Regarding the naming of this sect, Philo the Jewish philosopher usage of the word is (Essaioi), although he admits this Greek form of the original name, that according to his etymology signifies “holiness”, to be inexact. Pliny’s Latin word is (Esseni).
Their Rules, customs, theology, and beliefs:
The accounts by Josephus(the jewish historian) and Philo(the jewish philosopher) show that the Essenes led a strictly communal life — often compared to later Christian monasticism. Many of the Essene groups appear to have been celibate, but Josephus speaks also of another “order of Essenes” that observed the practice of being engaged for three years and then becoming married. According to Josephus, they had customs and observances such as collective ownership, electing a leader to attend to the interests of the group, and obedience to the orders from their leader. Also, they were forbidden from swearing oaths and from sacrificing animals. They controlled their tempers and served as channels of peace, carrying weapons only for protection against robbers. The Essenes chose not to possess slaves but served each other and, as a result of communal ownership, did not engage in trading. Josephus and Philo provide lengthy accounts of their communal meetings, meals and religious celebrations.
After a three-year probationary period, newly joining members would take an oath that included the commitment to practice piety towards God and righteousness towards humanity, to maintain a pure lifestyle, to abstain from criminal and immoral activities, to transmit their rules uncorrupted and to preserve the books of the Essenes and the names of the angels.
Their theology:
included belief in the immortality of the soul and that they would receive their souls back after death. Part of their activities included purification by water rituals, which was supported by rainwater catchment and storage.
According to the Community Rules, repentance was a prerequisite to baptism: “They shall not enter the water… for they will not be cleansed unless they have turned from their evil.”
Ritual purification was a common practice among the peoples of Judea during this period and was thus not specific to the Essenes. (Ritual baths are found near many Synagogues of the period.) Purity and cleanliness was considered so important to the Essenes that they would refrain from defecation on the Sabbath.
According to Joseph Lightfoot the Church Father Epiphanius (4th century AD) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: “Of those that came before his [Elxai, an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nazarean.” Epiphanius describes each group as following:
The Nazarean — they were Jews by nationality — originally from Gileaditis, Bashanitis and the Transjordan… They acknowledged Moses and believed that he had received laws — not this law, however, but some other. And so, they were Jews who kept all the Jewish observances, but they would not offer sacrifice or eat meat. They considered it unlawful to eat meat or make sacrifices with it. They claim that these Books are fictions, and that none of these customs were instituted by the fathers. This was the difference between the Nazarean and the others…
After this Nazarean sect in turn comes another closely connected with them, called the Ossaeans. These are Jews like the former… originally came from Nabataea, Ituraea, Moabitis, and Arielis, the lands beyond the basin of what sacred scripture called the Salt Sea… Though it is different from the other six of these seven sects, it causes schism only by forbidding the books of Moses like the Nazarean.
If it is correct to identify the community at Qumran with the Essenes (and claim that the community at Qumran are the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls), then according to the Dead Sea Scrolls the Essenes’ community school was called “Yahad” (meaning “community”) in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the Jews who are repeatedly labeled “The Breakers of the Covenant”.
Pliny(the roman philosopher)clearly wrote that the Essenes who lived near the Dead Sea “had not one woman, had renounced all pleasure… and no one was born in their race”.
One theory on the formation of the Essenes suggests that the movement was founded by a Jewish high priest, dubbed by the Essenes the Teacher of Righteousness, whose office had been usurped by Jonathan (of priestly but not of Zadokite lineage), labeled the “man of lies” or “false priest”. Others follow this line and a few argue that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also identical to the original Messianic figure about 150 years before the time of the Gospels. Fred Gladstone Bratton notes that
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.
References:
F.F. Bruce, Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls
Josephus. The Wars of the Jews
Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews
Josephus. The Life of Flavius Josephus
Philo. Quod Omnis Probus Liber. XII.
Epiphanius of Salamis. Panarion.
Pliny the Elder. Natural History.
Comments
Post a Comment