The second sort of _Scribes_ belonged to the _Clergy_; they were Expositors of the Law, and thence are they called γραμματεῖς τοῦ νόμου, νομικοὶ, & νομοδιδὰσκαλοι, _Scribes of the Law_, _Esra. 7. 9._ _Expounders of the Law_, _Luk. 7. 30._ and _Doctors of the Law_, _Luk. 5. 17._ Their Office was to write, read, and expound the Law of _Moses_ to the people. The name was a name of _Office_, not of _Sect_. Of this sort was _Esdras_, _Esra 7. 6._ who though he were a _Levite_, yet[68] others there were of the Tribe of _Judah_, and, as it is thought, they might indifferently be of any Tribe. The name was of the like esteem among the _Hebrews_ as the _Magi_ were among the _Chaldeans_; the _Quindecemviri_ among the _Romans_, for expounding _Sybilla’s Oracles_: Or the _Canonists_ in the _Church of Rome_. The word סופרים _Sopherim_, translated _Scribes_ signifieth _Numberers_, or _Computers_, and is applyed to the _Masorites_, because they spent their time in reckoning, and numbring, not onely the verses, but the words also, and letters of each Book throughout the _Bible_; which, as it is an argument of their industry,[69] so likewise of _Gods_ providence, in the preservation of his truth inviolable. As the _Wise men_ in their Preaching pressed Traditions; so the _Scribes_ clave to the written word, whence they were termed[70] _Text-men_, or _Masters of the Text_. And to this purpose it is worth our observing, that whereas both the Scribes and the Pharisees sought to fasten accusations upon our Saviour, _Mat. 9._ The Scribes accused him of blasphemy, _v. 3._ The Pharisees of eating with Publicans and sinners, _v. 11._ The Scribes accusation was a breach of the Law; the Pharisees a breach of Traditions.
[68] _Drus. de tribus sectis, l. 2. c. 12. ex Chald. Paraphast._
[70] _Drusius de trib. sectis l. 20. cap. 13._
3. The _Disputer_.[71] He insisted upon _Allegories_, and searched out mystical interpretations of the Text. Hence himself was termed _Durschan_, and his exposition, or Homily, _Midrasch_; and their School, _Beth Hammidrasch_: They were counted the profoundest Interpreters, whence that of the _Psalmist_, _Psal. 84. 7._ _They go from strength to strength_, is interpreted,[72] _from their Temple to their Beth-Hammidrasch_, from an inferiour to an higher School. Hereby we see the difference between those three sorts of Predicants mentioned by Saint _Paul_. The _Wise men_ were teachers of _Traditions_, the _Scribes_ teachers of the _Text_ according to the literal interpretation, and the _Disputers_ teachers of _Allegories_ and _Mysteries_; which fabulous expositions, because they breed questions and disputations ζητήσεις παρέχουσι, _1 Tim. 4._ Hence is it, that such an expositor is termed συζητητὴς, A _Disputer_. These three sorts of Preachers, which S. _Paul_ termeth, the _Wiseman_, the _Scribe_ and the _Disputer_, _1 Cor. 1. 20._ are by the _Hebrews_ named חכם _Ghacham_, סופר _Sopher_, דרשן _Darschan_.