Jesus and the Essenes

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McGirk, Tim (16 March 2009). "Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls 'Authors' Never Existed". Time. Archived from the original on 20 March 2009 . Retrieved 17 March 2009. The most elaborate and detailed esoteric representation of the Essenes as the “cradle of Christianity,” however, comes from the Edgar Cayce readings. [xviii] These “Life Readings,” performed between 1934 and 1945, represent an extraordinary database of dozens of Cayce’s clients’ past lives spent in ancient Judea and Galilee at the time of Jesus. [xix] Cayce claimed to have accessed this information (via trance) directly from the “Akashic Records.” [xx] On one hand, however, these readings reflect what seems like genuine faithfullness to the Gospel narratives of Jesus’ birth, life, and death, especially the Nativity stories of the Virgin Birth, Jesus’ Davidic lineage, the Inn at Bethlehem, the visit of Wise Men, the Slaughter of the Innocents, and the Flight to Egypt. On the other hand, these readings contain numerous historically unsupported assertions of an Essene “Brotherhood” on Mount Carmel led by a teacher, healer, and prophetess named “Judy” who supervised Jesus’ education, ministry, and foreign travel. Pliny locates them "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast... [above] the town of Engeda". [24]

The Magharians or Magarites ( Arabic: Al-Maghariyyah, 'people of the caves') [96] were, according to Jacob Qirqisani, a Jewish sect founded in the 1st century BCE. The Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls". YouTube - Discovery Channel documentary. 1990 . Retrieved 4 March 2022.Jesus simply referred to the others as children of this world instead of children of darkness. So Jesus was saying the Essenes were not as shrewd or cunning as the children of this world when it came to matters of the material world. The Essenes and early Christians also shared apocalyptic beliefs, that is a belief in the imminent end of the world, which influenced the way in which they chose to live.

Vermes, Géza. “THE ETYMOLOGY OF ‘ESSENES.’” Revue De Qumrân, vol. 2, no. 3 (7), 1960, pp. 427–443. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24599235The Essenes were able to maintain their apocalyptic visions and lifestyle until the Great Jewish Revolt of 66 CE. Some participated in the war against Rome, perhaps seeing this as the final battle. John the Essene is listed as a general in Galilee and some may have been among the Zealots in the final hold-out at Masada. A legion of the Roman army massacred the community at Qumran in 68 CE. The Dead Sea Scrolls It was said to you: ‘Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon this earth.’ But I say to you, Sons of Man: Honor your Earthly Mother and keep all her laws, that your days may be long on this earth . . . Boccaccini, Gabriele (1998). Beyond the Essene hypothesis: the parting of the ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 47. ISBN 0-8028-4360-3. OCLC 37837643.