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Answer
Scribes in ancient Israel were learned men whose profession was to study the Law, transcribe it, and write commentaries on it. They were also hired when a written document was needed or when a legal interpretation was required. Ezra, “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses,” was a scribe «this Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. », (Ezra 7:6).
The scribes took their responsibility of preserving Scripture very seriously; they would copy and recopy the Bible meticulously, even counting letters and spaces to ensure each copy was accurate. We can thank the Jewish scribes for preserving the Old Testament portion of our Bibles.
Jews became increasingly known as “the people of the Book” because of their faithful study of Scripture, especially the Law and its application. In the New Testament era, scribes were often linked to the Pharisees, although not all Pharisees were scribes (see Matthew 5:20;see Matthew 12:38). They were teachers of the people «And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. », (Mark 1:22) and interpreters of the Law. They were widely respected by the community because of their knowledge, dedication, and outward appearance of Law-keeping.
However, the scribes went beyond interpreting Scripture and added many man-made traditions to God’s commands. They excelled at enforcing the letter of the Law while
Ignoring the spirit behind it. Things became so bad that the regulations and traditions the scribes added to the Law were considered more important than the Law itself. This led to many confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shocked His audience by declaring that the righteousness of the scribes was not enough to get anyone to heaven, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20). A large portion of Jesus’ sermon then dealt with what the people had been taught (by the scribes) and what God actually wanted (Matthew 5:21-48). Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry, He thoroughly condemned the scribes for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23). They knew the Law, and they taught it to others, but they did not obey it.
The scribes’ original aim was in earnest—to know and preserve the Law and encourage others to keep it. But things turned horribly wrong when man-made traditions overshadowed God’s Word and a pretense of holiness replaced a life of true godliness. The scribes, whose stated goal was to preserve the Word, actually nullified it by the traditions they handed down, “making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” (Mark 7:13).
How did things get so far off course? Probably because the Jews, after surviving centuries of persecution and enslavement, clung in pride to the keeping of the Law and how it marked them as God’s chosen people. The Jews of Jesus’ day certainly had an attitude of superiority, “But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”(John 7:49), which Jesus opposed, “But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, ‘They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.'” , (Matthew 9:12). The significant issue was that the scribes were hypocrites at heart. They were more concerned with appearing good to people than with pleasing God. Ultimately, it was these same scribes who played a role in having Jesus arrested and crucified (Matthew 26:57; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:1-2). The lesson every Christian can learn from the hypocrisy of the scribes is that God desires more than outward acts of righteousness. He desires an internal change of heart that consistently yields in love and obedience to Christ.
