The Essenes Series

The Essenes were a devoutly religious group (similar to an order of monks) who emphasized spiritual purification and frequent praying. They were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century B.C.E. to the 1st century C.E. The Jewish historian Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers; thousands lived throughout Roman Judaea.

Founded: 2nd-century B.C.E.

Headquarters: Jerusalem

The Essenes were a separatist group, some of whom formed an ascetic monastic community and retreated to the wilderness of Judea. They shared material possessions and occupied themselves with disciplined study, worship, and work. They practiced ritual immersion and ate their meals communally. One branch did not marry.

What did the Essenes believe?

The Essenes looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. They were preoccupied with a heavenly Messiah, who would bring a heavenly kingdom. The Essenes hoped the Messiah would find people prepared to re-establish David's true priesthood and kingship and battle the forces of spiritual darkness. Note: The Essenes were a Jewish sect not mentioned in the New Testament! Their mission was to prepare the Messiah's way and bring spiritual light to the world.

Are there Essenes today?

There are, indeed, people today who consider themselves modern-day Essenes, usually led by a rabbi. There is even a Modern Essene Movement in Southern California. Their last gathering was a vegetarian potluck supper last November, according to their website.

When did the Essenes live in Qumran?

Some modern scholars and archaeologists 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 confident that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes. With few exceptions, they shunned Temple worship and were content to live austere lives of manual labor in seclusion. The sabbath was reserved for day-long prayer and meditation on the Torah (first five books of the Bible). Oaths were frowned upon, but they could not be rescinded once taken. After a year's probation, proselytes received their Essenian emblems but could not participate in common meals for two more years.

The Qumran Community and the Dead Sea scrolls

Excavations at Qumran in the 1950s were led by the French archaeologist Roland de Vaux, whose workers revealed a complex of structures occupying an area about 260 by 330 feet (80 by 100 m). In the eastern part of the ruins stood the principal building, rectangular and large (more than 100 feet on a side), with a massive stone and brick tower in its northwestern corner. East of this tower was a large room with five fireplaces, possibly a kitchen. South of the tower was discovered long benches in one room, and evidence of an upper-story scriptorium - a room set apart for writing, especially one in a monastery where manuscripts were copied - in another—a low bench, three mud-brick tables, and two inkwells were found there. An extensive aqueduct system, fed by the Wadi Qumran, crossed the site from the entrance in the northwest corner to the southern sections and filled as many as eight internal reservoirs (cisterns), as well as two baths. An aqueduct and a reservoir separated the scriptorium from a large assembly hall that may also have served as a cafeteria. Abutting the hall was a pantry stocked with hundreds of pottery jars. Archaeologists further identified a potter’s workshop, two kilns, an oven, a flour mill, and a stable, but they observed that only a few other rooms might have been living quarters. A cemetery near Qumran holds the remains of about 1,100 male adults; two lesser gravesites were reserved for some 100 women and children.

The Essenes separated from the rest of the Jewish community in the 2nd century B.C., when Jonathan Maccabeus and, later, Simon Maccabeus usurped the office of the high priest, which conferred secular as well as religious authority. Simon felt compelled to persecute the Essenes, who opposed the usurpation. Hence, they fled into the wilderness with their leader, the Teacher of Righteousness. Rabbi Harvey Falk identifies Hillel the Elder as the Teacher against a "wicked" Shammai, a significant conflict mentioned in the Talmud. Most scholars date the Damascus Document and many of the Dead Sea scrolls to the decades around 100 BCE. Robert Eisenman has proposed that the Historical Jesus was the Nazarene James, the Teacher of Righteousness against a "Wicked Priest" (Ananus ben Ananus), and a "Spouter of Lies," which Eisenman identifies as Paul of Tarsus. This theory is rejected by mainstream scholarship. Stephen Goranson suggests that Judah the Essene, mentioned by Josephus, is the Teacher. Richard A. Freund writes, "The difference of opinion over the positioning of the Teacher of Righteousness leads me to conclude that perhaps all of these researchers are correct. A Teacher of Righteousness did lead the group in the second century B.C.E. when it was established. Another Teacher of Righteousness led the sect in the first century B.C.E. Finally, one more Teacher emerged in the first century C.E."