Lawyers
People's Dictionary of the Bible [1]
Lawyers, Luke 7:30, called also "doctors of the law," Luke 5:17, among the Hebrews, were not pleaders before a court, but expounders of the Mosaic and priestly law, and copied it, so that it is not certain what was the difference between a lawyer and a scribe. Matthew 22:35; Luke 10:25; comp. Mark 12:28.
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary [2]
Men who devoted themselves to the study and explanation of the Jewish law, particularly of the traditionary or oral law. They belonged mostly to the sect of the Pharisees, and fell under the reproof of our Savior for having taken from the people the key of knowledge. They were as the blind leading the blind, Matthew 28:20 Luke 10:25 11:52 . See Scribes
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
In the Roman and Spanish churches, pleaders before the courts were not eligible to the clerical office. The rule, however, was not universal, for the Council of Sardica enacted that a lawyer might be ordained a bishop if he passed through the inferior grades of reader, deacon, and presbyter. On the other hand, clergymen were not allowed to act as lawyers, or to plead either their own cause or even an ecclesiastical one. Bribery and extortion were forbidden to lawyers under severe penalties.
