Who the scribes were
The scribes, mentioned so often in the New Testament as some of the most constant and vehement opposers of our Lord, were not secretaries, or men employed in writing only, as that term might incline us to believe. Neither were they lawyers in our common sense of the word, although the word is so rendered in our translation. Their employment had no likeness at all to that of a lawyer among us. They were conversant with the laws of God and not with the laws of man. These were their study. It was their proper and particular business to read and expound the law and the prophets, particularly in the synagogues. They were the ordinary, stated preachers among the Jews. So that if the sense of the original word was attended to, we might render it the divines. For these were the men who made divinity their profession, and they were generally, as their name literally means, men of letters, men of the greatest account for learning that were then in the Jewish nation.
1771 text
The Scribes, mentioned so often in the New Testament as some of the most constant and vehement opposers of our Lord, were not secretaries, or men, employed in writing only, as that term might incline us to believe. Neither were they lawyers, in our common sense of the word (altho’ the word νομικοί is so rendered in our translation.) Their employment had no affinity at all, to that of a lawyer among us. They were conversant with the laws of God, and not with the laws of man. These were their study: it was their proper and peculiar business, to read and expound the law and the prophets; particularly in the synagogues. They were the ordinary, stated preachers among the Jews. So that if the sense of the original word was attended to, we might render it, the divines. For these were the men who made divinity their profession; and they were generally (as their name literally imports) men of letters; men of the greatest account for learning that were then in the Jewish nation.