Someone employed for his ability to read and write. Existed throughout the ancient Near East and Mediterranean over several millennia.
The Hebrew word for “scribe” (סוֹפֵר, sopher) comes from the verbal root meaning “to write.” The participle form of the Hebrew word for scribe means “writer” or “secretary.” In Greek, the word is γραμματεύς (grammateus).
Background
Unlike the Pharisees or the Sadducees, scribes were not confined to Israel. The scribal tradition in Israel has its roots in the ancient Near Eastern civilization. Scribes worked in a variety of realms, including religious, political, judicial, economic, and social. Jewish scribes may have been employed in additional occupations, including:
copying manuscripts;
teaching and interpreting the Torah and other Jewish literature;
working in the temple, royal court, or administration;
being a political advisor or diplomat;
working with ancient sciences;
functioning as wise sages, elders, judges, or as members of the Sanhedrin;
writing letters and documents for the kingdom, businesses, and private households.
Some scribes were part of the sect of the Pharisees or Sadducees, and some were also priests and Levites. The New Testament portrays the scribes as an organized group, but recent studies have been more tentative on such a conclusion.
Understanding the Scribes
Grasping the roles and function of the scribes can be difficult due to the presence of the vocation in many civilizations, time periods, and realms. Their education, especially their ability to read and write, enabled them to fill many roles within the government, religious activities, and households. Therefore, their roles and functions as portrayed in the New Testament, Jewish literature, and other sources from the ancient Near East vary. Not every scribe or group of scribes performed all the roles and functions that scribes have exercised in different locations and eras in the ancient world.
Ancient Sources
Scribal practices were common in ancient Near East civilizations and early Israel. In ancient Mesopotamia, the administrative, political, and teaching functions of a scribe went together with more routine tasks of copying, collating, and annotating manuscripts. Scribes occupied highest posts as royal secretaries in charge of correspondence, counselors, and high officials. Egyptian boys were trained early to read and write, and they became apprentices to scribes or high officials. Their training involved copying, reciting, and memorizing material (Saldarini, “Scribes,” 1012).
In ancient Israel, scribes arose to meet the needs of Judaean and Israelite monarchies beginning in the 10th century BC. According to Fishbane, the difference between the Israelite scribes and their neighbors was the scribes’ involvement in religious activities and with religious texts (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 24). Scribes appeared in King David’s royal council (2 Sam 8:16–18), with King Solomon (1 Kgs 4:1–6), King Joash (2 Chr 24:11–12), and King Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:18, 37). Fishbane assumes that scribal skills were learned in various guild families (1 Chr 2:55) and enabled scribes to serve different state and administrative responsibilities (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 25).
Certain scribes aided in military conscriptions (2 Kgs 25:19) and others, such as Shemaiah, oversaw priestly rotations (1 Chr 24:6) and provided services to the temple (2 Chr 34:13). Other scribes served as diplomats and sages. In addition to their administrative services, scribes copied, maintained, transmitted, and collated literary texts. Fishbane claims that scribal practices can be discerned from annotations to priestly regulations found in Leviticus and Numbers. These regulations were rendered in short collections or series, which indicates the presence of formal conventions of an established scribal tradition. Fishbane also cites superscriptive titles and summary colophons that are present in other ancient Near Eastern texts (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 27–28).
During postexilic times, Ezra, the priest and scribe, served as the figure for postexilic restoration, national revival, and reform (Ezra 7:6–26; Neh 8:1–9). The emphasis was on studying the Torah and teaching the Law to the returned exiles (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 36).
Jewish Literature
In Jewish literature, Ben Sira (Sirach 38:24–39:11) forms a picture of an ideal scribe. The scribe is characterized as someone who is wise and has time to study the law and the wisdom of the ancients. The scribe serves among rulers, travels to foreign lands, and intercedes for people. The scribe is filled with the spirit of understanding, manifested by the word of wisdom that comes from the Lord based on what he learns. Famous scribes in Jewish literature include Enoch, the scribe of righteousness (1 Enoch), and Baruch, the community leader whose authority exceeds even Jeremiah’s (2 Baruch).
Scribes are depicted as heirs to prophets, interpreters, and visionaries with links to the apocalyptic and wisdom traditions. Scribes also are associated with the Hasidims (a group of separatists known as the “righteous” or “pious”; see Greenspoon, Between Alexander and Antioch, 343) who offered themselves willingly for the law (1 Macc 2:42; see 7:12–14). A leading scribe, Eleazar, died for the law as an example to younger Jews, after he refused to eat pig meat from a pagan altar (2 Macc 6:18).
CITED
Tan-Gatue, P. (2016). Scribe. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.
Scribes
סוֹפֵר (sopher); γραμματεύς (grammateus)
Someone employed for his ability to read and write. Existed throughout the ancient Near East and Mediterranean over several millennia.
The Hebrew word for “scribe” (סוֹפֵר, sopher) comes from the verbal root meaning “to write.” The participle form of the Hebrew word for scribe means “writer” or “secretary.” In Greek, the word is γραμματεύς (grammateus).
Background
Unlike the Pharisees or the Sadducees, scribes were not confined to Israel. The scribal tradition in Israel has its roots in the ancient Near Eastern civilization. Scribes worked in a variety of realms, including religious, political, judicial, economic, and social. Jewish scribes may have been employed in additional occupations, including:
Some scribes were part of the sect of the Pharisees or Sadducees, and some were also priests and Levites. The New Testament portrays the scribes as an organized group, but recent studies have been more tentative on such a conclusion.
Understanding the Scribes
Grasping the roles and function of the scribes can be difficult due to the presence of the vocation in many civilizations, time periods, and realms. Their education, especially their ability to read and write, enabled them to fill many roles within the government, religious activities, and households. Therefore, their roles and functions as portrayed in the New Testament, Jewish literature, and other sources from the ancient Near East vary. Not every scribe or group of scribes performed all the roles and functions that scribes have exercised in different locations and eras in the ancient world.
Ancient Sources
Scribal practices were common in ancient Near East civilizations and early Israel. In ancient Mesopotamia, the administrative, political, and teaching functions of a scribe went together with more routine tasks of copying, collating, and annotating manuscripts. Scribes occupied highest posts as royal secretaries in charge of correspondence, counselors, and high officials. Egyptian boys were trained early to read and write, and they became apprentices to scribes or high officials. Their training involved copying, reciting, and memorizing material (Saldarini, “Scribes,” 1012).
In ancient Israel, scribes arose to meet the needs of Judaean and Israelite monarchies beginning in the 10th century BC. According to Fishbane, the difference between the Israelite scribes and their neighbors was the scribes’ involvement in religious activities and with religious texts (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 24). Scribes appeared in King David’s royal council (2 Sam 8:16–18), with King Solomon (1 Kgs 4:1–6), King Joash (2 Chr 24:11–12), and King Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:18, 37). Fishbane assumes that scribal skills were learned in various guild families (1 Chr 2:55) and enabled scribes to serve different state and administrative responsibilities (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 25).
Certain scribes aided in military conscriptions (2 Kgs 25:19) and others, such as Shemaiah, oversaw priestly rotations (1 Chr 24:6) and provided services to the temple (2 Chr 34:13). Other scribes served as diplomats and sages. In addition to their administrative services, scribes copied, maintained, transmitted, and collated literary texts. Fishbane claims that scribal practices can be discerned from annotations to priestly regulations found in Leviticus and Numbers. These regulations were rendered in short collections or series, which indicates the presence of formal conventions of an established scribal tradition. Fishbane also cites superscriptive titles and summary colophons that are present in other ancient Near Eastern texts (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 27–28).
During postexilic times, Ezra, the priest and scribe, served as the figure for postexilic restoration, national revival, and reform (Ezra 7:6–26; Neh 8:1–9). The emphasis was on studying the Torah and teaching the Law to the returned exiles (Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 36).
Jewish Literature
In Jewish literature, Ben Sira (Sirach 38:24–39:11) forms a picture of an ideal scribe. The scribe is characterized as someone who is wise and has time to study the law and the wisdom of the ancients. The scribe serves among rulers, travels to foreign lands, and intercedes for people. The scribe is filled with the spirit of understanding, manifested by the word of wisdom that comes from the Lord based on what he learns. Famous scribes in Jewish literature include Enoch, the scribe of righteousness (1 Enoch), and Baruch, the community leader whose authority exceeds even Jeremiah’s (2 Baruch).
Scribes are depicted as heirs to prophets, interpreters, and visionaries with links to the apocalyptic and wisdom traditions. Scribes also are associated with the Hasidims (a group of separatists known as the “righteous” or “pious”; see Greenspoon, Between Alexander and Antioch, 343) who offered themselves willingly for the law (1 Macc 2:42; see 7:12–14). A leading scribe, Eleazar, died for the law as an example to younger Jews, after he refused to eat pig meat from a pagan altar (2 Macc 6:18).
CITED
Tan-Gatue, P. (2016). Scribe. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.