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Bible Study Title: Who are the Essenes? Essenes ESSENES s’ enz (•Ã÷½¿¹, •Ãñ¹B¿¹). A Jewish religious group which flourished in the 1st cent. b.c. and the 1st cent. a.d., and which formed the third important school of thought in the time of Christ (with the Pharisees and the Sadducees). Outline 1. Name. The meaning of the name has been much debated. The E Aram. term hssyâ, “pious” has been suggested as a possible origin, while other derivations have been seen in terms of the Gr. ¿Ã¹¿Â, G4008, “holy,” ¹Ã¿Â, G2698, “equal,” and the Heb. חָסִיד, H2883, “pious,” עָשָׂה֒, H6913, “to do,” i.e., performers of the law, עָשִׁיר, H6938, “noble,” “powerful” and Eאָסְיָא, “healer,” to mention a few suggestions. This confusion is understandable if the name “Essene” was never used by the sect itself as a descriptive term, which seems probable, for as early as Philo its etymology was obscure. 2. Literary sources. Josephus (Jos. War, II. viii. 2ff.; cf. Jos. Antiq. XVIII. i. 5) described the Essenes as the third of the “philosophies” or schools of religious thought in contemporary Judaism, but apart from his testimony there are further descriptions of Essene beliefs and customs in his older Jewish contemporary, Philo of Alexandria, as well as another from the Rom. author, Pliny, the Elder. A later account furnished by Hippolytus was based on Josephus, though certain sections were apparently derived from independent sources. a. Josephus. Though it is recognized that this author, who lived c. a.d. 37-98, tended on occasions to modify strict historical fact for apologetic and other purposes, it is nevertheless true that his description of the Essenes gives evidence of being factual and based upon first-hand knowledge. His earliest account (Jos. War. II. viii. 2ff.) of the sect was in the compilation made shortly after the fall of Jerusalem (a.d. 70), and there are several references to the Essenes in various parts of his other works, along with a shorter VS in his Antiquities (Jos. Antiq. XVIII. i. 5), written about a.d. 90. In an autobiography, Josephus recorded that, as part of his study of the Jewish culture, he had joined a wilderness sect headed by a certain Bannus, with whom he stayed for three years before returning to Jerusalem and joining the Pharisees. Whether Josephus was ever actually an Essene novitiate, as he seems to imply, or not, must remain a matter of some doubt, particularly in the light of Essene admission regulations. The fullest account of the Essenes which Josephus furnished occurred in his Wars of the Jews, in which this third philosophical sect was depicted as espousing a stricter discipline than the Pharisees or Sadducees, and a greater sense of fellow-feeling. They rejected worldly pleasures as evil, but regarded continence and the control of the passions as virtuous acts. The Essenes rejected matrimony, preferring instead to train the young offspring of others and mold them to their own patterns of life. While not forbidding marriage for others, they felt that their own attitude was the only legitimate safeguard against the lasciviousness and infidelity of women generally. Josephus continued to describe the communal life of the Essenes, which was based on the premise that the possession of riches was abhorrent. Those who joined the sect were required to bring their assets for the enrichment of the group as a whole, so that there would be no appearance of either poverty or riches in the community. Their common affairs were managed by stewards appointed for the purpose, whose sole aim was the well-being of the whole group. The Essenes apparently did not form a separate community, preferring instead to mingle with society at all possible levels. They were to be found in every large city, and were evidently well-received by the Jewish populace as a whole. Essene piety had made a great impression upon Josephus, for he spoke at considerable length of their habits of worship and devotion. They began their day before dawn with an act of prayer, and following this the members of the sect pursued the various secular avocations for which they were fitted, being noted for the conscientious and diligent discharge of their duties. At noon they bathed in cold water and having reassembled in the communal dining room they partook of a simple meal after grace. They then returned to work, and in the evening repeated the procedure with regard to washing and eating. The strict discipline of the group was indicated by the absence of strife or disturbance, and the only things which were permitted of the members’ free will were acts of help to the needy and attitudes of compassion. While mercy was not allowed to usurp justice, the sect was noted for its fidelity, integrity and humanity, and such characteristics seldom made acts of strict justice necessary. Admission to this group was by way of an initial one-year novitiate, during which the beginner was expected to manifest the qualities to which the sect aspired. If he was deemed a suitable candidate he was required to undergo a further two-year period of testing, after which he was formally admitted to Essene society. At this point the candidate took oaths of fidelity and piety toward God and justice toward men, after which he was allowed to partake of the communal food as a fully accredited member of the group. The strictness of Essene discipline was evident in the penalties prescribed for major transgressions. The offenders were banished from the sect, and being bound by oaths not to partake of common food frequently came to the point of starvation before they were taken back into the group, often out of sheer compassion. Communal life was under the control of a number of elders, who prescribed strict decorum in public meetings. According to Josephus, the Essenes believed that, whereas the body was mortal, the soul was immortal. This gave a certain Platonic aspect to their teachings; that the body constituted the prison house of the soul, from which the latter was released at death to wing upward to the heavens. Cessation from work, and worship on the Sabbath day, were matters of punctilious observance in Essene society, and their veneration of Moses, their legislator, required them to indulge in careful study and practice of the Torah. Some Essenes were renowned for their insights into OT prophecy, and for their ability to foretell events still in the future. Josephus noted that one order of the Essenes diverged from the general tradition on the sole issue of marriage. This group used the married state for the procreation of offspring rather than for sexual pleasure, in the belief that by refraining from marriage the other Essenes were depriving themselves of the “principal part of human life,” namely, the prospect of lineal succession. They supported their position by the unshakeable argument that if everyone was to be of the same mind as the majority of the Essenes, the whole race of mankind would disappear. In his Antiquities, Josephus furnished a more concise account of Essene teachings and habits of life, in which they were described as holding to a belief in the immortality of the soul, and the necessity for ascribing all things to God. They were independent of the Temple cultus to a considerable extent, and because they deemed certain of their own rites to be of purer quality than those of the Temple priests, they were excluded from the common court of the Temple. Despite this situation the Essenes were renowned for the fact that their virtue and righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees, and at the time that Josephus was writing they showed every indication of continuing in that fashion. For him, this notable mark of spirituality was the direct product of communal living. b. Pliny the Elder. Another 1st cent. a.d. author who commented on Essene life and behavior was the Elder Pliny. This man was a fellow soldier of Vespasian, and was perhaps with the Tenth Legion in a.d. 68 when it marched down the Jordan valley. In his Natural History, completed in a.d. 77, he included a topographical description of the W side of the Dead Sea, beginning with Jericho and ending with the mountain fortress of Masada which protected the S border of Judaea. This narrative mentioned a religious community which lived near a palm tree oasis, and it may be that this was the group at Qumran which cultivated crops at the oasis of ’Ain Feshka. Pliny described its location in general terms as being “on the W side of the Dead Sea,” but N of En-gedi, and spoke of the community as “the solitary tribe of the Essenes,” which was noteworthy for its renunciation of women and worldly goods. Pliny was impressed by the remarkable manner in which world-weary postulants flocked to the community seeking to follow the strict rule of life which the Essenes required of their members. Although the passage is obviously rhetorical in style, the general identification of the Qumran locality with some kind of Essene community is quite apparent. c. Philo. In the writings of Philo, the Alexandrian Jew (c. 20 b.c.-a.d. 52), there is still more information about the Essenes in general, occurring in two of his works, Hypothetica (XI, 1-18) and Quod Omnis Probus Sit Liber (XII-XIII). These works, which were apparently based on a common literary source, were prob. written in Egypt before a.d. 50, and the factual descriptions which Philo has preserved can be taken as constituting valuable information about Palestinian Essenism in the early decades of the Christian era. However, his narratives need to be assessed critically, since Philo had apologetic interests in mind when writing about the Essenes. His attitude was governed by moralistic considerations, for he was utilizing his own people as an example to support the hypothesis that virtue had not vanished entirely from the contemporary Hel. scene. He computed the number of Essenes in Palestinian Syria in excess of 4,000, as Josephus did at a later period, and thought that their name had been derived from the Gr. hosiots or “holiness.” This designation he attributed not to the prosecution of cultic observances but to the resolve of the Essenes themselves to serve God devoutly and to sanctify their minds. Philo commented on the preference of the Essenes for life in villages rather than in cities, since the latter were much more likely to corrupt and deprave the person who was seeking to lead a sincere spiritual life. He also noted their diligence with respect to manual labor, and marveled at the way in which they had deliberately divested themselves of all personal wealth and property, esteeming frugality and contentment as constituting an abundance of riches. Equally significant for Philo was the pacifist attitude adopted by the Essenes, who neither manufactured nor traded in weapons of war. In harmony with this rejection of the military arts was the disavowal of any form of slavery, since they believed in the free exchange of services and held that the owners of slaves outraged the law of the equality of individuals. The Essenes laid great emphasis on their ancestral laws, which had been mediated by divine revelation and were of supreme importance for faith and behavior. According to Philo, the Essenes observed the ethical precepts of the Torah strictly, manifesting their love for God in a variety of ways including consistent religious purity, abstinence from oaths, a love of virtue, freedom from bondage to material possessions, self-mastery, frugality, humility and contentment. Their respect for their fellows was manifested in deeds of love and charity, in their avowed sense of the equality of individuals, and in their notable spirit of fellowship. The communal life of the Essenes was particularly significant in that it was emulated nowhere else in actual practice. Their clothes and meals were held in common possession, and the wages which each person earned were put into the community treasury so that all might benefit as the need arose. The sick were cared for by those who were well, and the cost of treatment was met from the monetary reserves of the group. The elderly members of the community were accorded the respect due to their age, and in their declining years they were maintained in dignity and contentment. Like Josephus, Philo stressed the place given in Essene circles to the study of Scripture and the manner in which they were instructed on the Sabbath day. The Essenes abandoned all work at that time and proceeded to sacred locations called “synagogues,” where they were arranged in rows according to seniority, the younger ones sitting below their elders. In process of divine worship someone read a passage of Scripture, and after this another individual who was particularly competent in this area would expound after an allegorical manner anything in the section which was not clearly understood. Philo noted that the Essenes were trained in piety, holiness, justice, domestic and civil conduct, and summarized their beliefs and practices under three headings, namely, love of God, love of virtue and love of men. In a later work, the Hypothetics, Philo again commented on the diligence and industry of the sect. He mentioned the common ownership of goods and money, and remarked upon their general insistence on a rule of celibacy for their members, on the ground that women and children tended to distract the community from its avowed aim of the pursuit of goodness and truth. Women who were mothers were believed to be a particularly serious menace, since they would stoop without any qualms to use their children as a means of imposing their will upon others in a fashion which would disrupt the spiritual unity of the group. In a treatise entitled On the Contemplative Life, Philo devoted considerable attention to the activites of another religious group which bore some slight resemblance to the Essenes. Known as the Therapeutae, this community flourished in Egypt for some two centuries prior to the beginning of the Christian era. The Therapeutae were organized on a monastic basis, but were actually recluses who occupied their time in prayer, meditation and the study of their sacred writings, only assembling for divine worship as a community on Sabbath days and sacred occasions. According to Philo the Therapeutae prayed twice daily, at dawn and dusk, and spent the remainder of the day in meditation, reading the OT and interpreting it allegorically. In addition to this kind of study, they composed hymns and psalms in the solitude of their cells. On the weekly day of worship the Therapeutae assembled in order of seniority, and listened to a discourse given by one of the elders of the sect, subsequently returning to their cells for meditation and study. Women formed part of this monastic group, and were subjected to the same conditions of life as the men. Self-control formed the basis of their philosophy of life, which in other respects, however, was not as rigorous as that of the Palestinian Essenes, due to climatic and other factors. Although the Therapeutae may represent a late development of a pre-Christian Jewish sect which was perhaps the progenitor of the Essenes, they may be of quite independent origin. Nevertheless, the similarities between the Essenes and the Therapeutae warrant some consideration of the latter in any estimate of Palestinian Essenism. d. Hippolytus. The evidence of a Christian writer, Hippolytus (a.d. 170-230?) can be adduced as an important supplement to the testimony of Josephus and Philo concerning the Essenes. In a treatise entitled The Refutation of All Heresies, he commented on the attribute of mutual love and concern which characterized Essene behavior. In describing those who renounced matrimony, Hippolytus noted that they did not admit women to their company under any considerations, even when they presented themselves as postulants and gave evidence of a desire to participate in community life on the same basis as that of the male members of the sect. They did, however, adopt young boys and train them in the ways of the Essenes, although they did not forbid them to marry should they desire to do so at a later time. The usual regulations concerning wealth were evident in the observations of Hippolytus. While the Essenes despised riches, they were by no means averse to sharing their goods with those destitute persons who came to them for help. On joining the order the novitiates were required to sell their properties and present the proceeds to the head of the community, who was responsible for distributing them according to individual need. Hippolytus noted what must have been a rather distinctive practice in ancient Pal., namely the abstention of the sect from the use of oil, on the ground that for them it constituted defilement to be anointed. The decorum of the sect was governed by strict rules of behavior, which apparently impressed Hippolytus as much as earlier writers. The Essenes lived and worked under the control of elders and overseers, and were required to live lives of rigorous self-discipline. Disorderly behavior was not tolerated in any form, and swearing was a particularly serious matter, since whatever anyone said in this respect was deemed to be more binding than an oath. Swearing invariably lowered the individual concerned in the esteem of the community, and diminished his reliability as a credible person. The account of the initiation requirements furnished by Hippolytus was similar to that of other writers on the subject. There were some differences in detail, however, as for example in the observation that, during the initial one-year novitiate, those desiring admission to the sect lived in a house apart from the community meeting place, although they partook of the same food and observed the identical rules of life. Hippolytus appears to have thought in terms of a two-year probationary period rather than the three-year period indicated by Josephus. This latter author was evidently the source of much of the information which Hippolyptus furnished about the nature of the oaths which the initiate was required to swear on being admitted to the order, the various sects into which the Essenes were divided, and the theological tenets to which they adhered. However, it is quite possible that Hippolyptus was also using another source of information, since there are certain significant differences between his description of the Essenes and that of Josephus. For example, Hippolytus regarded the Zealots and the Sicarii, or Assassins, as subordinate groups of Essenes, and in his description of Essene religious practices he omitted all references to the supposed worship of the sun at dawn as part of the morning devotions of the sect. Furthermore, whereas Josephus attributed to the Essenes as a whole the traditional Hellenic belief that the body formed a prison for the soul from which death was the only release, Hippolytus stated that the Essenes held to a belief in the resurrection of the body as well as in the immaterial and immortal nature of the soul, maintaining in addition that both would be reunited in the day of judgment. In view of these divergences it may be that Hippolytus was drawing upon a source of information which was closer to the real facts of the situation than the one which Josephus employed. 3. Essene history. Because of the rather spare amount of available material, any attempt at the reconstruction of Essene history must be rather tentative in nature. Furthermore, because of the difficulties attached to interpreting some of the source material, there can hardly be said to be a consensus of scholarly opinion on the matter. However, there are good reasons for assuming that the Essenes originated among the Hasideans, the “loyal ones” (1 Macc 2:42; 7:13). These people were zealous for the Jewish law at a time when Hel. ideas and patterns of life were flooding into Pal. early in the 2nd cent. b.c. This situation took a critical turn during the rule of Seleucus IV (187-175 b.c.), the son and successor of Antiochus the Great, when a dispute between the high priest Onias III and Simon, the commander of the Temple guard, nearly resulted in the plundering of the Temple treasury by Seleucus, who was anxious to pay off some of the debts which Antiochus had incurred during his struggle against the Rom. empire. The entire incident accentuated the tension in Judaea between the more orthodox Jews and those who had succumbed to the wiles of Hellenism. The latter strongly favored Seleucid ideals, and were led by Simon and his brother Menelaus, while the more orthodox segment of Jewry remained loyal to Onias III and looked to Egyp. hegemony for support. They resisted the encroachments of Hellenism vigorously, realizing that their traditional religious beliefs had nothing in common with the skepticism, irreligion, and moral degeneration of Hellenic culture. When Joshua, the younger brother of Onias III became the leader of the Hellenizing party in Jerusalem and adoped the Gr. name Jason, he prevailed upon Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had succeeded Seleucus IV in 175 b.c., to depose Onias and appoint himself as high priest. This was agreed to on condition that Jason achieved the Hellenizing of Jerusalem as quickly as possible, a task to which Jason lent every effort. In protest against this trend the Hasideans (or Hasidim) became involved in outbreaks of violence, some of which were directed at the Temple priesthood. Hostilities flared up again in 168 b.c. at a time when Antiochus Epiphanes had determined to eradicate Judaism and colonize Judaea with people of Hellenic sympathies. Accordingly a royal decree was promulgated, requiring all that was characteristic of Judaism to be removed. The Temple was profaned, the sacred books of the law were burned, and the sacrificial worship of Judaism was prohibited, being replaced by pagan Gr. rites in which the people were compelled to participate on pain of death. Many of the Hasidim would have prefered to withdraw to the wilderness rather than clash openly with the Syrian regime, but the implacable hostility of the Hellenizing party gave them little choice. Many Hasideans perished in the massacres of 167 b.c., and when active resistance crystallized at Modin under the leadership of Mattathias, the surviving Hasideans threw in their lot with his guerilla forces and fought with Judas Maccabeus, the son of Mattathias. Following the success of the Maccabean revolt and the establishing of a treaty by which Lysias guaranteed the restoration of Jewish liberties (1 Macc 6:59), the nation entered a new phase of development in which the allies of the revolution began to vie with one another in a struggle for control of the new state. While a strong Hellenizing party still remained in Judaea, the majority of the people gave firm support to the Maccabeans, who became increasingly designated by their family name of Hasmoneans, and who ultimately emerged as the dominant political party, with avowed nationalistic aims. In the course of this struggle for power there emerged the three major religious or theocratic groups known as the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Essenes. They had in common the spiritual aspirations of the Maccabean revolt, namely a national existence for the Jews as a separate entity in the Gentile world, and a strict observance of the Mosaic law. The Sadducees were a priestly group, being well represented in the most influential ecclesiastical circles, and they enjoyed the favor of the Hasmonean rulers until the reign of Alexandra Salome (76-67 b.c.), who preferred the Pharisees, the second major party in Judaea. These latter had won popular support under John Hyrcanus I (134-104 b.c.). but their political fortunes were uncertain until the time of Alexandra Salome, after which they maintained a dominating position in the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees and Essenes alike seem to have developed from rival groups of earlier revolutionary Hasideans, and it may be that the real division between them occurred about 141 b.c., when a formal decree was issued in Judaea which recognized Simon as hereditary high priest and governor of the Jewish people (1 Macc 14:41). The many similarities between the Pharisees and the Essenes can thus be explained in terms of their common origin. The Pharisees certainly constituted the majority party, however, and their determined pursuit of political aims in Judaea disenchanted the Essenes, who despaired of the human situation and saw the only form of salvation in terms of divine eschatological intervention. Jewish tradition depicted the Essenes as being active in Jerusalem to the time of Aristobulus I (104-103 b.c.), as mentioned by Josephus (Jos. War. 1. iii. 5; Jos. Antiq. XIII. xi. 1, 2), but by the time Alexander Jannaeus died in 76 b.c., the Essenes had made a sharp break with Hasmonean interests, and were increasingly critical of the political aims and pursuits of the other parties in Judaea. They withdrew to a large extent from public life, and this action coincided with the decline of Hasmonean fortunes when Aristobulus II came to the throne in 67 b.c. A series of abortive attempts by the Hasmoneans to overthrow the Herodian dynasty may well have favored the pietistic aspirations of the Essenes, particularly in the time of Herod the Great (37-34 b.c.). The chief political difficulty faced by this ruler was the opposition of the populace to his claim to be the legitimate ruler of Judaea, and he offset this partly by the backing of the Rom. military power and partly by conciliating such anti-Hasmonean elements in the nations as the Essenes. In an astute political move Herod excused the Essenes, along with some of the Pharisees, from the oaths of loyalty imposed upon the Jews in the early period of his rule, thereby giving the Essenes an unprecedented degree of religious freedom. Quite possibly they returned to Jerusalem, having doubtless obtained an assurance from Herod that their peculiar legal concepts would not be flouted by the Temple priesthood. Most prob. it was at this time that the Essenes carried out their program of missionary expansion which saw the founding of Essene communities in all the villages and small towns of Judaea. The only hint of their presence in Jerusalem was the designation given to an entrance through the S wall of the city, the “Gate of the Essenes” (Jos. War. V. iv. 2). Certainly the friendly relations which existed between Herod and the Essenes had become well known by the time of Josephus (Jos. Antiq. XV. x. 5), although there is little doubt that the Essenes generally looked with disfavor upon the doings of Herod the Great. Be this as it may, at least one Essene was employed in the royal court as late as the period immediately after the death of Herod (Jos. Antiq. XVII. xiii. 3). In a.d. 66, at the outbreak of the war with Rome, one of the Jewish generals was an Essene named John, and Josephus (Jos. War II. viii. 10) recorded that many of the Essenes were martyred by their Rom. captors. The remainder may have offered sporadic resistance to Rome until the revolt of Bar Kochba was crushed in a.d. 135, but precisely what part they played is unknown, though Bar Kochba himself may have been an Essene. Ultimately the Essenes were doubtless assimilated by the Jewish Christians or some other Jewish group which survived the Second Jewish Revolt. A religious group which flourished in the same general period as the Essenes, and which had close affinities with them, was the ancient sect known as the Covenanters of Damascus. The existence of this group became known through the exploration of a Cairo synagogue genizah or storeroom in 1896. Some of the MSS recovered were subsequently published under the title, “Fragments of a Zadokite Work,” a document which narrated the fortunes of a band of priests in Jerusalem who seemed to have been deposed as part of a reform movement. They named themselves the “Sons of Zadok,” and under the leadership of a person known as the “Star” they moved to a location styled “Damascus,” which may or may not be the historic city of that name, where they organized what came to be known as the party of the New Covenant. This sect indulged in a monastic pattern of life, and under the guidance of a notable leader described as the “Righteous Teacher” it flourished as a criticism of the secular and political aspirations of the Pharisees, and to a lesser extent, of the Sadducees also. Despite this, however, the sect maintained a close contact with the Temple at Jerusalem, as the Zadokite Fragment indicates, for the members maintained that Jerusalem was their holy city and the Temple their proper sanctuary. Their affinities with the Essenes appeared evident from their insistence upon fidelity to the law of Moses, the necessity for repentance as a prerequisite to entering the Covenant community, an emphasis upon upright behavior, humanitarian concerns, and other matters dear to the Essene mind. When archeologists were excavating the Qumran caves, they unearthed some pieces of MS from the sixth cave (6Q), which were found to be equivalent to a portion of the Zadokite Fragment. This discovery was augmented still further by the recovery from the fourth cave (4Q) of seven fragmentary MSS which also contained sections of the Zadokite Fragment. Taken together, these sources would seem to point to a close relationship between the religious group known to have produced the Qumran MSS and the sect responsible for the drawing up of the Zadokite Fragment. Because of the close similarity of religious ideals, many scholars have regarded the two orders as identical in nature, and have suggested that the Damascus community had prob. lived at Qumran for about seventy-five years prior to the end of the first occupational period, after which they moved to Damascus. Many of those who regard the Damascene Covenanters as Essenes have maintained that they prob. returned to Jerusalem under some kind of concordat in the reign of Herod the Great, and that they subsequently returned to Qumran after his death, but there is no proper evidence for this supposition. There is also some doubt as to whether the sectaries of the Zadokite Fragment were actually Essenes, in view of their emphasis upon animal sacrifice (CDC XIII:27; XIV:1). They were doubtless related to the Hasidim movement, but evidently regarded themselves as the true sons of Zadok. Their tenets had elements in common with the Sadducees, though they differed from them in their belief in immortality (CDC V:6), the advent of the Messiah (CDC II:10) and the recognition of prophecy and the Hagiographa. Along with the Pharisees they acknowledged the existence of heavenly beings (CDC VI:9; IX:12), divine predestination (CDC II:6, 10) and free will (CDC III:1, 2; IV:2, 10). On the other hand, they forbad divorce (CDC VII:1-3), and held that the Pharisees defiled the Temple through what they considered were sexual irregularities (cf. CDC VII:8, 9). The excavation of a ruined settlement at Qumran and its subsequent association with the MSS and fragments recovered from nearby caves (see Dead Sea Scrolls) led to a study of the nature of the religious community which had inhabited the site. One of the scrolls, the Community Rule or Manual of Discipline (1QS) furnished most of the information concerning the structure and organization of the Qumran sect. Apparently it arose as part of the Hasidean movement, and crystallized after the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, when the high priesthood as well as the civil and military power came under Hasmonean control. Under the leadership of a “Righteous Teacher,” the Qumran sectaries withdrew to the Judaean wilderness in protest against the “epoch of wickedness” and organized themselves as a Covenant group to prepare the way for the divine coming in the New Age. Characteristic of their attitude was an avowed refusal to recognize the Jerusalem priesthood, and in the Habakkuk commentary specific mention was made of a Wicked Priest, most prob. a Hasmonean, who manifested a particularly serious degree of hostility toward the community and its leader. Apparently the sect prepetuated a framework of Zadokite priests and Levites, who would be available for the conduct of proper and legitimate sacrificial worship in Jerusalem once the unworthy priesthood had been dispossessed. The general historical background for this movement is that of the Maccabean and subsequent eras, including the period of Herod the Great. Some scholars think that the Qumran group, which they regard as Essene in nature, moved their sphere of operation to Jerusalem, only to return to Qumran after the death of Herod. From 1QS it appears that the Qumran sectaries lived a communal life of strict dedication and obedience to God. While members of both sexes were allowed to join the group, an exacting novitiate of one year was required, and if the postulant met the stipulations of the group at the end of the second year he was enrolled as a member of the order (1QS VI:22, 23) after an elaborate ceremony (1QS I:18ff.). Each subsequent year the members were required to renew their pledges of loyalty to the ideals of the group (1QS II:19ff.), and delinquent members were reminded of their obligations (1QS V:20ff.). Ritual lustrations and quasi-sacramental meals were given great prominence at Qumran, and the sectaries appear to have avoided all unnecessary contact with the outside world, preferring to live and work as a self-sustaining group, unlike the Essenes who mingled freely with society. The Qumran sectaries devoted specific parts of the day and night to meditation and study of the law. In the interpretation of the latter they were considerably stricter than the most severe Pharisees, and their exposition of Scripture was in apocalyptic terms in which they themselves were to play a prominent part in realizing the coming of the New Age. Specific guidance about the latter had been given by God to the Righteous Teacher, who bestowed this esoteric knowledge upon his disciples. However, their expectations were not fulfilled in the hoped-for manner, since their settlement was destroyed in the war of a.d. 66-73, over two decades after the founding of the Christian Church. Scholars have commonly identified the sect of the Zadokite Fragment and the Qumran group, and have regarded both as Essene. However there are some significant differences between Essene and Qumranic practices which merit notice. The Qumran sectaries evidently did not regard themselves as Essene in nature, since the word “Essene” appears nowhere in the DSS. Whereas the Essenes had groups in every village and town in Judaea and mingled freely with secular society, the Qumran sectaries adopted a separatist policy, and had no dealings whatever with those who stood outside their own group. Neither the Damascus nor the Qumran covenanters distrusted women, unlike most Essenes, but were in accord with the minority Essene segment which approved of marriage. The Essene novitiate appears to have lasted for about three years, whereas at Qumran it prob. did not exceed two years in length. Whereas the Essenes were strictly pacifist by nature, the Qumran sectaries were not, if their military scroll (1QM) is a true indication of their attitudes. The Qumran fellowship did not address the sun at dawn, as did the Essenes in the report of Josephus, though the author may have been referring to only one quasi-Essene group, the Sampsaeans, who followed this custom. These differences will be sufficient to show that despite the elasticity of the term “Essene” in the pre-Christian era, the Qumran group can be thus regarded only in the most general sense, and may actually be nearer in nature to certain cave sects flourishing in the 1st cent. b.c. Consequently it is difficult at the time of writing to place the Qumran covenanters firmly within the stream of Essene history. 4. Essene life. A brief summary from known sources of the Essene way of life can now be attempted. The vast majority of Essenes were scattered about the smaller settlements of Judea, avoiding the larger cities because of their contamination by Gentile elements. Strict observance of the purity laws in the Torah was a feature of Essene behavior, being matched by an equal emphasis on purity of life. They were notable for their communal ownership of property, which arose from their abhorrence of worldly wealth, and also for their hospitality to other members of their own sect. A strong sense of mutual responsibility characterized the Essene communities, in which the needy were given every care. Life was authoritarian in nature, with everything, apart from personal acts of mercy and charity, being governed by those in charge of the brotherhood. Admission to Essene groups was preceded by a period of testing for about three years, and when a candidate had proved his suitability he had to take solemn oaths of piety and obedience. Subsequent violation of these oaths could, and most frequently did, result in expulsion from the group. Daily worship was an important feature of community life, beginning with prayer at dawn, and on holy days and sacred seasons special rites were observed. The sacrifices offered at such times took place within the confines of the various Essene communities, since their emphasis upon special conditions of purity prevented them from participating actively in the worship of the cultus at the Jerusalem Temple. However, it was their practice to send to the Temple certain things which they had dedicated to God. One aspect of Essene daily worship was the study of their sacred scriptures, a task to which special expression was given on the sabbath. Scriptural study on such occasions was a communal affair, as with many other features of Essene life, with the group assembling in their meeting hall or “synagogue,” according to seniority. The method of Biblical study consisted of a reading, followed by an exposition of the passage by some learned secretary. Philo recorded that the Essenes studied their sacred writings with a view to finding out their symbolic meaning, in the belief that the divine promises to the prophets of Israel were being fulfilled in their own day. In this connection some of the pesharim or commentaries from the Dead Sea community are illuminating, particularly if the Qumran sect was related in some way to the Essenes, since the authors of these writings commented on the text of some specific prophecy, and then proceeded to interpret what was written in terms of events which were either contemporary or expected to occur in the very near future. The question of marriage appears to have split the Essenes into major and minor divisions, with the former section insisting on vocational celibacy as a feature of community life and the latter permitting marriage as a primary means of perpetuating the sect. Though the majority did not condemn marriage in principle, they avoided it because of its deleterious effects on community life. Because the Essenes thought of themselves as Israelite warriors fighting a holy war, as in the time of Moses and Joshua, marriage was deemed unsuitable for a long term volunteer (cf. Deut 23:9-14). Despite their strict behavior there is no doubt that they exerted a profound spiritual influence over Jewish life at the beginning of the Christian era. See Dead Sea Scrolls. Bibliography K. Kohler, JE, V, 224-232; F. M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (1958), 65-106; R. K. Harrison, The Dead Sea Scrolls (1961), 72-101; W. R. Farmer, IDB, II, 143-149. Poster Comment: Ran across this article thought some of you Bible scholars would like to see it... I think I read somewhere else that Jesus was an Essene but from what I read here I doubt it... Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: CZ82, *Bible Study Ping* (#0)
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16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.---John 3:16
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16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.---John 3:16
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