Paul Gerardi Engineer, Student of the Word - living and written

The ancient scriptures, like most portable writings of that era, were handwritten on scrolls. These would be made of papyrus (plant fiber) or parchment (animal skin). Those who wrote on them were of course educated to be able to read and write. Anyone who wrote on scrolls was known as a "scribe" - a "writer".

In the ancient Middle East and Far East countries, a king's scribes were used to write down laws, decrees, covenants, contracts, etc. They would be like lawyers, paralegals and legal secretaries of today, with a responsibility to ensure the documents were accurate and complete. Because scrolls more easily wore out if used than a bound codex would (ink flakes off and rubs off as scrolls are rolled and unrolled, and rolling constantly wears the scroll material out as well) eventually a copy of the scroll would have to be made. Again, a scribe - someone educated to read and write - would have the task of making the copy. Before acceptance, the copy would be verified to be the same as - a "perfect" copy - of the original. This same method would have been used by the people of God to reproduce the Pentateuch when needed. The scribes also were responsible for maintaining and preserving the other scriptural writings, for example, wisdom and prophetic writings, as they were added.

In OT scripture we do not hear much at all about those who wrote or made necessary replacement copies of the various scrolls until after the Babylonian captivity, when the scholar and scribe Ezra (Ezra 7:6), as part of his God appointed role in the return of the people to Israel and the restoration of their relationship with God, organized the "soferim" the scribes into a distinct organization. This group then became not only the copyists but also the interpreters of God's Law and they became and were called "lawyers" and "doctors/teachers of the law".

Eventually, the once noble profession of being a scribe gave way to them being chastised by Jesus because of their hypocrisy - they preserved and taught the law of God and expected others to follow it, but were not following it themselves [Matt 23:1-4].

August 30 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report