Here is a list of popular 1st century BOOKS that you can download and read at Goog Reads:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/1st-century
Notice there are more than 100
Goog Reads=Good Reads
they were treasured, hand written works of art...you couldn't get them on amazon, and if they existed at all, it was within a very limited source....the average "man on the street" had no access to them at all......and by the way, he didn't know of them nor did he care.
Besides what i said here (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2982428/posts?page=49#49), as regards being ignorant of what Scripture (most of which was established by the time of Christ) said, and having to rely in word of mouth stories, this well-referenced source states,
“Josephus writes: “He [Moses] appointed the Law to be the most excellent and necessary form of instruction, ordaining, not that it should be heard once for all or twice or on several occasions, but that every week men should desert their other occupations and assemble to listen to the Law and to obtain a thorough and accurate knowledge of it, a practice which all other legislators seem to have neglected” (Ap. 2.175). As with Philo, Josephus reports a weekly gathering where holy books (specifically identified as the “Law” here) were read aloud and explained.
Also from this time period, we learn about the practice of Scripture reading from the “Theodotus inscription” from a synagogue in Jerusalem: Theodotus, son of Vettenos the priest and synagogue leader (archisynagogos), son of a synagogue leader and grandson of a synagogue leader, built the synagogue for the reading of the Torah and studying of the commandments, and as a hostel with chambers and water installations to provide for the needs of itinerants from abroad, which his fathers, the elders and Simonides founded. 12 A similar picture of the synagogue as a place of reading and instruction is found in Luke-Acts. Luke 4:16-19 reports that Jesus read from a scroll of the prophet Isaiah in a synagogue on the Sabbath “as was his custom.” In Acts 13:15-16, Paul visits a synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia on the Sabbath, where the Law and the Prophets were read. Finally, Acts 15:21 claims that from early generations, Moses was read every Sabbath in the synagogue. The synagogue in early Judaism was apparently a place where Scripture was read and studied every Sabbath.
Yet, the Mishnah indicates that there were other customs of local Scripture reading. In m. Taan. 4:2, it is stated that, at the time when the priestly representative of a locality would officiate in the temple, “the Israelites who were from the same locality would come together to their own towns to read the story of Creation.” Lee Levine suggests that the place for this public reading might have been a city gate, since no synagogue is mentioned. 13 Whether at the city gate or in a synagogue building (Levine argues that the latter evolved out of the former), 14 this text affirms that at an early period the reading of Scripture was taking place on special days of the year separate from the Sabbath reading.”
“The procedure for the Scripture reading [besides the Torah]. Although we do not know for sure who actually performed the readings in our earliest accounts, we know that during the tannaitic period both minors and slaves were permitted to read the Torah scroll, assuming that they were proficient to do so (m. Meg. 4:6; y. Meg. 4:3, 75a). Even when numerous readers were liturgically required, only congregants who were sufficiently learned could read in the Torah. Thus, even though the Sabbath generally required seven readers, if only one person was present who was pro?cient to read in the Torah, he alone would read all seven segments (y. Meg. 4:3, 75a; cf. t. Meg. 3:12). Some of these regulations would change in later periods. For example, after the full development of Bar Mitzvah, minors were no longer allowed to read in the Torah scroll. 34”
“The Mishnah records no rules governing the length of the haftarah [a series of selections from the books of Prophets]. The Tosefta lists several speci?c haftarot, the shortest of which is only one verse, Isa 52:3 (t. Meg. 3:18). In the Talmuds, the number of required prophetic verses is lengthened to twenty-one, matching the minimum of twenty-one verses of Torah on the Sabbath (i.e. 7 readers x a minimum of 3 verses each) (y. Meg. 4:2, 75a). 38 The practice of reading at least twenty-one verses for the haftarah eventually become standard, although exceptions were made for older readings that were too short. In general, the rules regarding the haftarot were more flexible than those for the Torah portions. Ultimately, the length of the readings, the declining knowledge of Hebrew, and the increasing role of fixed cantillation required that a “professional” reader take over the responsibilities of reading the Scripture. 39 In post- talmudic Babylonia, a precentor would help the reader along by accompanying him softly. As time went on, the role of the precentor increased to the point that the one “called up” was no longer reading at all. 40 Hence, the one called up to the Torah was responsible only for saying the benedictions.” (Journal of the evangelical theological society 470,75,76; http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/50/50-3/JETS_50-3_467-487_Graves.pdf)
Note that multitudes were ignorant of Scripture, and were moved by the supernatural attestation which Scripture testifies God gave (and gives) to truth claims, (Rm. 15:19; 2Cor. 12:12) especially in instituting a covenant. (Heb. 2:3)
However, it remains that Scripture is evidenced as being the supreme standard by which all it judged (not a group of men despite their elitist cultic claims), including whether a miracle is from God, as the devil seeks to operate on whatever level God does, but evil is to be overcome by good, and “judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all and the upright in heart shall follow it.” (Ps. 94:15) To the glory of God.