Scribes

in sacred history, a body of learned men who constituted the jurists and theologians of the Jewish church. It was their duty to compile the law and to teach it. They settled disputes in a judicial sense. In Matthew ii:4; it is related that Herod summoned the chief priests and the scribes of the people and asked them where Christ should be born. The more humble scribes acted as notaries, drawing up contracts and the like.