Part I: Secrets of Scribal Culture

SECRET #1: COMMUNITY & LEARNING TOGETHER

As you move through The School of the Scribe, you're going to learn more and more about the GLUE that kept the scribal community together in biblical culture - UNITY.

In this dispensation of the Gospel, we have seen so many artistic groups come together in collaboration and unity. I'm not speaking of simply congregations having arts ministries (that is common), but artistic believers emerging from the church into the marketplace.

Creatives are hearing an ANCIENT CALL in their exclusive environments just like they did in Ancient Israel during the time of the prophets. They are recognizing that we were not created for SOLO MINISTRY in the New Covenant. It's a beautiful thing to behold. You see, in ancient times scribes and artisans -- JUST LIKE PROPHETS -- were raised up in guilds or as I like to call them - educational epicenters that followed the pattern of structure and order that we see with Bezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 31).

These were master artists IN COMMUNITY, bringing their giftings together to work on a SINGLE VISION for a dedicated time period. In that community, the scribes and artisans of that time included MASTER ARTISTS who apprenticed RISING ARTISTS in CREATIVE COMMUNITY to fulfill a purpose in the Kingdom. Please understand, some of these masters had their own businesses in the marketplace. They were well-respected in their own right. BUT THERE THEY WERE.... sacrificing their materials, expertise, time and love to raise up other artisans without ulterior motives.

And 13-year-old Bezalel was leading the way. Please don't say he was a teenager. By our standards in society he was. In Hebrew culture, he was a well-equipped young man. (The concept of teenagers is a North American tradition that emerged in the mid-1940s among middle-class white Americans.) Biblical culture, on the other hand, presents children both male and female on the breast of the mother until about age 3 or 4. At that time, we seem boys set apart to learn to live as husbands/providers and girls set apart to be wives/mothers. By the time either was 13 or 14, they moved directly into marriage.

While this seems extreme in our day and time, it was pretty much a norm not only in biblical culture but most cultures (whether biblical or not). The concept of "teenager" was a non-issue. It has only been through 20th-century North American Influence over the last 75-80 years that this phase has morphed into what we see today.

While many consider this an archaic, patriarchal and gender-biased way of raising children, it's the process that really "wrapped itself" around family-guilds, systems of learning in varying cultures. Whether we are willing to accept this or not, this is the foundation on which we come to understand biblical apprenticeships and later the formation of schools.

Education, especially in the area of trade, rested on families, family groups and community cults (not the negative way we use that word today). In ancient times, the word we used for cults simply meant that people centered their lives around specific philosophical or religious beliefs that governed every aspect of their lives.

In that sense, we must understand that EVEN THE CREATION OF THE BIBLE - specifically the Old Covenant - is the result of a scribal culture born of a cult-like order within the faith. The Scriptures are the FRUIT of scribal culture -- the tight-knit unit formed around it. The scribal profession that we will come to honor and respect as we move through this course was BORN from this rich heritage.

Again, I am not calling us into a 21st century cult! Rather, I am painting a picture of how close knit scribal and artistic groups were. I am calling your attention to a "selfless" kind of service for the good of the Kingdom.

When we look around "scribal culture" today, what we have is a culture of individualism, showmanship and an understanding authorship THAT DID NOT EXIST in biblical times.

Karel Van der Toorn states, "So long as we think of the Bible in terms of authors, our understanding of its origins is bound to be impeded. In antiquity, authorship was invoked to assert authority. Those who actually manufactured the text did not see themselves as authors. They did not pursue originality, and what they wrote was not, in their eyes, an expression of talent but a manifestation of craftsmanship. They were scribes rather than authors" (Scribal culture and the making of the Hebrew Bible 2007).

Why is Van der Toorn's statement so impactful? Well, it is impactful to me because it reveals just how much we have lost as a people within community. We have taken on so much of the world that we cannot see beyond our individual identity, skill and contributions. While we are not to take on the spirit of antiquity, we should definitely be a people who draw upon the lessons from it -- like HOW TO SERVE IN A COMMUNITY AND BE COMMITTED TO THE OUTCOME OF THE VISION THE LORD GIVES.

You see, it's not enough to TEACH SCRIBES ABOUT BEING SCRIBES.... we must introduce them to SCRIBAL CULTURE. WE must understand the POWER AND HEART BEHIND ANCIENT GUILDS.

You see, prophets were raised in guilds.

Scribes were brought up in guilds.

Artisans dedicated to the congregation were nurtured in guilds.

Guilds were a type of school in antiquity for both learning the way of the Spirit and the way of the craft. It's the very foundation on which The School of the Scribe exists. We are constantly looking for a people with a heart to serve the Kingdom -- not stand in their individual greatness. It is also the heart that the scribe school hopes to impart into those who walk the halls of this program. It is a desire that we recover the heart of what has been lost - COMMUNITY & LEARNING TOGETHER SELFLESSLY.

In biblical times, a guild was a company of like-minded people governed by proven leaders, heads of households or master teachers that set protocol, methods and processes of learning in extremely specialized areas like the school of the prophets, artistry or the scribe. By the time, we meet Jesus in the scripture these guilds would have become common place and been recognized as a professional standard among the Nation of Israel.

For the scribe, phrases like "families of scribes" or lists of scribes within one family would stand as a sign of a guild. Later, in the New Covenant we see that these "guilds" were operating as a Council similar to the original Sanhedrin and was professionally organized for spiritual purposes. It is from this history that we build a spiritual precedent for a modern day organization like The School of the Scribe here.

1 Chronicles 2:55, "...and the families of scribes who lived in Jabez ​— ​the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites."

ASSIGNMENT: In reflection, consider how a more corporate approach to scribal ministry as you understand it in this moment could benefit prophetic scribes today. Discuss how individuality, in the context of this post, might limit the growth of a prophetic scribe as you see it. Post your response inside the CITY OF LETTERS. No outside videos, teachings, etc. from other voices. If you post, please post text responses only -- avoid excessive images.

For further study on this topic, check out the course "Prophetic Guilds of the Bible & The Critical Scribal Connection." Access to this course is available to students currently enrolled in this course. However, to receive free access, students will need to provide evidence (video of their scribal notebook notes, printout in an organized manner) that they are successfully completing this course BEFORE receiving the free access code. To request the access code, email theresahj@schoolofthescribe.com with a video link to what you have accomplished in the course so far.

Der Toorn, K. T. (2007). Scribal culture and the making of the Hebrew Bible. In Scribal culture and the making of the Hebrew Bible (p. 51). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.