Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
pupils in the house of Rabban Simeon Ben-Gamaliel. Maimonides thus describes a school: “The
teacher sat at the head, and the pupils surrounded him as the crown the head so that every one could
see the teacher and hear his words. The teacher did not sit in a chair while the pupils sat on the
ground but all either sat on chairs or on the ground.” The children read aloud to acquire fluency.
The number of school-hours was limited, and during the heat of the summer was only four hours.
The punishment employed was beating with a strap, never with a rod. The chief studies were their
own language and literature the chief school-book the Holy Scriptures; and there were special
efforts to impress lessons of morality and chastity. Besides these they studied mathematics,
astronomy and the natural sciences. Beyond the schools for popular education there were higher
schools or colleges scattered throughout the cities where the Jews abounded.—ED.)
Scorpion
(Heb. ’akrab), a well known venomous insect of hot climates, shaped much like a lobster. It is
usually not more than two or three inches long, but in tropical climates is sometimes six inches in
length. The wilderness of Sinai is especially alluded to as being inhabited by scorpions at the time
of the exodus, and to this day these animals are common in the same district, as well as in some
parts of Palestine. Scorpions are generally found in dry and in dark places, under stones and in
ruins. They are carnivorous in the habits, and move along in a threatening attitude, with the tail
elevated. The sting, which is situated at the end of the tail, has at its base a gland that secretes a
poisonous fluid, which is discharged into the wound by two minute orifices at its extremity. In hot
climates the sting often occasions much suffering, and sometimes alarming symptoms. The
“scorpions” of (1 Kings 12:1,14; 2 Chronicles 10:11,14) have clearly no allusion whatever to the
animal, but to some instrument of scourging—unless indeed the expression is a mere figure.
Scourging
The punishment of scourging was common among the Jews. The instrument of punishment in
ancient Egypt, as it is also in modern times generally in the East, was usually the stick, applied to
the soles of the feet—bastinado. Under the Roman method the culprit was stripped, stretched with
cords or thongs on a frame and beaten with rods. (Another form of the scourge consisted of a handle
with three lashes or thongs of leather or cord, sometimes with pieces of metal fastened to them.
Roman citizens were exempt by their law from scourging.)
Scribes
(Heb.sopherim), I. Name .— (1) Three meanings are connected with the verb saphar, the root
of sopherim— (a) to write, (b) to set in order, (c) to count. The explanation of the word has been
referred to each of these. The sopherim were so called because they wrote out the law, or because
they classified and arranged its precepts, or because they counted with scrupulous minuteness every
elapse and letter It contained. (2) The name of Kirjath-sepher, (Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:12) may
possibly connect itself with some early use of the title, and appears to point to military functions
of some kind. (Judges 5:14) The men are mentioned as filling the office of scribe under David and
Solomon. (2 Samuel 8:17; 20:25; 1 Kings 4:3) We may think of them as the king’s secretaries,
writing his letters, drawing up his decrees, managing his finances. Comp (2 Kings 12:10) In
Hezekiah’s time transcribed old records, and became a class of students and interpreters of the law,
boasting of their wisdom. (Jeremiah 8:8) After the captivity the office became more prominent, as
the exiles would be anxious above all things to preserve the sacred books, the laws, the hymns, the
prophecies of the past. II. Development of doctrine .—Of the scribes of this period, with the exception
of Ezra and Zadok, (Nehemiah 13:13) we have no record. A later age honored them collectively
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William Smith