The Scribes: Interpreters of the Law

During the days of Jesus, love of the Law was the highest mark of love towards God.  The highest ideal of Jewish manhood was to be good student of the Law.  The highest form of worship was said to be the study of the Law!  You will notice that I have capitalized the word "Law."  That's because the law the Jewish people studied was THE Law, the Law of Moses as it was written in the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.  The people of Israel in the time of the Christ were textual people.  That means they were people who studied the text (words) of the Old Testament with great diligence, memorized many of the verses, and discussed the meaning of what they had read.  This was very important to them because they wanted to live.  All the people felt that their nation had once gone into captivity in Babylon for not loving God, and not living according to His Laws.  They didn't want to make that same mistake again.

Of course the people had to go to work on their farms, or in their shops, which meant they didn't have all the time in the world to read and study.  So there had to be a group of men called the Scribes who helped them understand and interpret the Law. 

The first scribe mentioned in the Bible was Ezra.   He was a priest, and not only that, he was a descendant of Zadok, which meant he was from the family of the High Priests.  He came back from Babylon to Israel with a number of other returning captives.  All the people held him in high honor because as the Bible says...

this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given.  Ezra 7:6

Ezra was probably the first scribe who taught the people to love God's law.  The Bible says that "Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel."  The words "and to do it" are very important.  That means he had to set the example and the standard.  He taught by doing.  It is thought that Ezra founded the school of the scribes.  At the very least he started the tradition.  Studying the Laws of Moses and doing them became the new mark of piety or holiness in Israel.  All the scribes after Ezra devoted themselves to collecting, copying, and studying the Old Testament scriptures (especially the first five books), and doing the laws of Moses, and then explaining the Law of Moses to the people so they could live correctly. 

At first the scribes were either priests or Levites from the tribe of Levi.  That's because God had said that men from the tribe of Levi were supposed to be the ones who taught His Word to the people.  But since anybody could devote himself to the study of the Law, more and more of the scribes were not from the tribe of Levi.  And since they were not priests or Levites they simply came to be known as scribes.  Then, because they were so intent on doing the law, they became the interpreters of it.

There was a problem however.  Not everyone agreed on how to keep the Law.  So the scribes developed a code called "The Tradition of the Elders."  According to them, the tradition of the elders was an oral interpretation of the Law that had been handed down from ancient days.  They said this tradition had been given to Ezra by the prophets.  The scribes felt that this tradition was nearly equal to the Bible itself, and so they were very eager to keep the tradition of the elders.

That created another problem.  Who could really understand the "Tradition of the Elders?"  Nobody.  So the scribes began to argue.  They forgot all about the spiritual intent of God's heart as He revealed it through His word. They began to fight about small things like how to wash a pot.  (please see Mark 7:1-13 below)  Then they tried to become holier than the other scribes.  As a result, the scribes became a group of men who were exclusive and arrogant.  Not long before Jesus came, the scribes became the leaders of another group of men who were known as Pharisees.  Then, along with the Pharisees, they became known as men who were very jealous of recognition and honor.  Together with the Pharisees they made perversely twisted interpretations of the law and laid heavy burdens upon the people, who really just wanted to please God.  Jesus rightly condemned them for that and for their hypocrisy. 

Yet we must thank these hypocritical teachers of the Law for one thing.  They made perfect copies of the Old Testament.  The copies they made were so perfect that a  copy of a copy of a copy of a copy... was still the same as the original!  In fact, the Jews felt that a new copy of the Torah was better and more accurate than an older copy since the older copy might contain some smudges!

It took a year to make a copy of the Torah.  That's why a copy of the Torah was so expensive.  It cost a year's wages!  Yet everyone wanted a copy of the Torah in his own home.   So the Scribes always had a job.

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.  Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.  For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.  When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.  And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. 

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"

He answered and said to them,  "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men - the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.

He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" (that is a gift to God)', then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down, and many other such things you do."  Mark 7:1-13

 

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