharisees” (Prince) in the _Encycl. Bibl._, and “Scribes” (Eisenstein) in the _Jewish Encycl._]

It is important that we should try, as far as possible, to present the available _data_ concerning the Scribes in their chronological order; that would, of course, be desirable in any case, but it is doubly so when, as here, a clear statement of the development of the scribal class and its activities may be a help in understanding some of the difficult questions which will come before us in dealing with the Sadducees and Pharisees. We shall, therefore, state the evidence chronologically, as far as may be, making our deductions as we proceed.

(_a_) _The Old Testament data._

First as to the use of the term “Scribe” = _Sôphēr_ in Hebrew, and is used in the sense of “secretary” or the like; in 2 Samuel viii. 17, e.g., among David’s officials are reckoned “Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, who were priests; and Seraiah, who was scribe” (cp. 2 Sam. xx. 25; 2 Kings xviii. 18, etc.). As a royal official he had various duties; he acted as treasurer, according to 2 Kings xii. 11, 2 Chronicles xxiv. 11, apparently in some military capacity, according to 2 Kings xxv. 19, Jeremiah lii. 25; in Psalm xlv. 2 a _Sôphēr_ is clearly one who writes (“My tongue is the pen of a ready writer” [_Sôphēr_]); and, finally, in Esther iii. 12, viii. 9, he occupies the place of the Persian king’s secretary who writes out decrees. With one exception (Ps. xlv. 2), in all these passages the Scribe is spoken of as a royal official; they are, therefore, only important for us here as showing that the ideas of counting and writing are connected with the term _Sôphēr_; and these are exactly the meanings conveyed by the root.

The three next passages, which give some _data_ regarding the office of the Scribe, have a special importance because they are pre-exilic—

Jeremiah viii. 8, 9: “How do ye say, We are wise, and the Law of the Lord is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the Scribes hath wrought falsely. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what manner of wisdom is in them?”

Jeremiah xviii. 18: “Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the Law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet.”

Jeremiah xxxvi.: This chapter is too long to quote in full; it tells us of Baruch, the Scribe, who wrote down Jeremiah’s words “upon a roll of a book”; it also mentions Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the Scribe, who had his chamber “in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house” (verse 10); further, mention is also made of Elishama the Scribe, who had his chamber in the king’s house (verse 12); Elishama was clearly a royal official.

From these passages we gather that Scribes were in existence before the Exile, that they claimed to be wise, and that they regarded themselves as authorities on the Law of the Lord; they are censured by Jeremiah with having “wrought falsely,” and the context points to this as being connected with the “Law of the Lord”; what precisely is referred to is not easy to determine, but the point of importance for us is that the pre-exilic Scribes were occupied with the Law; if they come under the lash of Jeremiah they do not differ in this respect from the wise men, nor yet from the priests and the prophets (see viii. 10). In Jeremiah xxxvi. mention is made of Scribes in influential positions; but in addition to these there is Baruch, who belongs to a different category of Scribe, for he makes copies of what are clearly regarded as sacred writings (see verses 24, 25). From the meagre evidence we possess there is not much to be gathered; but we may perhaps be justified in saying that already in pre-exilic times the term “Scribes” was beginning to be used as a technical term in the limited sense of their being those whose special duty it was to make copies of the Law in the form in which it then existed. But in saying that the term “Scribes” was used in a technical sense already in this pre-exilic period we must very strongly emphasize that this is to be understood in an entirely different sense from that in which it was used as a technical term in post-exilic times. There is a world of difference between the Scribe who is the more or less officially accredited copier of the text of the Law or other Scriptures, and the Scribe who also interprets the Law, teaches it to the people, and in whom is vested the judicial power of enforcing its decrees. In each case “Scribe” may be used as a technical term while connoting two very different things.

Further, from the second of the passages quoted above we see that three distinct classes are mentioned, viz., the priests, the wise men or _Chakamim_, and the prophets. There can be no doubt that these three were in existence long before Scribes in the technical sense were heard of; with the prophets we are not concerned here, for their activity lay in a different sphere altogether; but we must try and get some clear ideas upon the subject of the relationship between the Scribes and the priests on the one hand, and the Scribes and the _Chakamim_ on the other.

Originally the priests alone were concerned with the Law; but the Law contained, broadly speaking, two elements, the ritual and the moral; the former of these was more especially the concern of the priests; but the latter had a wider interest, and many of the _Chakamim_ as well as the priests occupied themselves with it. When the Scribes arose—it is not possible to say precisely when this was, but it was before the Exile—they did not, as a body, restrict themselves to the study of one or other aspect of the Law, but, according to their bent, some gave more particular attention to the study of the ritual Law, others to the moral Law; so that among the types of scribe there appeared the priest-scribe, such as Ezra, and the wisdom-scribe, such as was Ben-Sira in later times. But the _Chakamim_, as a class, still remained, no less than the priests, each occupying themselves with their particular study, as they had done before the Scribes came into existence. In course of time, and through Ezra’s influence, the power of the Scribes greatly increased, and they became the most influential leaders among the people; and by the time of the Maccabæan struggle their activities were wholly and exclusively absorbed in the study and teaching of the Law, both ritual and moral, written and oral. But we have anticipated, and must now turn to the evidence of the post-exilic books.

In Ezra vii. the following verses are important: “Ezra ... was a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given” (verse 6). “Ezra had set his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements” (verse 10). “... Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel....” “Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven” (verses 11, 12, 21). According to vii. 25, Artaxerxes gives the following instructions to Ezra: “And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, appoint magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye him that knoweth them not.”

The whole of Nehemiah viii.-x. is important for our present subject; we draw special attention to the following passages: “Ezra the scribe” is asked by the people to bring the book of the Law of Moses in order that it might be read to them; it then continues: “And Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation, both men and women, and all that could hear with understanding.... And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water-gate from early morning until mid-day, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the Law” (viii. 2, 3). In