JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

The importance of alphabetic writing for the history of
education must not be overlooked. It ushered in a break with
the traditional scribal cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and
second-millennium Canaan. To be literate was no longer the
identifying and exclusive characteristic of a class of professional
scribes and priests, versed in the abstruse cuneiform
and hieroglyphic scripts.
SCRIBAL EDUCATION. The etymology of the term sofer,
“scribe,” has not been conclusively determined. It may be derived
from the Canaanite root spr, “to count,” “to tell.” The
rabbis suggested a similar origin (Kid. 30a). Others derive
the word from the Assyrian, šaparū, “to send,” “to deliver a
message.” Whatever the origin, it seems clear that in the Bible
a distinction should be made between a scribe, in the usual
sense, and a Scribe who because of personal ability or family
ties was appointed a minister or secretary of state. Both, however,
received the same basic training.
As in the ancient Near East, the scribal class (or “guild”)
in Israel was originally organized along family lines. An early
example is found in I Chronicles 2:55. Under the Davidic monarchy,
the same principle of kinship is found in the position
of “the king’s scribe” (II Sam. 8:17; I Chron. 18:16; I Kings 4:3;
cf. Ezra 2:55 and Neh. 7:57). This was probably the case toward
the end of the kingdom of Judah. The family of Shaphan dominated
the bureaucracy and held the position of king’s scribe
from the time of Josiah until the Exile (II Kings 22:3; Jer. 36:11,
12, 20, 21; 40:9).
Most professional scribes served the administrators of
the central government, city councils, and Temple bureaucracy.
These institutions set up their own schools which taught
the specific scribal skills demanded.
Perhaps the youth of Judges 8:14 was a local scribe: “And
he [Gideon] caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and
inquired of him; and he wrote down for him the princes and
elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.”
CURRICULUM. Scribal education everywhere was the conservative
study of traditional methods and subjects. The Israelite
scribe had the easy task of learning the 22-letter alphabet,
whereas his Egyptian and Mesopotamian counterpart had to
master at least one system of hundreds of signs.
The alphabet was invented and developed by the Canaanites
during the second millennium B.C.E., probably in one of
the major Phoenician cities. Indicative of the conservative nature
of the scribal art is the fact that the form of the letters in
the three main alphabetic branches (Phoenician, Hebrew, and
Aramaic) did not differ radically during the period between
1200 and 600 B.C.E. While mastering the forms, the apprentice
scribe learned their order. The standard order of the characters
is found already in the 30-letter abecedaries of the scribal
schools of Ugarit (15th century B.C.E.). Minus eight letters, the
series reappears in biblical acrostics (Ps. 119, 145; Lam. 1–4) and
is almost identical with the sequence of the modern Hebrew alphabet.
Probably in the ninth century B.C.E. the form and order
of the letters were exported to the Greek islands as well.
EDUCATION, JEWISH
It seems that Isaiah refers to an elementary class learning
the alphabet in one of his prophecies (28:9–13): he describes
the “first grade” lesson for the day when the children learned
the letters ẓadi (צ) and kof (ק). During the excavations at Lachish,
a list of the first five letters was found incised on one of
the steps of an Israelite building, perhaps the work of a child
practicing his alphabet.
The second stage of a scribe’s training was the copying
of short texts that may have been learned by heart and practiced
at home. The *Gezer Calendar (tenth century B.C.E.) is
a possible example of such an assignment. It divides the year
into eight agricultural seasons, noting the main characteristics
of each. Gezer had been an important Canaanite city, and
during the tenth century it housed a levite community serving
the Jerusalem administration. Perhaps it was in cities like
Gezer that the Canaanite scribal traditions were conveyed to
the Israelites.
The young student next learned epistolary and other administrative
formulae. After much practice, he could easily
produce the names of the city elders (Judg. 8:14). During the
monarchy there was a standard tax form, as found in the Samaria
Ostraca (mid-ninth or according to others mid-eighthcentury
B.C.E.), and as more recently noted in the inscribed
jar handles from Gibeon (late seventh century B.C.E.).
The local scribe had also to master the forms of deeds of
sale (Jer. 32:10–14), marriage contracts (Tob. 7:13 (14) and Elephantine
Papyri), bills of divorce (Deut. 24:1–3; Isa. 50:1; Jer.
3:8) as well as court pleas (ostracon from Meẓad Ḥashavyahu;
Job 31:35). The latter, however, may have been part of the responsibilities
of the shoṭer or “court secretary.” This term is
derived from the Akkadian šaṭāru (“to write”) and related to
the later Hebrew sheṭar (“a written document”).
The king’s scribes received a broader and more cosmopolitan
education. They had to be competent in diplomacy
and the exact sciences. Their knowledge of international diplomacy
began with the study of Aramaic, the lingua franca
of the period (II Kings 18:26; Dan. 1:4).
Because of the involvement of all the Israelite kings, from
Ahab to Zedekiah, in regional politics, it was necessary that
the royal scribes know the workings of the Assyrian, Egyptian,
Aramean, and Phoenician courts. Several kings even appeared
in person before their Mesopotamian suzerains. International
law and treaty formulae (II Chron. 20:35–37) as well
as far-reaching trade agreements (Ezek. 27) were the scribes’
normal business.
Simple arithmetic was probably learned in all formal
systems of education (Isa. 10:19). The Israelite court scribe,
like his Egyptian and Mesopotamian counterparts, mastered
the higher mathematics needed for solving problems of logistics
and engineering (II Kings 20:9–11; II Chron. 26:15; 32:30).
While astronomy is not specifically mentioned in Israelite
sources, it was needed for the calendrical intercalations decreed
by the central government (II Chron. 30:2–4; Pes. 4:9;
cf. Jub. 4:7; I En. 8:3). Cartography as well was a well-known
ancient art (Josh. 18:9; Ezek. 4:1).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 167