ESSENES
Jewish sect about which there is little clear historical information. Josephus speaks of them (Ant 13:5, 9; 18:1, 5; Wars 2:8) in the Greek version of his writings, but these details appear neither in his Jewish work (“Yessipon”) nor in the Latin Christian version.
The Talmudic treatises are also completely silent on this point, as are the gospels and the entire NT (although these writings frequently mention the other Jewish sects). Philo also mentions the Essenes.
From these authors we can determine the following: This sect seems to have had its beginning in the second century BC, and seems to have disappeared with the destruction of Jerusalem. By the time of Christ, it was made up of men who were given to asceticism to a greater or lesser degree.
Hoping to escape ritual impurities, they formed separate colonies. The desert of Judah, near En-gedi, was their favorite place of residence, although they were also established in different towns in Judah.
Each group had its own synagogue, a refectory for communal meals and assemblies, with a facility for daily baths in running water. Whoever entered the community abandoned all of his property.
They constantly read the law of Moses and strove to observe it in all the details of their existence. They lived, dressed and ate simply. They were dedicated to agriculture and other useful jobs.
The Essenes provided for their own needs, and could practically live without using money. When they traveled, they were housed and fed free of charge by members of the community in the other places.
They did not own slaves, since they did not recognize differences in status, except on the moral level, in which they distinguished between pure and impure. The Essenes did not despise marriage, but they abstained from it, except for a few among them.
Their moral standards were of an ascetic type, with many demands on themselves. They promised to “honor God, be fair toward one’s neighbor, not hurt anyone, even when provoked, detest evil, encourage good, be loyal, especially toward authorities, love the truth, expose hypocrites, not steal.” nothing, abstain from all illicit gains.
ARCHEOLOGY. Within the framework of the archaeological discoveries of the desert of Judah. After research on the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, excavations began at Khirbet Qumran (Ruins of Qumran), on a marly plateau of limestone cliffs that dominate the Dead Sea to the northwest.
It is believed that the important remains discovered can be identified with the habitat of the Essenes. A. González Lamadrid does not hesitate to affirm that we find a true Essene monastery in Qumran, as do G. Vermes and M. Dupont-Sommer, who affirm that among the mss. discovered, the “Manual of Discipline” and the “Commentary of Habakkuk” have a direct relationship with this sect (cp. “Aperçus sur les mss. de la mer Morte”, 1950; and “Les écrits esséniens découverts près de la mer Morte », 1959).
This last author claims that the “Teacher of Justice” of the Essene community was the prototype of Jesus Christ and Essenism was the source of inspiration for Christianity. In this way, the Christ would lose his unique and divine character, and Christianity would cease to have its uniqueness as a revealed religion.
It is not surprising that M. Dupont-Sommer and the Israelite scholar Sukenik proposed this hypothesis, but what is surprising is that as unfounded as this hypothesis is, it has been accepted by professed Catholic and Protestant believers.
This position is effectively refuted by Del Medico (“L’Enigme des mss. de la mer Morte”, 1957; and “Le mythe des esséniens”, 1958) and by A. González Lamadrid (“The discoveries of the Dead Sea”, 1973 ).
Indeed, there is nothing to suggest that the Essenes were anything other than an extremely legalistic Jewish movement, to the point that it can fairly be described as a “superlative form of Pharisaism.”
A careful examination of the Qumran writings reveals a sharp contrast with the entire New Testament, saving the obvious parallels with the points of contact that appear in the Dead Sea scrolls with the Old Testament and its entire background of messianic hope.
The divergences between Qumran and the New Testament are such that it is impossible to assume that the latter has its inspiration in the former. Both the radiant person of the Lord Jesus Christ and his liberating and authoritative teachings, especially his redeeming death and his glorious resurrection, bar the idea that all of this could have arisen from the Essene legalistic system, from a bill so divergent.