Foundations 1 - Who were the Essenes?
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The Jews, long before the time of Jesus, were divided into three main sects, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes. The Sadducees included mainly the priestly and aristocratic families. The Pharisees constituted the scribes and sages that adhered to strict interpretation of the Torah. The Essenes were a separatist group, part of which formed an ascetic monastic community that retreated to the wilderness.
Why are the gospels silent about the Essenes, though they introduce us to the Pharisees, the Sadducees and even the Herodians- not a major sect? Jesus is recorded to have frequently rebuked and denounced both the Sadducees and Pharisees, but it is not related that he once mentioned the Essenes by name. Could it be that the people at the center of the story were the Essenes? This theory seems intuitively correct. Why would the writers have to explain or expound upon the Essene sect if they, themselves were Essenes? It would be more natural to mention the encounters that their group, the Essenes, had with the other sects with whom they were at odds.
Neither Paul nor any of the other writers of epistles in the New Testament mentions the Essenes. It is as if they did not existed, even though we know they did. Three noted writers from the first century AD, Pliny, Josephus and Philo, provide us with descripitions of the Essenes. Pliny was a Roman naturalist who described the Essenes in his writings on natural history circa 70 AD. Josephus was a Roman historian who was also of Jewish ancestry. In his two famous books, The Jewish War, and Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, describes the Essenes in some detail. Philo was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 20 BC, died about 60 AD and was probably an Essenian Jew himself.
Philo provided a very admiring and detailed account of Essene Life. We are informed by both Philo and Josephus that at the period in which John the Baptist and Jesus were born the Essenes were scattered all over Palestine, and that they numbered about four thousand souls. They speak with great respect and reverence of this sect, as surpassing all others in virtue. Josephus informs us that they led the same kind of life as the Pythagoreans in Greece, and that by their excellent virtue they were thought worthy even of divine revelations. Philo says they were honoured with the appellation of Essenes because of their exceeding holiness.
Philo speculated that the name "Essenes" was derived from the Greek word, "hosios", meaning holy. It has also been speculated by others that the name originated from the Hebrew word, "hasidim", which is translated as "pious ones". The name was not a self-appellation. It was how the group was perceived by outsiders. The Essenes were generally thought of as holy, pure and righteous people by their contemporaries.
The Essene Jews referred to themselves as Judah in their writings preserved in the dead sea scrolls. They thought of themselves as the true nation of Judah. They felt that the other two sects had corrupted the holy teachings. The Essenes refused to participate in the sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. Instead they separated themselves to follow as closely as possible the true Way ordained by Yahweh.
Their cardinal principles were active benevolence and self-discipline. They had an esoteric school guarded by secrecy, accessible through novitiate and degrees. Josephus, describing the rule of a community, presents the picture of a tranquil life, divided between practical avocations, assemblies, and ritual observances.
The Essenes traced their origin to Enoch, the good man who walked with God. One of the major Essene writings preserved in the Dead Sea scrolls is titled, "The Book of Enoch". They claim Melchizedek, an archetype of Yeshua (Jesus Christ) as the first high priest of the Essene order. Melchizedek was the priest to whom Abraham gave tithes. Some believe that Melchizedek was an actual manifestation of Yeshua. Thus Yeshua began the Essene movement, as well as facilitating the start of the Jewish religion through Abraham.
The history of the Essene brotherhood can be traced by looking at the development of the Jewish religion. It begins at the time of Melchizedek and the establishment of the Order of Melchizedek. It combines with Abraham when he pays homage to Melchizedek. It continues through Jacob (the story of Jacob’s ladder and of his wrestling with the angel). The Essene legacy is preserved through Joseph, another representation of Yeshua - saviour of his family. Then the Essene revelation returns through the great spiritual leader,Moses, who led the Jewish people out of bondage in Egypt. God spoke to Moses in the burning bush at Mount Sinai, which was a direct revelation of the Godhead.
Moses was given the Ten Commandments--which are very similar to the teachings that Melchizedek (Yeshua) gave to Abraham. Upon Moses’ death when he ascended, Joshua, another archetype of Yeshua, took over and led the Jewish people into the Promised Land.
The Essene, Jewish, Melchizedek, and Christian lineages are, in truth, one lineage, which sets the stage for spiritual teachings for humankind. Moses brought forth the law. Yeshua carried forth the law of Moses and added the love principle. Yeshua was the Messiah the Jewish people were waiting for, but it was only the Essenes who recognized that.
Yeshua was born into an Essene family and the Essenes were the first followers of Yeshua. They were the disciples. They were the ones gathered in the upper room in Acts. They were the early church. A future lesson will discuss all the similarities between Essene and early church beliefs. Here are just a few to help clarify why we know that the Essenes and the early church are one and the same. The Essenes believed in Baptism. They believed in tithing. They were opposed to taking oathes. They simply said "yes" or "no". The Essenes taught that the physical body was the temple of the soul. Their doctrine was that their physical bodies were corruptible, but their souls were immortal.
The Essenes were and are the true church. All those who follow the Way today...no matter what they call themselves... they are really Essenes. If you love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself and if you want to follow the Way Yeshua taught, you are an Essene. Why not accept and acknowledge your heritage now. Come home. The Father and Mother are waiting for you.
Quotes from the First Century Authors Regard Essenes
Josephus, "The Jewish War" Book 2, Chapter 8
119 For three forms of philosophy are pursued among the Judeans: the members of one are Pharisees, of another Sadducees, and the third [school], who certainly are reputed to cultivate seriousness, are called Essenes; although Judeans by ancestry, they are even more mutually affectionate than the others. 120 Whereas these men shun the pleasures as vice, they consider self-control and not succumbing to the passions virtue.
122 Since [they are] despisers of wealth—their communal stock is astonishing—, one cannot find a person among them who has more in terms of possessions. For by a law, those coming into the school must yield up their funds to the order, with the result that in all [their ranks] neither the humiliation of poverty nor the superiority of wealth is detectable, but the assets of each one have been mixed in together, as if they were brothers, to create one fund for all.
No one city is theirs, but they settle amply in each. And for those school-members who arrive from elsewhere, all that the community has is laid out for them in the same way as if they were their own things, and they go in and stay with those they have never even seen before as if they were the most intimate friends. For this reason they make trips without carrying any baggage at all—though armed on account of the bandits. In each city a steward of the order appointed specially for the visitors is designated quartermaster for clothing and the other amenities. Dress and also deportment of body: like children being educated with fear. They replace neither clothes nor footwear until the old set is ripped all over or worn through with age. Among themselves, they neither shop for nor sell anything; but each one, after giving the things that he has to the one in need, takes in exchange anything useful that the other has. And even without this reciprocal giving, the transfer to them [of goods] from whomever they wish is unimpeded Toward the Deity, at least: pious observances uniquely [expressed]. Before the sun rises, they utter nothing of the mundane things, but only certain ancestral prayers to him, as if begging him to come up. After these things, they are dismissed by the curators to the various crafts that they have each come to know, and after they have worked strenuously until the fifth hour they are again assembled in one area, where they belt on linen covers and wash their bodies in frigid water. After this purification they gather in a private hall, into which none of those who hold different views may enter: now pure themselves, they approach the dining room as if it were some [kind of] sanctuary. After they have seated themselves in silence, the baker serves the loaves in order, whereas the cook serves each person one dish of one food. The priest offers a prayer before the food, and it is forbidden to taste anything before the prayer; when he has had his breakfast he offers another concluding prayer. While starting and also while finishing, then, they honor God as the sponsor of life. At that, laying aside their clothes as if they were holy, they apply themselves to their labors again until evening. They dine in a similar way: when they have returned, they sit down with the vistors, if any happen to be present with them, and neither yelling nor disorder pollutes the house at any time, but they yield conversation to one another in order. And to those from outside, the silence of those inside appears as a kind of shiver-inducing mystery. The reason for this is their continuous sobriety and the rationing of food and drink among them—to the point of fullness. As for other areas: although there is nothing that they do without the curators’ having ordered it, these two things are matters of personal prerogative among them: [rendering] assistance and mercy. For helping those who are worthy, whenever they might need it, and also extending food to those who are in want are indeed left up to the individual; but in the case of the relatives, such distribution is not allowed to be done without [permission from] the managers. Of anger, just controllers; as for temper, able to contain it; of fidelity, masters; of peace, servants. And whereas everything spoken by them is more forceful than an oath, swearing itself they avoid, considering it worse than the false oath; for they declare to be already degraded one who is unworthy of belief without God. They are extraordinarily keen about the compositions of the ancients, selecting especially those [oriented] toward the benefit of soul and body. On the basis of these and for the treatment of diseases, roots, apotropaic materials, and the special properties of stones are investigated. To those who are eager for their school, the entry-way is not a direct one, but they prescribe a regimen for the person who remains outside for a year, giving him a little hatchet as well as the aforementioned waist-covering and white clothing. Whenever he should give proof of his self-control during this period, he approaches nearer to the regimen and indeed shares in the purer waters for purification, though he is not yet received into the functions of communal life. For after this demonstration of endurance, the character is tested for two further years, and after he has thus been shown worthy he is reckoned into the group. Before he may touch the communal food, however, he swears dreadful oaths to them: first, that he will observe piety toward the deity; then, that he will maintain just actions toward humanity; that he will harm no one, whether by his own deliberation or under order; that he will hate the unjust and contend together with the just; that he will always maintain faithfulness to all, especially to those in control, for without God it does not fall to anyone to hold office, and that, should he hold office, he will never abuse his authority—outshining his subordinates, whether by dress or by some form of extravagant appearance; always to love the truth and expose the liars; that he will keep his hands pure from theft and his soul from unholy gain; that he will neither conceal anything from the school-members nor disclose anything of theirs to others, even if one should apply force to the point of death. In addition to these, he swears that he will impart the precepts to no one otherwise than as he received them, that he will keep away from banditry, and that he will preserve intact their school’s books and the names of the angels. With such oaths as these they completely secure those who join them. Those they have convicted of sufficiently serious errors they expel from the order. And the one who has been reckoned out often perishes by a most pitiable fate. For, constrained by the oaths and customs, he is unable to partake of food from others. Eating grass and in hunger, his body wastes away and perishes. That is why they have actually shown mercy and taken back many in their final gasps, regarding as sufficient for their errors this ordeal to the point of death.
146 They make it point of honor to submit to the elders and to a majority. So if ten were seated together, one person would not speak if the nine were unwilling
152 The war against the Romans proved their souls in every way: during it, while being twisted and also bent, burned and also broken, and passing through all the torture-chamber instruments, with the aim that they might insult the lawgiver or eat something not customary, they did not put up with suffering either one: not once gratifying those who were tormenting [them], or crying. 153 But smiling in their agonies and making fun of those who were inflicting the tortures, they would cheerfully dismiss their souls, [knowing] that they would get them back again. For the view has become tenaciously held among them that whereas our bodies are perishable and their matter impermanent, our souls endure forever, deathless: they get entangled, having emanated from the most refined ether, as if drawn down by a certain charm into the prisons that are bodies. 155 But when they are released from the restraints of the flesh, as if freed from a long period of slavery, then they rejoice and are carried upwards in suspension. For the good, on the one hand, sharing the view of the sons of Greece they portray the lifestyle reserved beyond Oceanus and a place burdened by neither rain nor snow nor heat, but which a continually blowing mild west wind from Oceanus refreshes.
159 There are also among them those who profess to foretell what is to come, being thoroughly trained in holy books, various purifications, and concise sayings of prophets. Rarely if ever do they fail in their predictions.
160 There is also a different order of Essenes. Though agreeing with the others about regimen and customs and legal matters, it has separated in its opinion about marriage. For they hold that those who do not marry cut off the greatest part of life, the succession, and more: if all were to think the same way, the line would very quickly die out. 161 To be sure, testing the brides in a three-year interval, once they have been purified three times as a test of their being able to bear children, they take them in this manner; but they do not continue having intercourse with those who are pregnant, demonstrating that the need for marrying is not because of pleasure, but for children. Baths [are taken] by the women wrapping clothes around themselves, just as by the men in a waist-covering. Such are the customs of this order
Philo (Aprox 20 AD):
"They do not offer animal sacrifice, judging it more fitting to render their minds truly holy. They flee the cities and live in villages where clean air and clean social life abound. They either work in the fields or in crafts that countribute to peace. They do not hoard silver and gold and do not acquire great landholdings; procuring for themselves only what is necessary for life. Thus they live without goods and without property, not by missfortune, but out of preference. They do not make armaments of any kind. They do not keep slaves and detest slavery. They avoid wholesale and retail commerce, believing that such activity excites one to cupidity. With respect to philosophy, they dismiss logic but have an extremely high regard for virtue. They honor the Sabbath with great respect over the other days of the week. They have an internal rule which all learn, together with rules on piety, holiness, justice and the knowledge of good and bad. These they make use of in the form of triple definitions, rules regarding the love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of men. They believe God causes all good but cannot be the cause of any evil. They honor virtue by foregoing all riches, glory and pleasure. Further, they are convinced they must be modest, quiet, obedient to the rule, simple, frugal and without mirth. Their life style is communal. They have a common purse. Their salaries they deposit before them all, in the midst of them, to be put to the common employment of those who wish to make use of it. They do not neglect the sick on the pretext that they can produce nothing. With the common purse there is plenty from which to treat all illnesses. They lavish great respect on the elderly. With them they are very generous and surround them with a thousand attentions. They practice virtue like a gymnastic exercise, seeing the accomplishment of praiseworthy deeds as the means by which a man ensures absolute freedom for himself."
"The Essenes live in a number of towns in Judea, and also in many villages and in large groups. They do not enlist by race, but by volunteers who have a zeal for righteousness and an ardent love of men. For this reason there are no young children among the Essenes. Not even adolescents or young men. Instead they are men of old or ripe years who have learned how to control their bodily passions. They possess nothing of their own, not house, field, slave nor flocks, nor anything which feeds and procures wealth. They live together in brotherhoods, and eat in common together. Everything they do is for the common good of the group. They work at many different jobs and attack their work with amazing zeal and dedication, working from before sunrise to almost sunset without complaint, but in obvious exhilaration. Their exercise is their work. Indeed, they believe their own training to be more agreeable to body and soul, and more lasting, than athletic games, since their exercises remain fitted to their age, even when the body no longer possesses its full strength. They are farmers and shepherds and beekeepers and craftsmen in diverse trades. They share the same way of life, the same table, even the same tastes; all of them loving frugality and hating luxury as a plague for both body and soul. Not only do they share a common table, but common clothes as well. What belongs to one belongs to all. Available to all of them are thick coats for winter and inexpensive light tunics for summer
Pliny the Elder in his famous writing "Natural History":
"To the west (of the Dead Sea) the Essenes have put the necessary distance between themselves and the insalubrious shore. They are a people unique of its kind and admirable beyond all others in the whole world; without women and renouncing love entirely, without money and having for company only palm trees. Owing to the throng of newcomers, this people is daily reborn in equal number; indeed, those whom, wearied by the fluctuations of fortune, life leads to adopt their customs, stream in in great numbers. Thus, unbeleivable though this may seem, for thousands of centuries a people has existed which is eternal yet into which no one is born: so fruitful for them is the repentance which others feel for their past lives!"
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