Essenes

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ESSENES

ESSENES . The Essenes were a sect of Jews during the Hasmonean and Roman periods of Jewish history (c. 150 bce–74 ce). This group was noted for its piety and distinctive theology. The Essenes were known in Greek as Essenoi or Essaioi. Numerous suggestions have been made regarding the etymology of the name, among which are derivation from Syriac ḥaseʾ ("pious"), Aramaic asayyaʾ ("healers"), Greek hosios ("holy"), and Hebrew ḥashaʾim ("silent ones"). The very fact that so many suggestions as to etymology have been made and that none has carried a scholarly consensus shows that the derivation of the term cannot be established with certainty. No Hebrew cognate appears either in the Dead Sea Scrolls, taken by many scholars to be the writings of this sect, or in rabbinic literature (the Talmuds and midrashim ). Only with the Jewish rediscovery of Philo Judaeus (d. 45–50 ce) and Josephus Flavius (d. 100 ce?) in the Renaissance was the Hebrew word issiyyim (Essenes) coined.

Historical Sources

Until the twentieth century, the Essenes were known only from Greek sources. They are described twice by Philo, in Hypothetica (11.1–18) and Every Good Man Is Free (12.75–13.91). Both of these accounts were written by 50 ce and, in turn, drew on a common, earlier source. (Philo also described a similar sect, the Therapeutae, in On the Contemplative Life. )

Josephus describes the Essenes in passages of several of his books. In The Jewish War, written around 75–79 ce, there is a detailed account (2.119–161). Jewish Antiquities contains a shorter account (18.18–22). In his autobiography, written about 100 ce, Josephus relates that he investigated the Essenes, among other Jewish sects, in his youth (The Life 2.9–11). Scattered references to the Essenes occur elsewhere in the works of Josephus.

Pliny the Elder wrote about the Essenes in his Natural History (5.73), completed in 77 ce. Philosophumena (9.18–30), considered to have been written by Hippolytus, a third-century bishop, contains a description of the Essenes that, in part, is drawn from a no longer extant source that was also used by Josephus.

Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in 1947, a consensus has developed that identifies the sect of the scrolls with the Essenes described by Philo and Josephus. This view has led many scholars to interpret the Greek texts describing the Essenes in light of the scrolls from Qumran, and the scrolls in light of the Greek texts, although the term Essene is absent from the Qumran scrolls. To avoid this methodological pitfall, evidence for the Essenes will first be presented and then compared with the corpus of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

History

No solution to the question of the origins of Essenism is likely to emerge from the available sources. Suggestions of Iranian and Hellenistic influence are possible but cannot be documented.

Josephus (Antiquities 13.171–173) first mentions the Essenes in his account of the reign of Jonathan the Hasmonean (r. 161–143/2 bce). There he briefly describes the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. He himself claims to have known of the three sects through "personal experience" (Life 2.10–11) in the mid-first century ce. He then mentions Judas, an Essene prophet, who was instructing his disciples in fortune-telling during the reign of Judah Aristobulus I in 104 and 103 bce (Antiquities 13.311–313). Herod excused the Essenes from swearing a loyalty oath because, in the view of Josephus (or his source), Menahem the Essene had foretold a lengthy reign for Herod (Antiquities 15.371–378). A certain Simeon the Essene predicted dire circumstances for Archelaus, the son of Herod and ethnarch of Judah (4 bce–c. 6 ce; Antiquities 17.345–348); clearly, the Essenes were known for their prediction of the future.

John the Essene was one of the Jewish generals in the great revolt against Rome in 66–74 ce (War 2.567). Josephus relates that the Essenes were tortured by the Romans during the great revolt (War 2.152–153); this may indicate further their participation in the war against the Romans. An entrance through the south wall of Jerusalem was called the "gate of the Essenes" (War 5.145). With the destruction of the province of Judaea following in the wake of the unsuccessful uprising against Rome in 66–74 ce, the Essenes disappear from the stage of history.

The Essene Way of Life

There were about four thousand Essenes, according to the testimony of Philo and Josephus. They apparently were scattered in communities throughout Palestine, although some evidence exists that they avoided the larger cities. According to Pliny, there was an Essene settlement between Jericho and ʿEin Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea. This description has been taken by many scholars as indicating that the Qumran sect whose library was found at the shore of the Dead Sea is to be identified with the Essenes of Philo and Josephus.

Membership and initiation

Only adult males could enter the Essene sect. Sources tell of both married and celibate Essenes. It may be assumed that in the case of married Essenes, full membership was not extended to women. Rather, their status was determined by their being wives or daughters of members. Children were educated in the ways of the community.

The Essenes were organized under officials to whom obedience was required. Members who transgressed could be expelled from the community by the Essene court of one hundred. Aspiring members received three items—a hatchet, an apron, and a white garment—and had to undergo a detailed initiation process that included a year of probation. An initiate was then eligible for the ritual ablutions. Subsequently, he had to undergo a further two years of probation, after which time he was to swear an oath, the only oath the Essenes permitted. In this oath the candidate bound himself to piety toward God, justice to men, honesty with his fellow Essenes, the proper transmission of the teachings of the sect, and the preservation of the secrecy by which the sect's doctrines were guarded from outsiders. Among the teachings to be kept secret were the Essenes' traditions concerning the names of the angels. The candidate was now able to participate in the communal meals of the sect and was a full-fledged member.

Social system

The Essenes practiced community of property. Upon admission, new members turned their property over to the group, whose elected officials administered it for the benefit of all. Hence, all members shared wealth equally, with no distinctions between rich and poor. Members earned income for the group through various occupations, including agriculture and trades. (The Essenes avoided commerce and the manufacture of weapons.) All earnings were turned over to the officials, who distributed funds for purchasing necessities and for taking care of older or ill members of the community. In addition, the Essenes dispensed charity throughout the country, much of it to those outside their group. Traveling members were taken care of by special officers in each town.

Characteristic of the Essenes was their moderation and avoidance of luxury, as evidenced in their eating and drinking habits, their clothing, and the fact that they did not anoint themselves with oil, a practice common among the Jews of the Greco-Roman period. For them, wealth was only a means to provide the necessities of life. This asceticism also manifested itself among those Essenes who were celibate. On the other hand, it appears that in many cases this celibacy was embarked on later in life, after having had children, so that it was not absolute.

Religious life

The Essenes had an ambivalent relationship with the Jerusalem Temple. While they sent voluntary offerings to the Temple, they themselves did not participate in the sacrificial worship there.

The members of the sect began their day with prayer. After prayer, they worked at their occupations. Later, they assembled for purification rituals and a communal meal that was prepared by priests and eaten while wearing special garments. After the members took their places at the table in silence, the baker and cook distributed the food to each in order of his status. A priest recited a short prayer before and after the meal. The community then returned to work and came together once again in the evening for another meal. At the setting of the sun they recited prayers to God. (These prayers cannot have been directed to the sun, as some scholars suggest, in view of the Essenes' close adherence to basic Jewish theology, that is, to a biblical conception of God.)

Ritual purity was greatly emphasized. Not only were ablutions required before the communal meals, but they were also performed after relieving oneself, or after coming in contact with a nonmember or novice. Members were extremely careful in attending to natural functions, and in bathing and expectorating. The Essenes were accustomed to wearing white garments, and rules of modesty were very important.

Theology

The Essenes are said to have believed in absolute predestination. Probably related to this doctrine was their gift of prophecy. Josephus asserts that the Essenes seldom erred in their predictions. The name of Moses was held in high esteem, and the Essenes saw blasphemy of it as a capital crime. They studied the Torah and its ethics, and interpreted the scriptures allegorically. They were extremely strict in observing the Sabbath. Their teachings were recorded in books that the members were required to pass on with great care. The Essenes were experts in medicinal roots and the properties of stones, the healing powers of which they claimed to have derived from ancient writings.

Most notable among the doctrines of the Essenes was their belief in the immortality of the soul. According to Josephus, they believed that only the soul survived after death, a concept of Hellenistic origin. However, according to the Philosophumena (c. 225; generally ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome), the Essenes believed that the body survived as well and would eventually be revived.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the majority of scholars have taken the view that these documents were the library of the Essenes who, accordingly, were settled at Qumran. Indeed, many parallels do exist between the sect described by the Greek sources and the seat of the scrolls from Qumran. Similar initiation ceremonies exist for both groups, although the procedure described in the classical sources diverges in some respects from that of the Qumran texts. The Essenes seem to have eaten communal meals regularly. The Qumran texts, however, envisage only occasional communal meals. For the Essenes all property was held in common, whereas at Qumran private ownership prevailed, and only the use of property was common. The Essenes' observances of ritual purity, although paralleled at Qumran, were not uncommon among the sects of this period.

The main weakness of the identification of these two groups is the fact that the word Essene or its equivalent is not present in the Qumran scrolls. In addition, the texts have many small discrepancies. There is no evidence that the Essenes had the apocalyptic dreams of the Dead Sea sect. Nor is it known whether they adhered to a calendar of solar months such as that which the Qumran sect followed. Scholars usually account for these minor differences by saying that the classical sources, especially Josephus, were written with a Greek-speaking audience in mind and, therefore, described the sect in terms that would be understandable to such readers.

If, indeed, the Essenes are to be identified with the sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls, then the Qumran evidence may be used to fill in the picture derived from the classical sources. If not, scholars would have to reckon with two sects having similar teachings and similar ways of life. As a matter of fact, Palestine in the Second Commonwealth period was replete with various sects and movements, each contributing to the religious ferment of the times.

Judaism and Christianity

Although the Essenes are nowhere mentioned in the New Testament, certain parallels may indicate an indirect influence of this sect on nascent Christianity. It may be generally stated that the various sects of Second Temple Judaism provide important background material for understanding the rise of the new faith.

The end product of the ferment mentioned above, combined with the great revolt of the Jews against Rome and the resulting destruction of the land, was rabbinic Judaism. Some scholars have claimed that Talmudic sources refer to the Essenes; however, the term Essene is not mentioned. While definite evidence is lacking, one can speculate that Essene teachings must have contributed, at least indirectly, to the subsequent development of Jewish tradition regarding such topics as purity, cult, angelology, and the division of body and soul.

Bibliography

An excellent introduction is found in volume 2 of Emil Schürer's The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, 175 b.c.–a.d. 135, revised and edited by Géza Vermès, Fergus Millar, and Matthew Black and translated by T. A. Burkill et al. (Edinburgh, 1979), pp. 555–597. Extremely important is Morton Smith's "The Description of the Essenes in Josephus and the Philosophumena," Hebrew Union College Annual 29 (1958): 273–313. Frank Moore Cross's The Ancient Library of Qumrân and Modern Biblical Studies, rev. ed. (Garden City, N.Y., 1961), pp. 70–106, argues for the identification of the Essenes with the Dead Sea sect. The treatment in Martin Hengel's Judaism and Hellenism, vol. 1, translated by John Bowden (Philadelphia, 1974), pp. 218–247, accepts this identification yet discusses at length the problem of Hellenistic influence. For the phenomenon of Jewish sectarianism in the Greco-Roman period, see my "Jewish Sectarianism in Second Temple Times," in Great Schisms in Jewish History, edited by Raphael Jospe and Stanley M. Wagner (New York, 1981), pp. 1–46.