It was also during this early period of resettlement that the Samaritans would be the first to experience the results of this renewed zeal of nationalism and covenant relationship ( Ezr.4:1-3). It should be remembered these Samaritans were half-blood Jewish descendants of the poorer class of Israelites left within the northern kingdom who had already mixed with those foreigners implanted by Assyria when she conquered the region in 721 B.C. Even during that period, priests had to be returned from Assyrian captivity to teach these new citizens the laws of God for their survival in that devastated and hostile land - II Ki.19:20-41 (though continuing to worship every other god). With its origins in the earlier division of the northern kingdom from Judah ( I Ki.12:16), together with this movement, would develop the Samaritan Jew who would be rejected as being Jewish and sorely hated by the pure-blood Jew of Judah ( Jn.4:9).

Rejected in their deceptive attempts to assist the returning Jews in their resettlement and reconstruction, they would become bitter enemies. Attempts would be made to compromise the Jews at every opportunity (e.g., Neh.6:10:14), even having their spies planted among them in high places of service ( Neh.13:28). Eventually they would build their own temple in Samaria in replica of Jerusalem's (Josephus, Antiq. 11.8.2; 13.9.1 - pp. 243, 279), only to have it destroyed by the Hasmonean ruler, John Hyrcanus, in the Maccabean era (128 B.C.).

However, with the aid of Persia, who was now a dominant world empire, the Jews were protected and aided in their reconstruction and resettlement efforts ( Ezr.6:7; 7:12-28; Neh.2:4-10). Temple life would resume, this time with the local form of worship that developed in captivity emerging throughout Judea. Common gathering places would evolve and eventually give rise to the local synagogue and its attending form of worship, with the law retaining its central place within this form. Trepp says:

The synagogue, as created by the Jews during the Babylonian exile (sixth century B.C.E), was the house of God and man, a place of assembly for the people in the presence of God. . . . In antiquity, the Jewish house of worship was called by the Greek word proseuche, whereas the term synagogue stood for "congregation," the people who assembled in it. A structure has no meaning, no name, until the people make it the center of their lives. The synagogue is a forceful reminder that Jews are the covenanted people. . . . The synagogue has never been called the "House of God" -- for who can contain God in an earthly abode? ( Isa.66:1) The synagogue, rather, has been called Bet Ha-Knesset, house of assembly; Bet Ha-Midrash, house of study; Bet Am, the people's house. (Trepp, pp. 14, 15)

Since the days of early Reform, the term temple has come to be used synonymously with synagogue. On a recent Jewish calendar depicting an artist's rendition of a typical synagogue, an accompanying inscription reads: "As the ancient Temple in Jerusalem was the Great Temple in the Jewish faith, so is every synagogue and house of study considered a mikdash me'at, a small Temple, a sanctuary in smaller spiritual replica; 'Yet have I been to them as a little sanctuary' ( Ez.11:16)." (And so as Christians, we are grateful for the gift of this style of worship we now have in our local churches that developed from the time of Christ.)

With the numbers of these local groups being established, increasing demands for additional copies of the law likewise increased. In addition to this, frequent use of existing copies called for their replacement as older ones became unusable. Since the printing press was still two millennia away, men skilled and well trained in the art of copying were enlisted to produce these much needed texts. Hence, in Ezra we have the origins of the New Testament scribe. Born out of necessity in Babylon, skilled through personal studies and devotion to copying (counting every letter), preserving, and teaching Moses' law and other extant Hebrew documents, these Levite men were quite suited, dedicated, qualified, and available for this burgeoning need developing in the Jewish people's resettlement of their homeland ( Ezr.8:18-20; Neh.8:8,13; 9:4).

Beginning in the years of captivity and following, these men became quite familiar with scripture through their repetitive copying. They obviously became experts in its content. Religious leaders would look to them to settle disputes over specific texts and interpretations. With resettlement now occurring with no longer the pre-exilic monarchy to rule, it became necessary for these laws to be studied, interpreted, taught, and implemented for regulation of all levels of Jewish life, from the priestly leaders to the common people ( Ezr.7:10,25). Clearly then, this became the task of the scribe studied in the Mosaic law under the leadership of Ezra.

As with most law, eventually these written findings of the scribes established precedence in most if not every aspect of Jewish life, and the findings themselves became as binding upon the people as had previously been the words of Moses. Schools would develop around individual scribes who excelled among his peers in Moses' law. He would be called rabbi, teacher, or father (Mat.23:1-12), and his works became known as rabbinical teachings, later identified as the tradition of the fathers to the New Testament Jew and his descendants. By the Maccabean era (167 B.C.) these numerous (I Mac.7:12) anonymous scholarly men had become known collectively as the Knesset Gedolah, or in the beginning, the Council of Sages, and afterwards, the Council of the Seventy Elders, and finally in Christ's day as the Sanhedrin. In addition to the scribes, with the later evolution of the Pharisees and Saducees from these earlier schools of thought, this Council would come to be composed of all three, plus high-ranking elders of the people, and presided over by the current High Priest. Sometimes, the New Testament does not draw a distinct line between the scribe and Pharisee. Some scribes were members of the Pharisaic sect, but not all Pharisees were scribes. Because of their nature and function, they were more associated with the Pharisees, as indicated in the New Testament, although the Sadducees did have their scribes.