its careful preservation against possible sources of corruption, was no less a service demanded by the Church of God, and a task to which the ablest scholars of the age might well apply their energies. It was this service that was undertaken by the Sopherim or scribes. They were the doctors and authorised interpreters of the Law, who, during the last centuries B.C. and at the beginning of the Christian era, toiled patiently at the “hedge” which was designed henceforth to enclose and preserve the