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Sopherim Complete Final Additions to the Old Testament

The Sopherim, being the successors of Ezra and Nehemiah as well as being the custodians of
the Scriptures, were responsible for adding the final portions to the Old Testament. While they were in
authority among the Jews, they added a few names to certain genealogical tables in order to bring them
up to date. In I Chronicles 3:17-24 and Nehemiah 12:10,11, there are recorded lists of certain men.
The last mentioned of these men lived just before the coming of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.

Notice I Chronicles 3:17-24. There is mentioned a sixth generation after Zerubbabel. This last
generation would have lived about the time of Alexander the Great. Nehemiah 12:10,11 refers to Jad-
dua the High Priest who was alive when Alexander the Great came to Palestine (Josephus, "Antiquities
of the Jews," xi, 8, 4). Thus, the names were added to the genealogical tables by the Sopherim just be-
fore the coming of the Greeks in 331 B.C.

This shows plainly that the Sopherim, who were established about 440 B.C., were in authority
for a period just over one hundred years -- until 331 B.C. And also that the Old Testament, as we
have it today, was made into its final form by the Sopherim with the addition of a few names to the ge-
nealogical tables, about 330 years BEFORE the birth of Christ!

The Sopherim had complete authority for doing this. They were the proper custodians of the
Law and ordained of God for this purpose.

What All This Means for Today

It must be emphasized that the Sopherim were all priests -- there were no laymen among them.

"In the days of the Sopherim, when the High Priest was the head of the community, and when
the teachers under his leadership formed an official body vested with authority to arrange all religious
matters in accordance with the Law as they understood it, the knowledge of the Law was limited to the
priests who were the ONLY OFFICIAL TEACHERS. On the one hand, the priests who were in pos-
session of the Law and tradition of the fathers considered the teaching and interpreting of the religious
law as their priestly prerogative" (Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays, p. 197).

This priestly authority was in accord with the Word of God. The priests had been ordained to
be the teachers of the people in religious matters. No layman was permitted to assume this authority.
As long as the Sopherim remained as the official body among the Jews, this direction of God was ad-
hered to. And during the entire period of the Sopherim -- from the days of Ezra until the coming of Al-
exander the Great -- the Jews were keeping the Law of Moses. However, in 331 B.C., when
Alexander came to Palestine and defeated the Persians, the whole complexion of Palestine government
changed.

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