Important Note: The first part of this teaching is a history lesson or theology I'd rather say. This is why I did not include scripture references here. In this instance, we need to understand the people and the culture, before moving more intimately into the revelation. My studies, over the years, have come from some of the following resources: The Holy Bible (Multiple versions); Chabad.org; The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus; the book, What is a Jew? By Morris N. Kertzer; MyJewishLearning.com, many videos and other research. Prayerfully, you will draw something from this teaching today that will cause you to dig a little deeper into your scribal identity and present day purpose. In addition, this section is also an excerpt from the book, The Scribal Anointing: Scribes Instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Copyright 2010 Theresa Harvard Johnson
In addition to being instructors and interpreters of the Word, Jewish commentaries, ancient writings and the Holy Bible reveal that scribes were also "protectors" of it. In the scriptures, these scribes were often referred to as temple scribes and held key roles in the tabernacle as recorders, archivists and secretaries. The Hebrew root of the word protect is CATHAR and it means:
• To hide, to conceal
• To be hidden, be concealed
• To hide carefully
• To be hidden carefully
• To hide oneself carefully
The meaning of this word is significant because, in it is yet another revelation concerning who we are as spiritual descendants of those Holy scribes who feared and reverenced the Lord in spirit and truth so many years ago. The Word they protected was known as the "Sefer Scroll." Sefer simply means book — it's not deep at all, yet it referred specifically to the first five books of the bible which are often referred to as Torah, the Law or the Books of Moses today.
You see, the Sefer Torah is considered to be the holiest book in existence in the Jewish faith, and quite frankly in the Christian faith as well. Our history as BELIEVERS sprouts or springs up from Torah. After reading multiple references and studying this in-depth over the past five years, I've learned from the Jewish people that this particular scroll is considered to be exact duplicates of the words Moses received from the Father all those years ago on Mount Sinai. (If you are in one of our scribe schools, you should have reviewed some of the videos from last week and read the articles presented to you.) Now this is what really got me about this entire study:
These scribes were trained from their youth to COPY the ORIGINAL SCROLL …. EXACTLY the way the Lord originally wrote it (remember, God wrote it first, and then after it was destroyed by Moses, God MADE HIM rewrite it). Now, what I want you to understand in this is that they literally had to draw or paint each Hebrew letter exactly the way it appeared on that original scroll all those years ago. By doing so, they were preserving the "letter of the law," meaning those things that were obvious to man's understanding as it relates to logos; and the "revelation" of the Word or the rhema, meaning those secret things that are only visible with a supernatural eye and heard with the supernatural ear. In addition to the Hebrew letters forming words, they were also symbols with meanings that stood independent or apart from words written themselves.
I've highlighted this statement. As we dig deeper into this, we will examine how this statement impacts our writing as "prophetic scribes" today. I tell you, if you catch this… your life and your view of your writing will NEVER be the same. I firmly believe that we are entering a time like never before in which our WORDS will need to be CLEAR, CONCISE & TO THE POINT as Kingdom people. I declare that as prophets, we will learn to use the language of the Kingdom (not colloquialisms, catch phrases and hooks) – but a revelational and revolutionary vocabulary that will sever and place asunder the plans of hell. In other words, we will not miss our targeted stronghold or our targeted establishment when we speak — hell will clearly know in whose Kingdom we stand.
As protectors of the Word, the Jewish scribes were completely dedicated to their "job descriptions." They took servanthood to the next level in this respect. The Lord God was the highest focus in their lives. They were literally "hidden and concealed in Him" and they "hid and concealed the Word" from the hand's of men. You see, no one else had the authority to copy, protect and/or distribute the scrolls. The completion of one scroll took an average of a year to complete. One misguided line or misplaced dot or stroke of the pen when creating one invalidated the entire scroll… and that scribe would have to start over from scratch.
As a protector, the scribe guarded and watched over the Lord's exact words to ensure that His ORIGINAL MEANING AN INTENT AND PURPOSES for what He had spoken to His people would not be lost to His chosen people. Our Father wanted to ensure that we would always have the purest form of His word. In closing, I want you to consider this:
"What do YOU believe Satan would do to try to destroy the purity of God's Word?" I pray that you consider this question with your spirit before we walk into Part II of this series on Scribes, "Protectors of the Word," and bring you from the Old Covenant into the New.
