Jesus and the Essenes

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Revelatory, sometimes mystical but practical, describes the nature of the Way. Sowing seed is practical, speaking the Word is direct, and prayer is a mainstay. The fact that most of the Qumran Essene priests did not recognize their own Messiah leaves them in the legalistic basket with the Pharisees. According to Jewish writers Josephus and Philo, the Essenes numbered around four thousand, and resided in various settlements throughout Judaea. Conversely, Roman writer Pliny the Elder positioned them somewhere above Ein Gedi, on the west side of the Dead Sea. [5] [6] Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes possess no money, had existed for thousands of generations, and that their priestly class ("contemplatives") did not marry. Josephus gave a detailed account of the Essenes in The Jewish War ( c. 75 CE), with a shorter description in Antiquities of the Jews ( c. 94 CE) and The Life of Flavius Josephus ( c. 97 CE). Claiming firsthand knowledge, he lists the Essenoi as one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy [7] alongside the Pharisees and Sadducees. He relates the same information concerning piety, celibacy; the absence of personal property and of money; the belief in communality; and commitment to a strict observance of Sabbath. He further adds that the Essenes ritually immersed in water every morning (a practice similar to the use of the mikveh for daily immersion found among some contemporary Hasidim), ate together after prayer, devoted themselves to charity and benevolence, forbade the expression of anger, studied the books of the elders, preserved secrets, and were very mindful of the names of the angels kept in their sacred writings. This viewpoint of God-Virtue-Mankind would be longstanding also, expressed by Enosh, Enoch, and Noah, all with various strengths displaying these virtues. The Essenes and some early Christians espoused a pious, ascetic life, deserting the city and the secular world for a life of solitary or communal prayer and self-denial.

Koester, Helmut (1971). "The Theological Aspects of Primitive Christian Heresy". In James McConkey Robinson (ed.). The Future of our religious past: essays in honour of Rudolf Bultmann. New York City: Harper & Row. OCLC 246558.As the war against Hamas unfolds, our unwavering newsroom remains committed to covering Israel's most profound crisis.

Barbara Thiering questions the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls and suggests that the Teacher of Righteousness preached coming fiery judgment, said "the axe is laid to the roots of the tree", called people "vipers", practiced baptism and lived in the wilderness of Judea. Due to these reasons, she believes there is a strong possibility that the Teacher of Righteousness was John the Baptist. [16] More than one Teacher of Righteousness [ edit ]Josephus uses the name Essenes in his two main accounts, The Jewish War 2.119, 158, 160 and Antiquities of the Jews, 13.171–2, but some manuscripts read here Essaion ("holding the Essenes in honour"; [11] "a certain Essene named Manaemus"; [12] "to hold all Essenes in honor"; [13] "the Essenes"). [14] [15] [16] i.e. an inspired interpreter of the prophets, as the one "to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets" – 1QpHab 7:5) Deutsch, Nathaniel (6 October 2007). "Save the Gnostics". The New York Times . Retrieved 13 May 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.

Some modern scholars and archeologists have argued that Essenes inhabited the settlement at Qumran, a plateau in the Judean Desert along the Dead Sea, citing Pliny the Elder in support and giving credence that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes. [35] This theory, though not yet conclusively proven, has come to dominate the scholarly discussion and public perception of the Essenes. [36] Rules, customs, theology, and beliefs [ edit ] 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. a b Rudolph, Kurt (7 April 2008). "Mandaeans ii. The Mandaean Religion". Encyclopaedia Iranica . Retrieved 3 January 2022. The sect's name, which, in his view, does not refer to its books but to its followers who lived in caves or desert areas—an established Essene lifestyle; Philo: (83) Choosing right from wrong…” the love of God, the love of virtue, the love of mankind,” a central theme of Jesus’ teachings.Goranson, Stephen (1999). "Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts". In Peter W. Flint; James C. VanderKam (eds.). The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment. Vol.2. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp.534–551. ISBN 90-04-11061-5. OCLC 230716707. Gregory Doudna, A Narrative Argument that the Teacher of Righteousness was Hyrcanus II. Excerpted from pp. 95–107 of the book A group of particularly pious priests, elders, and laymen are the outstanding group who form the Essene sect. They considered themselves the righteous remnant of the Zadokite Priesthood. They break away from the Hellenized and corrupted Zadokites, known to us as the Sadducees. Three main groups of Essene take form, the Nazarenes, the Osseaens, and the Enochians. Depicted, Egyptian Nazarene Essenes at Qumran The Teacher of Righteousness of the Scrolls would seem to be a prototype of Jesus, for both spoke of the New Covenant; they preached a similar gospel; each was regarded as a Savior or Redeemer; and each was condemned and put to death by reactionary factions... We do not know whether Jesus was an Essene, but some scholars feel that he was at least influenced by them. [67] Thank you JDB, good addition to the Essene article. The Essene separation (150 BC) continued into Jesus’ time, providing a greater spiritual tension. By the times of Jesus, the attention to the law was ascendant (scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers, many Essene priests). The law, and thus the religion had to be reformed (Jesus, Nazarenes, probably Enochians and other splinter groups). As to the law, Jesus expounded on what had become severity, condemnations without compassion (broadly speaking), Jn. 8.1-10, as an example. Most of Jesus’confrontations came from scribes, readily available in Jerusalem, from Qumran. “books in their library”, since they were scribes (copiers of manuscripts) they would naturally copy more requested manuscripts, such as Isaiah. It is not their books that are in question, but by removing the ‘spirit of the law’ and maintaining a firm legalistic view, the only spiritual pathway becomes reduced to the legal quest; thus not to quest after the Spirit, or God Himself. This structure of thought provides for no further growth within Judaism, only the better obeying of the law, if possible. The roots of the Qumran vision had fallen into a legal redundancy. All Essene were against the usurping Sadducees and their control of the Temple. But the new revelation to remove them could never come from various legal or power moves, as the Sadducees themselves were the legal authority (Great Sanhedrin).