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Scribes Scrivener THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the guidance of life in all its aspects among the Hebrews. The man who initiated this condition of things, Ezra, himself bore this designa-
Meaning tion (of. Ezra vii. 6, 11, 12, 21; Neh. of Term. viii. 1, etc.), which was given to him probably on account of his [supposed] care for the law in respect to the making and distribution of its exemplars or manuscripts. The New-Testament word for "scribe" is often gram matew (Matt. ii. 4, v. 20, etc.); but two other sides of the activities of these men gave rise to the designation nomikos, "lawyer" (Matt. xxii. 35, etc.), and nonwdidaakolos, "doctor of the law" (Luke v. 17; Acts v. 34; cf. the expression "in terpreter of the Jewish laws," Josephus, Ant., XVIL, vi. 2). The first task of these men was to preserve the text of the sacred books, particularly of the law of Moses (the Pentateuch), in a form suited to the maintenance of the Hebrew religion. This task they sought to perform through copies which guarded on the one side the essential content and Work on on the other had regard for scruples Hebrew which might be raised. Exact in- Text. formation of the means employed by the early scribes in carrying out these purposes is unfortunately not obtainable because of the sparseness and fragmentary character of the material at hand. Yet careful and critical use of this material as found in scattered notices leads to results quite worth while. Over the reading in pub lic worship much care was exercised. According to the Mishna (Megilla, iv. 10) Gen. xxv. 32 and Ex. xxxii. 21-24 were read but not interpreted (see SYNAGOGUE); and according to the old tradition in Megilla 25b for expressions which might give offense or which might raise scruples euphemisms or other phrases were substituted. For the divine name Yhwh was substituted "Adonai," except that in the combination Adonai Yhwh, Elohim was sub stituted for Yhwh (see JEHovAH; YAHWEH). There were changes too in the written text. Such a change is the one which results from the confusion which might come from Baal, meaning "lord" or "mas ter," and Baal as the name of a heathen deity (cf. Hos. ii. 16-17); thus with the Ish-bosheth of II Sam. ii.-iv. cf. the Esh-baal of I Chron. viii. 33, in ac cordance with which the Chronicler replaces the earlier name (Merribbaal) for Mephibosheth; the other name of Gideon used in Judges vi.-ix., Jerub baal, is replaced in II Sam. xi. 21 by Jerubbesheth; in II. Sam. v. 16 appears the form Eliada for which the older form was Beeliada (I Chron. xiv. 7). A testimony to this habit exists in the gloss found en closed in Num. xxxii. 38, " (their names being changed)," referring to the mountains Nebo and Baal-meon [one of which is the name of a heathen deity Nebo, Bee BABYLONIA, VIL, 2, 1 11, and the other contains the element Baal]. In II Sam. vii. 23 a plural verb accompanies the plural form Elo him, but in the parallel I Chron. xvii. 21 a singular verb is employed, by which the unity of God is maintained. Especially important is the regarding as holy of the names Yah and Yahweh (note Lev. xxiv. 11: "And the Israelitish woman's son blas phemed the name," where "Yahweh" is not writ-ten in the text). In effect this has been treated above, but the practise further involved the inclusion of Yah as one word in "Hallelujah" in the psalms, and also in other expressions. Similarly the Jews put such expressions as "heaven," "name," and the like in place of a name for God. Moreover, before the introduction of the` vowel sounds, the pronunciation of many words had been changed through the working of varied influences. The word Molek (Moloch, q.v.), formerly pronounced Melek (cf. Isa. xxx. 33) has received the vowels of bosheth, "shame," and the same is probably true of Ashtoreth and Tophet; in imitation of shikkuz, "monster," are vocalized Chiun and sikkuth, "tabernacle" (Amos v. 26). Milcom, the name of the god of the Ammonites, is to be restored in II Sam. xii. 30 in place of "their king's" (cf. Jer. xlix. 1-3, margin). An artificial distinction is made for the sake of theology in the word 'abbir (the original pronunciation) as it applies to bulls as possessions of men and to the word in such passages as Isa. i. 24 and Isa. x. 13 (in the last passage a new reading is substituted in the keri; see KERI AND KETHIBH). Euphemistic expressions are substituted by a difference in the pointing of the original text in such passages as Deut. xxviii. 30; Gen. xxxiv. 2. In the Biblical Aramaic of the verb "to be" a lamedh is substituted for a yodh as preformative in the imperfect, probably in order to avoid producing a word which looks like the divine name Yhwh and so leading to accidental pronouncing of that name; in early Egyptian-Aramaic papyri the forms with yodh appear. In the study of the text one has to guard against both undervaluation of the text by the scribes as well as against overvaluation. For further discussion of these topics see BIBLE TExT; and MAsoRAH.
The Mosaic law was not what would according to modern conceptions be considered a systematic body of ecclesiastical law, still less a complete legal code. Yet aftgr this law had gained its unique position, only those statutes and usages which had the sanction of long custom and had so Activities become sacred could attain to the as Inter- position of official law; a new code preters of could not be created. As a result it the Law. became necessary so to explore and explain the written law that it should be found sufficient to meet the exigencies of everyday life. Of Ezra (Ezra vii. 10) it is said that he "prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." When one recalls the condition under which the law existed (as just noted), also its nature, and that since Malachi the prophetic spirit had died out, and that the impulse which had come with the return from exile and its experiences had died out with the generation which had known them and had taken with it the stimulus to independent religious life, explanation is easy of the tendency to slavish observance of the letter of the law, and the way was opened for that scribal exposition of the law which "strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel" (Matt. xxiii. 24). One may compare Christ's proof of the resurrection which rests upon Ex. iii. 6 (Matt. xxii. 32) with that adduced in the Babylonian Talmud