Baruch son of Neriah served Jeremiah in this capacity, though the relationship may be better characterized as that of master and disciple (Jer. the inscribed handles from Gibeon, late seventh century). Wealthy gentry could afford a personal secretary for their business affairs (cf. The public at large would also turn to a scribe to draw up documents of legal (Deut. City governments, as well, required lists of prominent landowners for purposes of taxation and army service (Judg. 34:13) and so did the chief of staff (ii Chron. The priesthood definitely needed literati (i Chron. This function may underlie the original meaning of the title, which may have been 'accountant.' Quite likely, other ministries had their own scribal service. 27:32), he seems to have been in charge of financial matters (ii Kings 12:1lff. Besides fulfilling an advisory capacity (ii Kings 18:18ff. Exactly what the duties of the royal scribe were is unknown. In the time of Hezekiah, the royal scribe seems to be of a lower rank than royal chamberlain ( aʾ sher ʿ al ha-bayit) but higher than mazkir (Isa.

It is difficult to determine his exact position among the king's other ministers, even if it is assumed that the various biblical lists follow the principle of order of importance (see ii Sam. The highest scribal post was that of royal scribe. Apparently there were also independent scribes who either served the public or were in the employ of men of means. Scribes of various degrees of competence were attached to all government and temple offices. The Judean monarchy produced a prominent scribal family that influenced the political scene for several generations (ii Kings 22:3, 12, 14 25:22 Jer. Among the returnees to Judah in early Persian times were 'the sons of Hassophereth' – perhaps 'members of the scribal office' – listed among the descendants of Solomon's servants (Ezra. Mazar argues for a Canaanite origin for David's officials and derives all the above forms from an original Hurrian name Šewe-šarri. is a barbarism of the Egyptian term ssh, meaning 'scribe.' B. de Vaux has argued that this post, like most of David's cabinet, was adopted from Egyptian models. Both his sons Elihoreph and Ahijah followed him in Solomon's court. 20:25 Shisha, i Kings 4:3 Shabsha, i Chron. unto me, and let him inform me!ĭuring the time of David, a certain Seraiah (ii Sam. Their father and their mother every alike am I… The children who are with me continue to learn–

What is my offense that thou has not paid ? (For a more detailed description of the scribe studies see *Education.)įrom three years (ago) until now thou hast not caused me to be paid – The teacher describes his relationship to his students as that of a parent. It is a letter written by a teacher to a student's father living in Shechem asking for the long overdue tuition fee that could be paid in kind. text does indicate the existence of scribal schools in Canaan proper. 'the families of scribes who inhabited Jabez,' i Chron. The change from sh to s probably reflects Assyrian pronunciation.Īs in neighboring lands, the Israelite scribe learned his profession in family-like guilds (cf. The common Akkadian word for scribe was tupšarru which appears as ṭi/afsar in Nahum's prophesy of the destruction of Nineveh (3:17) and Jeremiah's words on Babylon's doom (51:27).

The root of shoṭer is derived from the cognate Akkadian šatāru, 'to write,' and reappears in later Aramaic and Hebrew in sheṭar, 'a written document' (see also Job 38:33). Another term used frequently in the Hexateuch is shoṭer, which probably meant 'recorder.' This functionary is associated with food rationing (Num. It may be a cognate to Akkadian šāpiru, 'secretary, official.' The first biblical reference to sofer is found in the Song of Deborah (Judg. The Hebrew term for 'scribe' is sofer, a participle form of the root spr, meaning 'to count.' It is a Canaanite word, appearing in Ugarit ( rb spr, 'chief scribe') as well as a loanword in an Egyptian text – sofer yodeʿ a, i.e., 'wise scribe' (Papyrus Anastasi I late 13 th century b.c.e.).

Scribe meaning