MARK 1:21, 22 To give this study [of the Torah] \u2026 a class of scholars arose. These were the Scribes,<\/em> the experts in the law. The title of the greatest of them was Rabbi.<\/em> The scribes had three duties.<\/p>\n (i) They set themselves, out of the great moral principles of the Torah,<\/em> to extract rules and regulations for every possible situation in life. Obviously this was a task that was as endless\u2026<\/p>\n (ii) It was the task of the scribes to transmit and to teach the law and its developments. These deduced and extracted rules and regulations were never written down; they are known as the Oral Law.<\/em> Although never written down they were considered to be even more<\/em> binding than the written law. From generation to generation of scribes they were taught and committed to memory\u2026<\/p>\n (iii) The scribes had the duty of giving judgment in individual cases; and, in the nature of things, practically every individual case must have produced a new law.<\/p>\n
\nHaving seen how the Torah was viewed, we can now see why the scribes were so important. Someone<\/em> had to tell everybody what was right and wrong for everyday living. After reading about how the scribes\u2019 systems worked it is clear why Jesus\u2019 teachings were so startling.<\/p>\n