In the Old Testament this word is applied to the officer who carried on the correspondence for a king, the army, and so forth, what is now generally understood by secretary (2 Sam. 8:17; 2 Chron. 24:11; Esther 3:12; Isa. 36:3). It is also applied to those who wrote and explained the scriptures: thus Ezra was “a ready scribe in the law,” even “a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord,” though he was also a priest (Ezra 7:6, 11; Neh. 8:1-13).
In the New Testament the word is used in the sense in which it is applied to Ezra, and scribes are classed with the chief priests and the elders. They are described as sitting in Moses’ seat, and what they taught was to be observed; but, alas, their works were not to be followed (Matt. 7:29; Matt. 23:2,13-33). Many woes are proclaimed against them, and they are addressed, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Thus these men, who ought to have been examples to others, were publicly denounced because their practice denied what they taught. They did not form a separate sect in New Testament times, a person might be both scribe and Pharisee or Sadducee (compare Acts 23:9).