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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Essenes, by Christian David
-Ginsburg
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: The Essenes
-       Their history and doctrines
-
-Author: Christian David Ginsburg
-
-Release Date: October 16, 2022 [eBook #69170]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading
-             Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ for Project Gutenberg (This
-             file was produced from images generously made available by
-             The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSENES ***
-
-
-
-
-
-                              THE ESSENES:
-                      THEIR HISTORY AND DOCTRINES.
-
-                               AN ESSAY,
-                    REPRINTED FROM THE TRANSACTIONS
-                   OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL
-                         SOCIETY OF LIVERPOOL.
-
-
-                                   BY
-                      CHRISTIAN D. GINSBURG, LL.D.
-
-
-                                  ἑν παντὶ ἔθνει ὁ φοβούμενος αὐτὸν
-                      καὶ ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην δεκτὸς αὐτῷ ἐστιν
-
-                                                            Acts X, 35.
-
-
-                                LONDON:
-              LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, AND GREEN.
-                                 1864.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-THE ESSENES.
-
-
-I.
-
-
-It is very surprising that the Essenes, whose exemplary Virtues
-elicited the unbounded admiration of even the Greeks and Romans, and
-whose doctrines and practices contributed so materially to the spread
-of Christianity, should be so little known among intelligent
-Christians. The current information upon this remarkable sect or order
-of Judaism, to be found in ecclesiastical histories and Cyclopædias, is
-derived from the short notices of Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus,
-Porphyry, Eusebius, and Epiphanius. These seven witnesses—of whom the
-first and third are Jewish philosophers, the second, fourth and fifth
-heathen writers, and the last two Christian church historians—are all
-who, till within a very recent period, have been subpœnaed before the
-tribunal of public opinion, to give evidence as to the character of
-these very much misunderstood and neglected Essenes.
-
-Not only is this combined testimony insufficient, but it is too much
-tainted with the peculiar dogmas of the respective witnesses, to
-furnish the general reader with an unbiassed notion of the character
-and doctrines of this ancient sect. Philo and Josephus, writing in
-Greek and in apology for their Jewish brethren, were too anxious to
-represent to the Greeks and Romans every phase and sect of Judaism, as
-corresponding to the different systems of Greek and Roman philosophy;
-Pliny, Solinus, and Porphyry, again, betray too great an ignorance of
-the inward workings of the Jewish religion, and too much prejudice
-against the Jews; whilst Epiphanius draws upon his imagination, and
-Eusebius simply copies the account of Philo, with the well-known
-patristic pen. Nor can the modern descriptions of the Essenes, as given
-in the histories of the church and in the popular Cyclopædias, be
-always relied upon when they profess to give the results of the
-aforementioned garbled scraps of ancient information; since the writers
-are either too much afraid of, or too much pleased with, the marked
-resemblance between some of the doctrines and practices of Christianity
-and Essenism. Hence those who style themselves the true evangelical
-Christians are very anxious to destroy every appearance of affinity
-between Essenism and Christianity, lest it should be said that the one
-gave rise to the other; whilst those who are termed Rationalists
-multiply and magnify every feature of resemblance, in order to show
-that Christianity is nothing but a development of Essenism—so that the
-poor Essenes are crucified between the two.
-
-The design of this essay is to give an impartial statement of the
-doctrines and practices of the Essenes; to show their rise and
-progress, their relationship both to Judaism and Christianity, their
-numbers and localities, to trace the most probable signification of
-their name, &c., &c. To do this, I not only appeal to the seven
-stereotyped witnesses, but to the information upon this subject
-scattered throughout the Midrashim and the Talmud. But not to incur the
-charge of partiality, as well as to enable you to test my conclusions,
-I have collected all that the ancients have written upon this subject,
-and append to this paper the whole account which Philo, Pliny,
-Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry, Eusebius, and Epiphanius give of the
-Essenes.
-
-The cardinal doctrines and practices of this sect are as follows:—They
-regarded the inspired Law of God with the utmost veneration. In fact,
-their adhesion to it was such that they were led thereby to pay the
-greatest homage to Moses, the lawgiver, and to visit with capital
-punishment any one of the brotherhood who blasphemed his name. The
-highest aim of their life was to become the temples of the Holy Ghost,
-when they could prophesy, perform miraculous cures, and, like Elias, be
-the forerunners of the Messiah. This they regarded as the last stage of
-perfection, which could only be reached by gradual growth in holiness,
-brought about through strictly observing the commandments and the
-Levitical laws of purity contained in the Pentateuch, mortifying the
-flesh and the lusts thereof, and being meek and lowly in spirit,
-inasmuch as this would bring them into closer communion with him who is
-the Holy One of Israel. This earnest desire to avoid everything which
-involved profanity in the slightest degree and which might interpose
-between them and the Deity, made them abstain from using oaths, because
-they regarded the invocation, in swearing, of heaven or the heavenly
-throne, or anything which represents God’s glory, as a desecration.
-Their communication was yea, yea; nay, nay; whatsoever was more than
-these came of evil.
-
-Their increased strictness in enforcing the observance of the rigid
-Mosaic Jaws of Levitical purity, which were afterwards amplified and
-rendered still more rigid by traditional explanations, [1] ultimately
-compelled the Essenes to withdraw themselves altogether from the
-society of their Jewish brethren, to form a separate community, and to
-live apart from the world, since contact with any one who did not
-practice these laws, or with anything belonging to such an one,
-rendered them impure. This fear of coming in contact with that which is
-impure, as well as the desire not to be hindered in their spiritual
-communion with their Creator, also made the Essenes abstain from
-marriage; inasmuch as women, according to the law, are subject to
-perpetual pollutions in menstruum and child-birth (compare Lev. xii,
-1–8; xv, 19–31), and as going to one’s wife, even under ordinary
-circumstances, is regarded as defiling (vide infra, p. 39, note 19).
-There were, however, some weak brethren who could not be like the
-angels in heaven, neither marrying nor being given in marriage; these
-were allowed to take wives, but they could never advance to the highest
-orders of the brotherhood, and had, moreover, to observe laws specially
-enacted for married brethren and sisters.
-
-Here, in their separation from the Jewish nation, whatever any one of
-them possessed was deposited in the general treasury, from which the
-wants of the whole community alike were supplied by stewards appointed
-by the whole brotherhood; so that they had all things in common. There
-were no distinctions amongst them, such as rich and poor, masters and
-servants; they called no one master upon earth, but all ministered to
-the wants of one another. They lived peaceably with all men, reprobated
-slavery and war, and would not even manufacture any martial instruments
-whatever, however great the temptation or the fear might be. They were
-governed by a president, who was elected by the whole body, and who
-also acted as the judge of the community. Trials were conducted by
-juries, composed, not as our juries are, of twelve persons, but of the
-majority of the community, or of at least a hundred members, who had to
-be unanimous in their verdict. The brother who was found guilty of
-walking disorderly was excommunicated, yet was he not regarded as an
-enemy, but was admonished as a brother, and received back after due
-repentance.
-
-As it was contrary to the laws of Levitical purity to buy anything from
-one who did not practice those laws, the Essenes had to raise the
-supplies of all their wants among themselves. In this they experienced
-no difficulty, as their food and raiment were most simple and very
-self-denying, and as each one of the community willingly took his share
-of work in the department in which he most excelled. Some were engaged
-in tilling the ground, some in tending flocks and rearing bees, some in
-preparing food, some in making the articles of dress, some in healing
-the sick, and some in instructing the young; whilst all of them devoted
-certain hours to studying the mysteries of nature and revelation and of
-the celestial hierarchy. They always got up before the sun rose, and
-never talked about any worldly matters till they had all assembled
-together and, with their faces turned towards the sun, offered up their
-national hymn of praise (‏המאיר לארץ‎) for the renewal of the light of
-the day. This done, every one betook himself to his work, according to
-the directions of the overseers, and remained at it till the fifth hour
-(or eleven o’clock, a.m.), when the labour of the forenoon regularly
-terminated. All of them again assembled together, had a baptism in cold
-water, put on their white garments, the symbol of purity, and then made
-their way to the refectory, which they entered with as much solemnity
-as if it were the temple. The meal was a common one; and each member
-took his seat according to the order of age. Those of the brethren who
-were the bakers and cooks then placed before each one a little loaf of
-bread and a dish of the most simple food, consisting chiefly of
-vegetables as they ate very little animal flesh, and the repast
-commenced after the priest had invoked God’s blessing upon it. A
-mysterious silence was observed during the meal, which had the
-character of a sacrament, and may have been designed as a substitute
-for the sacrifices which they refused to offer in the temple. The
-priest concluded it by offering thanks to the Bountiful Supplier of all
-our wants, which was the signal of dismissal. Hereupon all withdrew,
-put off their white and sacred garments, and dressed themselves in
-their working clothes, resumed their several employments which they had
-to do according to the directions of the overseers till the evening,
-when they assembled again to partake of a common meal. But though every
-thing was done under the directions of the overseers, and the Essenes
-had even to receive their presents through the stewards, yet in two
-things they were at perfect liberty to act as they pleased, viz., they
-could relieve the distressed with as much money as they thought proper,
-and manifest their compassion for those who were not of the brotherhood
-as much as they liked, and whenever they liked. Such was their manner
-of life during the week days.
-
-The Sabbath they observed with the utmost rigour, and regarded even the
-removal of a vessel as labour, and a desecration of this holy day. On
-this day they took special care not to be guilty of forsaking the
-assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is. Ten
-persons constituted a complete and legal number for divine worship in
-the synagogue, and in the presence of such an assembly an Essene would
-never spit, nor would he at any time spit to his right hand. In the
-synagogue, as at meals, each one took his seat according to age, in
-becoming attire. They had no ordained ministers, whose exclusive right
-it was to conduct the service; any one that liked took up the Bible and
-read it, whilst another, who had much experience in spiritual matters,
-expounded what was read. The distinctive ordinances of the brotherhood,
-as well as the mysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton and the
-angelic worlds were the prominent topics of Sabbatic instruction. Every
-investigation into the causes of the phenomena both of mind and matter
-was strictly forbidden, because the study of logic and metaphysics was
-regarded as injurious to a devotional life.
-
-Celibacy being the rule of Essenism, the ranks of the brotherhood had
-to be filled up by recruits from the Jewish community at large. They
-preferred taking children, whom they educated most carefully and taught
-the practices of the order, believing that of such the kingdom of
-heaven is best made up. Every grown-up candidate (ὁ ζηλῶν) had to pass
-through a noviciate of two stages, which extended over three years,
-before he could be finally admitted into the order. Upon entering the
-first stage, which lasted twelve months, the novice (νεοσύστατος) had
-to cast all his possessions into the common treasury. He then received
-a copy of the regulations of the brotherhood (δίαιταν τοῦ τάγματος), as
-well as a spade (σκαλίς ἁξινάριον = ‏יתד‎), to bury the excrement,
-(comp. Deut. xxiii, 12–14,) an apron (περίζωμα = ‏זריז‎), used at the
-lustrations, and a white robe (λευκὴν ἐσθῆτα = ‏בגד לבן‎) to put on at
-meals, being the symbols of purity. During the whole of this period he
-was an outsider, and was not admitted to the common meals, yet he had
-to observe some of the ascetic rules of the Society. If, at the close
-of this stage, the community found that he had properly acquitted
-himself during the probationary year, the novice was admitted into the
-second stage, which lasted two years, and was called an approacher
-(προσίων ἔγγιον). During the period which lasted two years he was
-admitted to a closer fellowship with the brotherhood, and shared in
-their lustral rites (καθαρωτέρων πρὸς τῶν ἁγνείαν ὑδάτων μεταλαμβάνει),
-but was still not admitted to the common meals (εἰς τὰς συμβιώσεις),
-nor to any office. If he passed satisfactorily through the second stage
-of probation, the approacher became an associate, or a full member of
-the society (ὁμιλητὴς, ὃς εἰς τὸν ὅμιλον ἐγκρίνεται = ‏חבר‎), when he
-was received into the brotherhood and partook of the common meal
-(συμβιωτὴς).
-
-Before, however, he was made a homiletes, or finally admitted into
-close fellowship, he had to bind himself by a most solemn oath (this
-being the only occasion on which the Essenes used an oath) to observe
-three things. 1. Love to God. 2. Merciful justice towards all men;
-especially to honor nobody as master, to avoid the wicked, to help the
-righteous, to be faithful to every man, and especially to rulers (τοῖς
-κρατοῦσιν), for without God no one comes to be ruler. And 3. Purity of
-character, which implied humility, love of truth, hatred of falsehood,
-strict secrecy towards outsiders, so as not to divulge the secret
-doctrines (μυστήρια) to any one, and perfect openness with the members
-of the order, and, finally, carefully to preserve the books belonging
-to their sect (τὰ τῆς αἱρέσεως αὐτῶν βιβλία), and the names of the
-angels (τὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὀνόματα) or the mysteries connected with the
-Tetragrammaton (‏שם המפורש‎) and the other names of God and the angels,
-comprised in the theosophy (‏מעשה מרכבה‎) as well as with the cosmogony
-(‏מעשה בראשית‎) which also played so important a part among the Jewish
-mystics and the Kabbalists.
-
-The three sections consisting of candidate (ὁ ζηλῶν), approacher
-(περουσιῶν ἔγγιον), and associate (ὁμιλητὴς, ὃς εἰς τὸν ὅμιλον
-ἐγκρίνεται), were subdivided into four orders, distinguished from each
-other by superior holiness. So marked and serious were these
-distinctions, that if one belonging to a higher degree of purity
-touched one who belonged to a lower order, i.e., if one of the fourth
-or highest order came in contact with one of the third or lower order,
-or if one of the third touched one of the second order, or if one of
-the second order touched one of the first or lowest order, he
-immediately became impure, and could only regain his purity by
-lustrations. From the beginning of the noviciate to the achievement of
-the highest spiritual state, there were eight different stages which
-marked the gradual growth in holiness. Thus, after being accepted as a
-novice and obtaining the apron (‏זריז‎—περίζωμα) the symbol of purity,
-he attained (1) to the state of outward or bodily purity by baptisms
-(‏זריזות מביאה לידי נקיות‎). From this state of bodily purity he
-progressed (2) to that stage which imposed abstinence from connubial
-intercourse (‏נקיות מביאה לידי פרישות‎), or to that degree of holiness,
-which enabled him to practise celibacy. Having succeeded in mortifying
-the flesh in this respect, he advanced (3) to the stage of inward or
-spiritual purity (‏פרישות מביאה לידי טהרה‎). From this stage again he
-advanced (4) to that which required the banishing of all anger and
-malice, and the cultivation of a meek and lowly spirit (‏טהרה מביאה
-לידי ענוה‎). This led him (5) to the culminating point of holiness
-(‏ענוה מביאה לידי הסידות‎). Upon this summit of holiness he became (6)
-the temple of the Holy Spirit, and could prophesy (‏חסידות מביה לידי
-רה״ק‎). Thence again he advanced (7) to that stage in which he was
-enabled to perform miraculous cures, and raise the dead (‏רוח הקדש לידי
-תחה״מ‎). And finally, he attained (8) to the position of Elias the
-forerunner of the Messiah (‏תחה״מ לידי אליהו‎).
-
-The earnestness and determination of these Essenes to advance to the
-highest state of holiness were seen in their self-denying and godly
-life; and it may fairly be questioned whether any religious system has
-ever produced such a community of saints. Their absolute confidence in
-God and resignation to the dealings of Providence; their uniformly holy
-and unselfish life; their unbounded love of virtue, and utter contempt
-for worldly fame, riches or pleasure; their industry, temperance,
-modesty and simplicity of life; their contentment of mind and
-cheerfulness of temper; their love of order, and abhorrence of even the
-semblance of falsehood; their benevolence and philanthropy; their love
-for the brethren, and their following peace with all men; their hatred
-of slavery and war; their tender regard for children, and reverence and
-anxious care for the aged; their attendance on the sick, and readiness
-to relieve the distressed; their humility and magnanimity; their
-firmness of character and power to subdue their passions; their heroic
-endurance under the most agonizing sufferings for righteousness’ sake;
-and their cheerfully looking forward to death, as releasing their
-immortal souls from the bonds of the body to be for ever in a state of
-bliss with their Creator—have hardly found a parallel in the history of
-mankind. No wonder that Jews, of different sects, Greeks and Romans,
-Christian church historians, and heathen writers have been alike
-constrained to lavish the most unqualified praise on this holy
-brotherhood. It seems that the Saviour of the world, who illustrated
-simplicity and innocence of character by the little child which he took
-up in his arms, also showed what is required for a holy life in the
-Sermon on the Mount by a description of the Essenes. So remarkably does
-this brotherhood exemplify the lessons which Christ propounds in Matth.
-chap v., &c.
-
-This leads us to consider the question about the origin of this
-brotherhood, and their relationship to Judaism and Christianity. The
-assertion of Josephus that they “live the same kind of life which among
-the Greeks has been ordered by Pythagoras” (vide infra, p. 226, § 4,)
-has led some writers to believe that Essenism is the offspring of
-Pythagorism. The most able champion for this view is Zeller, the author
-of the celebrated History of Philosophy. He maintains [2] “that
-Essenism, at least as we know it from Philo and Josephus, has, in its
-essence, originated under Greek and especially under Pythagorean
-influences,” and tries to support his conclusion by the following
-summary of the supposed resemblances between Neo-Pythagorism and
-Essenism. (1) “Both strive to attain to superior holiness by an ascetic
-life. (2) Both repudiate animal sacrifices, the eating of animal food,
-wine and marriage. (3) Both of them are, however, not quite agreed
-among themselves about the latter point; for on both sides there are
-some who recommend marriage, but restrict connubial intercourse to
-procreation. (4) Moreover, both demand simplicity of life. (5) Both
-refrain from warm baths. (6) Both wear white garments, especially at
-dinner time. (7) Both lay the greatest value upon their purification
-and eschew everything unclean. (8) Both prohibit oaths, because a pious
-man does not require them. (9) Both find their social ideal in
-institutions which it is true were only realized by the Essenes, and in
-living together with perfect community of goods and unconditional
-subordination of individuals to their overseers. (10) Both insist on
-strict secresy about their schools. (11) Both like symbolic
-representations of their doctrines. (12) Both support themselves on an
-allegorical interpretation of ancient traditions, whose authority they
-recognise (13) Both worship higher powers in the elements, and pray to
-the rising sun. (14) Both seek to keep everything unclean from their
-sight, and for this reason have peculiar prescriptions about the
-discharge of the duties of nature. (15) Both cultivate the belief in
-intermediate beings between the supreme Deity and the world. (16) Both
-devote themselves to magic arts. (17) Both regard above all things the
-gift of prophesy as the highest fruit of wisdom and piety, and both
-boast to possess this gift in their most distinguished members. (18)
-Finally, Both corroborate their peculiar mode of life with a dualistic
-view of the relation of the spirit and matter, good and evil. (19) Both
-agree especially in their notions about the origin of the soul, its
-relationship to the body, and about a future life, only the doctrine of
-transmigration of souls seems not to have been known among the Essenes”
-[3]
-
-Striking as these resemblances may appear, it will be seen on a closer
-examination that some of the points which constitute this comparison do
-not exist in Essenism, that others are either due to the coloring of
-Josephus or have their origin in Judaism, that the difference between
-Pythagorism and Essenism are far more numerous and vital than the
-parallels, and that Zeller’s conclusion is therefore not warranted. I
-shall examine these points seriatim.
-
-(1) Asceticism is not foreign to Judaism. We meet with individuals who
-voluntarily imposed upon themselves ascetic life to be able, as they
-thought, to give themselves more entirely to the service of God by
-mortifying the lusts of the flesh, at a very early period of Biblical
-history; and we need only to refer to the regulations about Nazarites
-(Numb. vi. 1–21), to the case of Manoah and his wife (Judg. xiii.), to
-the life of Elijah (1 Kings xviii.–xix.) to the practices of the
-Rechabites throughout the Scriptures, of persons abstaining from the
-good things of this world, to see how the Essenes, without (Jer. xxxv.
-2, &c.), and to the numerous instances which occur copying the
-Pythagoreans or any other heathen fraternity, would naturally conclude
-that asceticism is conducive to a devotional life. (2) As to the
-repudiation of animal sacrifice, animal food, wine, &c, to which Zeller
-refers in the second point of comparison, I submit that the Essenes did
-not repudiate animal sacrifices, but that they could not offer them on
-account of the different view which they had about holiness, as
-Josephus most distinctly declares (vide infra p. 52), that neither
-Philo nor Josephus says a word about their objecting to eat animal
-flesh or drink wine, and that their celibacy arose from an extension of
-a law contained in the Pentateuch. Besides, it is not quite so certain
-that the Pythagoreans did not offer animal sacrifices; Diogenes
-Laertius and others positively state that Pythagoras himself sacrificed
-a hecatomb upon his discovering what is called the Pythagoric theorem,
-i.e. that, in a right angled triangle, the square of the hypothenuse is
-equal to the sum of the squares of the sides. [4] (4) The fourth
-comparison about simplicity of life is involved in the first. (5) The
-statement in the fifth comparison, that the Essenes refrain from warm
-baths, is purely imaginary; (6, 7) whilst the white garments and the
-purifications mentioned in the sixth and seventh parallels are strictly
-Jewish and Biblical. As symbolic of purity the priests were required to
-clothe themselves in white linen (Exod. xxviii. 39–42; Levit. vi. 10;
-xvi. 4), and the saints in heaven, washed and cleansed from all
-impurity, are to be clad in white garments (4 Esdras ii. 39–45; Enoch
-lxi. 18; Rev. iii. 4; vi. 11; vii. 9, 14; xix. 8); soiled garments are
-regarded as emblematic of impurity (Zech. iii. 3, &c.) Inseparably
-connected therewith are the frequent purifications or washings enjoined
-on the priests before entering into the presence of God to perform
-religious acts (Levit. xvi. 4; 2 Chron. xxx. 19), and on the people
-generally after coming in contact with anything impure (Levit. xi. 25,
-40; xv. 5–24). The white garments and the frequent purifications of the
-Essenes, who strove to live after the highest degree of Levitical
-purity, were therefore in perfect harmony with exaggerated Judaism. (8)
-As to the assertion in comparison 8 that the Pythagoreans prohibited
-oaths, it is well known that they did use oaths on important occasions,
-and that they held it to be most sacred to swear by the number four,
-which they represented by ten dots in the form of a triangle, so that
-each side consisted of four dots, as follows:—
-
-
-                                •
-                              •   •
-                            •   •   •
-                          •   •   •   •
-
-
-The community of goods, the secresy about their institutions, the
-symbolic representation of their doctrines, &c., mentioned in
-comparisons 9, 10, 11, 12, are the natural result of their manner of
-life. (13) That they worshipped the sun is not borne out by fact, (14)
-whilst their peculiar manner in performing the functions of nature is
-in accordance with the injunction of Scripture (Deut. xxiii. 13, 15),
-which the Essenes, as the spiritual host of the Lord, applied to
-themselves. (15) As to their very peculiar belief in intermediate
-beings between the Deity and the world, mentioned in the fifteenth
-point of comparison, I can only say that Philo and Josephus say nothing
-about it. (16) Their devotedness to the study of the magic arts was
-restricted to miraculous cures, and was not peculiar to them; since
-tradition had made Solomon the author of books on magical cures and
-exorcisms, and Josephus tells us (vide infra, p. 44, note 35) that he
-had seen other Jews performing these magic cures. (17) Neither is there
-anything foreign in the opinion, that the power to foretel future
-events can only be obtained by leading a life of preeminent holiness,
-for this was the common belief of the Jews, though it is true that the
-Essenes were the only section of the Jewish community who as a body
-strove to obtain the gift of prophecy. It, however, must not be
-forgotten that others too laid claim to this gift. Josephus tells us
-that when brought as prisoner of war before Vespasian, he addressed the
-Roman general as follows:—“Thou, Vespasian thinkest that thou hast
-simply a prisoner of war in me, but I appear before thee as a prophet
-of important future events. If I had not to deliver to thee a message
-from God, I would have known what the Jewish law demands, and how a
-general ought to die. Dost thou want to send me to Nero? For what? Will
-his successors, who ascend the throne before thee, reign long on it?
-No! thou, Vespasian, wilt be emperor and autocrat—thou, and this thy
-son.” (Jewish War, iii. 8, § 9). This prophecy of Josephus is also
-recorded by the celebrated Roman historian Dion Cassius who says:
-“Josephus, a Jew, was taken prisoner by him (i.e. Vespasian), and put
-in chains; but he smilingly addressed him: ‘Thou puttest me now in
-chains, but thou wilt loose them again, after twelve months, as
-emperor’” (lib. lxvi. c. 1); and by Tacitus (lib. v. c. 13). What
-Zeller says in comparisons 18 and 19 about their dualistic view of the
-relationship of spirit and matter, good and evil, and their notions of
-the origin of the soul, is entirely owing to Josephus’ colouring of the
-subject, as may be seen from the notes on the extracts from this
-historian in the second part of this Essay.
-
-Having thus shown that the parallels between Pythagorism and Essenism
-are more imaginary than real, and that the few things which might be
-considered as being analogous are unimportant, and are such as will
-naturally develop themselves among any number of enlightened men who
-devote themselves almost exclusively to a contemplative religious life,
-I shall now point out some of the vital differences between the two
-brotherhoods. 1. The Pythagoreans were essentially polytheists; the
-Essenes were real monotheistic Jews, worshippers of the Holy One of
-Israel. 2. The Pythagoreans clustered round Pythagoras as the centre of
-their spiritual and intellectual life, and estimated the degree of
-perfection of any of the members by the degree of intimacy which he
-enjoyed with Pythagoras: the Essenes regarded the inspired Scriptures
-as their sole source of spiritual life, and called no man master on
-earth, every one having the same right to teach, and being alike
-eligible for all the offices in the commonwealth. 3. The Pythagoreans
-favored matrimony, and we are told that Pythagoras himself had a wife
-and children; whilst celibacy was the rule of Essenism, marriage being
-the exception. 4. The Pythagoreans believed in the doctrine of
-metempsychosis, which led them to abstain from eating animal flesh,
-because human souls migrated into animals, and made Pythagoras once
-intercede in behalf of a dog that was being beaten, because he
-recognised in its cries the voice of a departed friend: the Essenes
-believed no such thing. 5. Scientific studies, such as mathematics,
-astronomy, music, &c, formed an essential part of the Pythagorean
-system: Essenism strictly forbade these studies as injurious to a
-devotional life. 6. Pythagorism was occupied with instigating the
-problems of the origin and constitution of the universe: Essenism
-regarded such inquiries as impious, and most implicitly looked upon God
-as the creator of all things. 7. Pythagorism taught that man can
-control his fortune and overrule his circumstances: Essenism maintained
-that fate governs all things, and that nothing can befal man contrary
-to its determination and will. 8. Pythagorism enjoined ointment to be
-used by its followers: the Essenes regarded it as defilement 9. The
-Pythagoreans had a sovereign contempt for all those who did not belong
-to their ranks: the Essenes were most exemplary in their charity
-towards all men, and in their unbounded kindness to those who were not
-of the brotherhood. 10. The Pythagoreans were an aristocratical and
-exclusive club, and excited the jealousy and hatred not only of the
-democratical party in Crotona, but also of a considerable number of the
-opposite faction, so much so that it speedily led to their destruction:
-the Essenes were meek and lowly in spirit, and were so much beloved by
-those who belonged to different sects, that Pharisees and Sadducees,
-Greeks and Romans, Jews and Gentiles, joined in lavishing the highest
-praise upon them. [5]
-
-As to the relationship which Essenism bears to Judaism, the very fact
-that the Essenes, like the other Jews, professed to he guided by the
-teachings of the Bible, and that a rupture between them and the Jewish
-community at large is nowhere mentioned, but that on the contrary they
-are always spoken of in the highest terms of commendation, would of
-itself be sufficient to prove it. In doctrine, as well as in practice,
-the Essenes and the Pharisees were nearly alike. Both had four classes
-of Levitical purity, which were so marked that one who lived according
-to the higher degree of purity, became impure by touching one who
-practised a lower degree, and could only regain his purity by
-lustration. Both subjected every applicant for membership to a
-noviciate of twelve months. Both gave their novices an apron in the
-first year of their probation. Both refused to propound the mysteries
-of the cosmogony and cosmology to any one except to members of the
-society. Both had stewards in every place where they resided to supply
-the needy strangers of their order with articles of clothing and food.
-Both regarded office as coming from God. Both looked upon their meal as
-a sacrament. Both bathed before sitting down to the meal. Both wore a
-symbolic garment on the lower part of the body whilst bathing. Amongst
-both the priest began and concluded the meal with prayer. Both regarded
-ten persons as constituting a complete number for divine worship, and
-held the assembly of such a number as sacred. Amongst both of them none
-would spit to the right hand in the presence of such an assembly. Both
-washed after performing the functions of nature. Both would not remove
-a vessel on the Sabbath. And both abstained from using oaths, though it
-is true that the Essenes alone uniformly observed it as a sacred
-principle. The differences between the Essenes and the Pharisees are
-such as would naturally develope themselves in the course of time from
-the extreme rigour with which the former sought to practise the
-Levitical laws of purity. As contact with any one or with anything
-belonging to any one who did not live according to the same degree of
-purity, rendered them impure according to the strict application of
-their laws, the Essenes were in the first place obliged to withdraw
-from intercourse with their other Jewish brethren, and form themselves
-into a separate brotherhood. Accordingly the first difference between
-them and the others was that they formed an isolated order. The second
-point of difference was on marriage. The Pharisees regarded marriage as
-a most sacred institution, and laid it down as a rule that every man is
-to take a wife at the age of eighteen (Comp. Aboth v. 21), whilst the
-Essenes were celibates, which, as we have seen before, also arose from
-their anxiety to avoid defilement. Hence the declaration in Aboth d. R.
-Nathan—“there are eight kinds of Pharisees; ... and those Pharisees who
-live in celibacy are Essenes” (c. xxxvii.). [6] The third difference
-which existed between them and the Pharisees, and which was also owing
-to the rigorous application of the Levitical laws of purity, was that
-they did not frequent the temple and would not offer sacrifices. And
-fourthly, though they firmly believed in the immortality of the soul,
-yet, unlike the Pharisees, they did not believe in the resurrection of
-the body.
-
-The identity of many of the precepts and practices of Essenism and
-Christianity is unquestionable. Essenism urged on its disciples to seek
-first the kingdom of God and his righteousness: so Christ (Matt. vi.
-33; Luke xii. 31). The Essenes forbade the laying up of treasures upon
-earth: so Christ (Matt. vi. 19–21). The Essenes demanded of those who
-wished to join them to sell all their possessions, and to divide it
-among the poor brethren: so Christ (Matt. xix. 21; Luke xii. 33). The
-Essenes had all things in common, and appointed one of the brethren as
-steward to manage the common bag; so the primitive Christians (Acts ii.
-44, 45; iv. 32–34; John xii. 6; xiii. 29). Essenism put all its members
-on the same level, forbidding the exercise of authority of one over the
-other, and enjoining mutual service; so Christ (Matt. xx. 25–28; Mark
-ix. 35–37; x. 42–45). Essenism commanded its disciples to call no man
-master upon the earth; so Christ (Matt. xxiii. 8–10). Essenism laid the
-greatest stress on being meek and lowly in spirit; so Christ (Matt. v.
-5; xi. 29). Christ commended the poor in spirit, those who hunger and
-thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the
-peacemakers; so the Essenes. Christ combined the healing of the body
-with that of the soul; so the Essenes. Like the Essenes, Christ
-declared that the power to cast out evil spirits, to perform miraculous
-cures, &c., should be possessed by his disciples as signs of their
-belief (Mark xvi. 17; comp. also Matt. x. 8; Luke ix. 1, 2; x. 9). Like
-the Essenes, Christ commanded his disciples not to swear at all, but to
-say yea, yea, and nay, nay. The manner in which Christ directed his
-disciples to go on their journey (Matt. x. 9, 10) is the same which the
-Essenes adopted when they started on a mission of mercy. The Essenes,
-though repudiating offensive war, yet took weapons with them when they
-went on a perilous journey; Christ enjoined his disciples to do the
-same thing (Luke xxii. 36). Christ commended that elevated spiritual
-life, which enables a man to abstain from marriage for the kingdom of
-heaven’s sake, and which cannot be attained by all men save those to
-whom it is given (Matt. xix. 10–12; comp. also 1 Cor. viii.); so the
-Essenes who, as a body, in waiting for the kingdom of heaven (‏מלכות
-השמים‎) abstained from connubial intercourse. The Essenes did not offer
-animal sacrifices, but strove to present their bodies a living
-sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which they regarded as a
-reasonable service; the Apostle Paul exhorts the Romans to do the same.
-(Rom. xii. 1). It was the great aim of the Essenes to live such a life
-of purity and holiness as to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, and to
-be able to prophesy: the apostle Paul urges the Corinthians to covet to
-prophesy (1 Cor. xiv. 1, 39). When Christ pronounced John to be Elias
-(Matt. xi. 14), he declared that the Baptist had already attained to
-that spirit and power which the Essenes strove to obtain in their
-highest stage of purity. [7] It will therefore hardly be doubted that
-our Saviour himself belonged to this holy brotherhood. This will
-especially be apparent when we remember that the whole Jewish
-community, at the advent of Christ, was divided into three parties, the
-Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes, and that every Jew had to
-belong to one of these sects. Jesus who, in all things, conformed to
-the Jewish law, and who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
-from sinners, would therefore naturally associate himself with that
-order of Judaism which was most congenial to his holy nature. Moreover,
-the fact that Christ, with the exception of once, was not heard of in
-public till his thirtieth year, implying that he lived in seclusion
-with this fraternity, and that though he frequently rebuked the
-Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes,
-strongly confirms this conclusion. There can be no difficulty in
-admitting that the Saviour of the world, who taught us lessons from the
-sparrows in the air, and the lilies in the field, and who made the
-whole realm of nature tributary to his teachings, would commend divine
-truth wherever it existed. But whilst Christ propounded some of the
-everlasting truths which were to be found less adulterated and
-practised more conscientiously among the Essenes than among the rest of
-the people, he repudiated their extremes. They were ascetics; he ate
-and drank the good things of God (Matt., xi. 19). They considered
-themselves defiled by contact with any one who practised a lower degree
-of holiness than their own; Christ associated with publicans and
-sinners, to teach them the way to heaven. They sacrificed the lusts of
-their flesh to gain spiritual happiness for themselves; Christ
-sacrificed himself for the salvation of others.
-
-It is now impossible to ascertain the precise date when this order of
-Judaism first developed itself. According to Philo, Moses himself
-instituted this order; Josephus contents himself with saying that they
-existed “ever since the ancient time of the fathers;” whilst Pliny
-assures us that, without any one being born among them, the Essenes,
-incredible to relate, “have prolonged their existence for thousands of
-ages.” [8] Bating, however, these assertions, which are quite in
-harmony with the well known ancient custom of ascribing some
-pre-Adamite period to every religious or philosophical system, it must
-already have become apparent, from the description of it, that the very
-nature of the Essenes precludes the possibility of tracing its date.
-The fact that the Essenes developed themselves gradually, and at first
-imperceptibly, through intensifying the prevalent religious notions,
-renders it impossible to say with exactness at what degree of intensity
-they are to be considered as detached from the general body. The first
-mention we have of their existence is in the days of Jonathan the
-Maccabæan, B.C. 166. (Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 5, 8). We then hear of them
-again in the reign of Aristobulus I., B.C. 106, in connection with a
-prophecy about the death of Antigonus, uttered by Judas an Essene, of
-which Josephus gives the following account. “Judas, an Essene, whose
-predictions had up to this time never deceived, caused great
-astonishment on this occasion. When he saw at that time Antigonus pass
-through the temple, he called out to his disciples, of whom he had no
-small number—‘Oh! it would be better for me to die now, since truth
-died before me, and one of my prophecies has proved false. Antigonus,
-who ought to have died this day, is alive; Strato’s Tower, which is six
-hundred furlongs distance from here, is fixed for his murder, and it is
-already the fourth hour of the day [ten o’clock]; time condemns the
-prophecy as a falsehood.’ Having uttered these words, the aged man sunk
-into a long, dejected, and sorrowing silence. Soon after, the report
-came that Antigonus was murdered in the subterranean passage which,
-like Cesarea on the sea side, was also called Strato’s Tower. It was
-this circumstance that misled the prophet.” (Jewish War, i. 3, § 5;
-Antiq. xiii. 11, § 2). The third mention of their existence we find in
-the well known prophecy of the Essene Manahem, uttered to Herod when a
-boy. [9] Now these accounts most unquestionably show that the Essenes
-existed at least two centuries before the Christian era, and that they
-at first lived amongst the Jewish community at large. Their residence
-at Jerusalem is also evident from the fact that there was a gate named
-after them (Ἐσσηνῶν πύλη Joseph. Jewish War, v. 4, § 2). When they
-ultimately withdrew themselves from the rest of the Jewish nation, the
-majority of them settled on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea,
-sufficiently distant to escape its noxious exhalations, and the rest
-lived in scattered communities throughout Palestine and Syria. Both
-Philo and Josephus estimated them to be above four thousand in number.
-This must have been exclusive of women and children. We hear very
-little of them after this period (i.e. 40 A.D.); and there can hardly
-be any doubt that, owing to the great similarity which existed between
-their precepts and practices and those of the primitive Christians, the
-Essenes as a body must have embraced Christianity.
-
-Having ascertained the character of the Essenes, we shall be better
-prepared to investigate the origin of their name, which has been the
-cause of so much controversy, and which was not known even to Philo and
-Josephus. There is hardly an expression the etymology of which has
-called forth such a diversity of opinion as this name has elicited. The
-Greek and the Hebrew, the Syriac and the Chaldee, names of persons and
-names of places, have successively been tortured to confess the secret
-connected with this appellation, and there are no less, if not more,
-than twenty different explanations of it, which I shall give in
-chronological order. Philo tells us that some derived it from the Greek
-homonym ὁσιότης holiness, because the Essenes were above all others
-worshippers of God; but he rejects it as incorrect (vide infra, p. 32)
-without giving us another derivation. 2. Josephus does not expressly
-give any derivation of it, but simply says, “the third sect who really
-seem to practise holiness (ὁ δὴ καὶ δοκεῖ σεμνότητα ἀσκεῖν) are called
-Essenes.” (Vide infra p. 41). From the addition, however, “who really
-seem to practise holiness or piety,” Frankel [10] argues that the word
-must mean holiness or piety, because it appears to justify the name,
-and hence concludes that Josephus most probably took it to be the
-Hebrew ‏חסידים‎ or ‏צנועים‎. Whilst Jost [11] is of opinion that
-Josephus derived it from the Chaldee ‏חשא‎ to be silent, to be
-mysterious, because ‏חשן‎ the high priest’s breast-plate, for which the
-Septuagint has λογεῖον or λόγιον is translated by him ἐσσην, or that he
-might have deduced this idea from ‏חשן‎ itself, and traced it to
-λογεῖον or λόγιον as endowed with the gift of prophecy. [12] In Aboth
-of R. Nathan [13] it is written ‏עשאני‎ from ‏עשה‎ to do, to perform,
-and accordingly denotes the performers of the law. 4. Epiphanius again
-calls them Ὀσσαῖοι and Ὀσσηνοι and tells us that it etymologically
-signifies στιβαρὸν γένος the stout or strong race, evidently taking it
-for ‏חסין‎ or ‏עזים‎. 5. In another place Epiphanius affirms that the
-Essenes borrowed their name from Jesse the father of David, or from
-Jesus, whose doctrines he ascribes to them; explaining the name Jesus
-to signify in Hebrew a physician; and calls them Jesseans. [14] In this
-he is followed by Petitus who makes them so related to David that they
-were obliged to take the name of his father Jesus or Jesse; [15]
-although Jesus does not signify physician but God-help. 6. Suidas (Lex
-s. v.) and Hilgenfeld (Die jüdische Apokal. p. 278), make it out to be
-the form ‏חזין‎ = θεωρητικοί seers, and the latter maintains that this
-name was given to them because they pretended to see visions and to
-prophesy. 7. Josippon b. Gorion [16] (lib. iv. sects. 6, 7, p.p. 274
-and 278, ed. Breithaupt), and Gale (Court of the Gentiles, part ii., p.
-147), take it for the Hebrew ‏חסידים‎ the pious, the puritans. 8. De
-Rossi [17] (Meor Enaim, 82 a), Gfrörer (Philo, ii. p. 341), Herzfeld
-(Geschichte d. V. Israel ii. p. 397), and others, insist that it is the
-Aramaic ‏אסיא‎ = θεραπευτής physician, and that this name was given to
-them because of the spiritual or physical cures they performed. Indeed,
-De Rossi and Herzfeld will have it that the sect Baithusians ‏ביתוסים‎
-mentioned in the Talmud is nothing but a contraction of ‏בית אסי‎ the
-school or sect of physicians, just as ‏בית הילל‎ stands for the school
-of Hillel. 9. Salmasius affirms that the Essenes derived their name
-from the town called Essa, situated beyond the Jordan, which is
-mentioned by Josephus (Antiq. xiii. 15, § 2), or from the place Vadi
-Ossis. [18] 10. Rappaport (Erech Milln, p. 41), says that it is the
-Greek ἰσος an associate, a fellow of the fraternity. 11. Frankel
-(Zeitschrift, 1846, p. 449, &c.), and others think that it is the
-Hebrew expression ‏צנועים‎ the retired. 12. Ewald (Geschichte d. Volkes
-Israel, iv. p. 420), is sure that it is the Rabbinic ‏חזן‎ servant (of
-God), and that the name was given to them because it was their only
-desire to be θεραπευταὶ θεοῦ. 13. Graetz (Geschichte der Juden iii. p.
-468, second ed.) will have it that it is from the Aramaic ‏סחא‎ to
-bathe, with Aleph prostheticum, and that it is the shorter form for
-‏אסחאי צפרא‎ = ‏טובלי שחרית‎ ἡμιερβαπτισταί hemerobaptists; the Greek
-form Ἐσσαῖος, Ἐσσαῖοι being nothing but Assaï or Essaï with ‏ח‎ elided.
-14. Dr. Löw (Ben Chananja vol. i. p. 352) never doubts but that they
-were called Essenes after their founder, whose name he tells us was
-‏ישי‎, the disciple of Rabbi Joshua ben Perachja. 15. Dr. Adler
-(Volkslehrer, vi. p. 50), again submits that it is from the Hebrew
-‏אסר‎ to bind together, to associate, and that they were called ‏אסרים‎
-because they united together to keep the law. 16. Dr. Cohen suggests
-the Chaldee root ‏עשן‎ to be strong, and that they were called ‏עשיני‎
-because of their strength of mind to endure sufferings and to subdue
-their passions. (Comp. Frankel’s Monatschrift viii. p. 272). 17.
-Oppenheim thinks that it may be the form ‏עושין‎ and stand for ‏עושין
-טהרת הקדש‎ or ‏עושין טהרת חטאת‎ observers of the laws of purity and
-holiness. (Ibid). 18. Jellinek (Ben Chananja iv. 374), again derives it
-from the Hebrew ‏חצן‎ sinus, περίζωμα, alluding to the apron which the
-Essenes wore; whilst, 19, Others again derived it from ‏חסיא‎ pious.
-The two last-mentioned explanations seem to have much to recommend
-them, they are natural and expressive of the characteristics of the
-brotherhood. I, however, incline to prefer the last, because it plainly
-connects the Essenes with an ancient Jewish brotherhood called
-Chassidim ‏חסידים‎ the pious, who preceded the Essenes, and from whom
-the latter took their rise. Those who wish to trace this connection,
-will find an article on the Chassidim in Dr. Alexander’s edition of
-Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-II.
-
-
-I shall now give in chronological order the description of the Essenes
-found in the writings of Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry,
-Eusebius and Epiphanius, and subjoin such notes as will explain the
-difficulties, and show the historical value of the respective
-documents.
-
-As Philo is the oldest in point of time, we will begin with him. The
-exact date of the birth of this celebrated Jewish-Alexandrian
-philosopher is not known. It is, however, generally agreed that he was
-born in Alexandria between the years 20 and 1 B.C., and died about 60
-A.D. Having resided all his lifetime in Alexandria, his information
-about the Essenes, who lived in Palestine, was derived from hearsay.
-This will account for some of the inaccuracies in his description of
-this remarkable brotherhood. He has given us two accounts of them, one
-in his treatise, entitled Every Virtuous Man is Free, and the other in
-his treatise, called Apology for the Jews. The latter is no longer
-extant, but Eusebius has preserved the fragments which speak of the
-Essenes in his work, entitled Præparatio Evangelica viii. 11. The
-description of the so-called contemplative Essenes, or Therapeutæ,
-which is generally appealed to as illustrating the doctrines and
-practices of the brotherhood in question, has nothing whatever to do
-with the real Palestinian Essenes; and it is almost certain that it is
-one of the many apocryphal productions fathered upon Philo, as may be
-seen from Graetz’s elaborate and masterly analysis of it. [19] Philo’s
-first account is contained in his treatise entitled Every Virtuous Man
-is Free, and is as follows: [20]
-
-“Palestine, and Syria too, which are inhabited by no slight portion of
-the numerous population of the Jews, are not barren of virtue. There
-are some among them called Essenes (Ἐσσαῖοι),—in number more than four
-thousand,—from, as I think, an incorrect derivation from the Greek
-homonym hosiotes, holiness (παρώνυμοι ὁσιότητος), because they are
-above all others worshippers of God (θεραπευταὶ θεοῦ). They do not
-sacrifice any animate, but rather endeavour to make their own minds fit
-for holy offering (ἱεροπρεπεῖς διανοίας). [21] They, in the first
-place, live in villages, avoiding cities on account of the habitual
-wickedness of the citizens, being sensible that as disease is
-contracted from breathing an impure atmosphere, so an incurable
-impression is made on the soul in such evil company. [22] Some of them
-cultivate the earth, others are engaged in those diverse arts which
-promote peace, thus benefiting themselves and their neighbours. They do
-not lay up treasures of gold or silver, [23] nor do they acquire large
-portions of land out of a desire for revenues, but provide themselves
-only with the absolute necessities of life. Although they are almost
-the only persons of all mankind who are without wealth and
-possessions—and this by their own choice rather than want of
-success—yet they regard themselves as the richest, because they hold
-that the supply of our wants, and contentment of mind, are riches, as
-in truth they are. [24]
-
-“No maker of arrows, darts, spears, swords, helmets, breastplates, or
-shields—no manufacturer of arms or engines of war, nor any man whatever
-who makes things belonging to war, or even such things as might lead to
-wickedness in times of peace, is to be found among them. [25] Traffic,
-innkeeping, or navigation, they never so much as dream of, because they
-repudiate every inducement to covetousness. There is not a single slave
-to be found among them, for all are free, and mutually serve each
-other. They condemn owners of slaves, not only as unjust, inasmuch as
-they corrupt the principle of equality, but also as impious, because
-they destroy the law of nature, which like a mother brought forth and
-nourished all alike, and made them all legitimate brethren, not only in
-word but in deed; but this relationship, treacherous covetousness,
-rendered overbearing by success, has destroyed by engendering enmity
-instead of cordiality, and hatred instead of love.
-
-“They leave the logical part of philosophy, as in no respect necessary
-for the acquisition of virtue, to the word catchers; and the natural
-part, as being too difficult for human nature, to the astrological
-babblers, excepting that part of it which treats upon the existence of
-God and the origin of the universe; [26] but the ethical part they
-thoroughly work out themselves, using as their guides the laws which
-their fathers inherited, and which it would have been impossible for
-the human mind to devise without divine inspiration. Herein they
-instruct themselves at all times, but more especially on the seventh
-day. For the seventh day is held holy, on which they abstain from all
-other work, and go to the sacred places called synagogues, sit
-according to order, the younger below the elder, and listen with
-becoming attention. Then one takes the Bible and reads it, and another
-of those who have most experience comes forward and expounds it,
-passing over that which is not generally known, for they philosophise
-on most things in symbols according to the ancient zeal.
-
-“They are instructed in piety, holiness, righteousness, economy,
-politics, in knowledge of what is truly good, bad and indifferent, to
-choose things that are necessary, and to avoid the contrary. They use
-therein a threefold rule and definition, viz.: love of God, love of
-virtue, and love of mankind. [27] Of their love to God, they give
-innumerable demonstrations—e.g. their constant and unalterable holiness
-(ἁγνεία) throughout the whole of their life; their avoidance of oaths
-[28] and falsehoods, and their firm belief that God is the source of
-all good, but of nothing evil. Of their love of virtue they give proofs
-in their contempt for money, fame, and pleasures, their continence,
-endurance, in their satisfying their wants easily, simplicity,
-cheerfulness of temper, modesty, order, firmness, and every thing of
-the kind. As instances of their love to man, are to be mentioned, their
-benevolence, equality, and their having all things in common, which is
-beyond all description, and about which it will not be out of place to
-speak here a little.
-
-“First then, no one has his own house, so that it also belongs to all.
-For, besides that, they all live together in sodalities; it is also
-open to those of the brotherhood who come from other places. Moreover,
-they have all one common treasury and store of provisions, common
-garments, and common food for all who eat together. Such a mode of
-sleeping together, living together, and eating together, could not be
-so easily established in fact among any other people; and indeed it
-would be impossible. For whatever they receive daily, if they work for
-wages, they do not retain it as their own, but give it to the common
-stock, and let every one that likes make common use of it. [29] Those
-that are sick are not neglected because they can earn nothing, but have
-what is necessary for their aid from the common stock, so that they
-ever fare richly without wanting anything. They manifest respect,
-reverence and care for the aged, just as children do for their parents,
-administering to them a thousand times with all plentifulness both with
-their hands and their counsels in their old age.
-
-“Such champions of virtue does a philosophy produce which is free from
-the subtlety of Greek word-splitting, and which deals with subjects
-tending to the exercise of praiseworthy actions, and giving rise to
-invincible freedom. This was seen in the fact that many tyrants have
-arisen from time to time in that country, differing in character and
-conduct. Some of them endeavoured to surpass in ferocity wild beasts;
-they omitted no manner of barbarity, they sacrificed the vanquished in
-whole troops, or, like butchers, cut off pieces and limbs of those that
-were still living, and did not leave off till retributive justice,
-which governs the affairs of man, plunged them into similar miseries.
-Others, again, converted their frenzy and madness into a different kind
-of wickedness. They adopted an inexpressible bitterness, spake gently,
-and betrayed a ferocious temper under the mask of gentle language; [30]
-they fawned like poisonous dogs, and brought about irremediable
-miseries, leaving behind them in the cities, as monuments of their
-impiety and hatred of mankind, the never to be forgotten miseries. But
-neither the cruel tyrant nor the wily hypocrite could get any advantage
-over the said brotherhood of Essenes or holy ones (Ἐσσαίων ἢ ὁσίων),
-but disarmed by the virtues of these men, all recognised them as
-independent and free by nature, praised their common meals and their
-community of goods, which surpasses all description, and is an evident
-proof of a perfect and very happy life.”
-
-Philo’s second account, which has been preserved by Eusebius in his
-Praep. Evàng., viii, 11, from the lost treatise entitled Apology for
-the Jews, is as follows:— [31]
-
-“Our lawgiver, Moses, formed innumerable (μυρίους) disciples into a
-fellowship called Essenes, [32] who, as it appears, obtained this
-appellation by virtue of their holiness (παρὰ τὴν ὁσιότητα). They dwell
-in many cities of Judea, and in villages, and in large and populous
-communities. Their order is not founded upon natural descent, but upon
-admiration for virtue and sincere love for man. Hence there are
-properly speaking no newly born ones among the Essenes, no children, no
-youths, as the dispositions of these are unstable and liable to change
-from the imperfections incident to their age; [33] but they are all
-full grown men who are already approaching old age; and are no longer
-carried away by the impetuosity of their bodily passions, but possess
-the genuine and the only true and real liberty. A proof of their
-freedom is to be found in their life. None of them strives to acquire
-any private property, house, slave, farm, flocks, herds, or anything
-which might be regarded as a source of riches, but they all give
-everything to the common stock from which the common wants of all are
-alike supplied.
-
-“They all dwell together in the same place, form themselves into
-companies, societies, combinations and unions, [34] and work together
-all their life for the common good of the brotherhood. The different
-members of the order are engaged in different employment; they work
-cheerfully and industriously, and never try to leave their employment
-on account of cold, heat, or any change of weather. They go to their
-daily work before the sun rises, and do not leave off till some time
-after it has set, when they return home rejoicing no less than those
-who have been exercising themselves in gymnastic contests. [35] They
-believe that their employment is a sort of gymnastic exercise of more
-benefit to life, greater pleasure both to soul and body, and of a more
-enduring advantage than any mere athletic labours, because they can
-cheerfully continue in their work as a recreation even when youth and
-bodily strength are gone. Those who are acquainted with the cultivation
-of the land are engaged in agriculture; others, again, who understand
-the management of animals, attend to the flocks; some are skillful in
-the management of bees; and others again, are artizans and
-manufacturers, thus guarding against the want of anything. They do not
-omit anything which is requisite to supply the absolute necessities of
-life.
-
-“The appointed steward and general manager receives the wages which the
-different people get for their respective employments, and forthwith
-buys plenty of food and other necessaries of life. They eat at the same
-table, and have every day the same food, being lovers of frugality and
-moderation, and averse to luxury and extravagance as a disease of both
-mind and body. Not only is their table in common, but their dress too
-is in common. They have a store of rough cloaks in the winter, and in
-the summer cheap garments without sleeves, to which every one can go
-and freely take whichever kind he wants, for whatever belongs to one
-belongs to all, and whatever belongs to all belongs to each individual.
-
-“If one of them is sick, he is cured from the common resources, and is
-attended to by the general care and anxiety of the whole body. The old
-men, even if they happen to be childless, [36] end their lives in a
-most happy, prosperous and tenderly cared for old age, as if they were
-not only the fathers of many children, but were even also particularly
-happy in an affectionate offspring. They are looked upon by such a
-number of people as worthy of so much honour and provident regard, that
-they think themselves bound to care for them even more from inclination
-than from any tie of natural affection.
-
-“Perceiving, with more than ordinary acuteness and accuracy, what is
-alone, or at least above all other things, calculated to dissolve such
-connections, they repudiate marriage; and at the same time practice
-continence in an eminent degree. For no one of the Essenes marries a
-wife, because woman is a selfish and excessively jealous creature, and
-has great power to destroy the morals of man, and to mislead with
-continual tricks; for she is always devising flattering speeches and
-other kinds of hypocrisy as on a stage; bewitching the eyes and the
-ears; and when they are subjugated like things stultified, she proceeds
-to undermine the ruling intellect. [37]
-
-“But when she has children, the woman becomes full of pride and
-arrogance, audaciously speaks out that which she previously merely
-indicated in treacherous disguise, and without any shame compels one to
-do whatever is hostile to the brotherhood; for he who is chained by the
-charms of a woman or cares for children by necessity of nature, is no
-longer the same person to others, but is entirely changed, having
-unawares become a slave instead of a free man.
-
-“Such is the enviable system of life of the Essenes, so that not only
-private individuals but even mighty kings have admired them, venerated
-their brotherhood, and rendered their dignity and nobleness still
-higher by the praise and honours which they lavished upon them.”
-
-Next, in point of time, is Caius Plinius Secundus, called Major, or the
-elder, the celebrated author of the Historia Naturalis, who was born in
-A.D. 23, and died A.D. 79. Pliny’s notice of the Essenes, which is to
-be found in his Natural History, book v., chap, xvii., is as follows:
-
-“Towards the west [of the sea] and sufficiently distant from it, so as
-to escape its noxious exhalations (ab occidente litora Esseni fugiunt,
-usque qua nocent), are the Essenes. They are a hermitical society,
-marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole earth. They live
-without any women, without gratifying sensual desires, without money,
-and in the company of palm trees. Their ranks are daily made up by
-multitudes of new comers who resort to them; and who being weary of
-life, and driven by the surges of ill-fortune, adopt their manner of
-life. Thus it is that, through thousands of ages (per saeculorum
-millia), [38] incredible to relate, this people prolongs its existence
-without any one being born among them: so fruitful to them are the
-weary lives of others.”
-
-Next in point of time is Josephus, or Joseph ben Matthias, better known
-by the name Flavius Josephus, who was born in Jerusalem about 37, A.D.
-The description which this learned Jewish warrior and historian gives
-us of the Essenes, although somewhat marred by being made to harmonise
-with the systems of Greek philosophy, is very important, inasmuch as
-Josephus was not only a Palestinian Jew, but at one period of his life
-had actually joined the brotherhood. He tells us in his autobiography,
-that when sixteen years old he determined to examine for himself the
-respective merits of the three predominant sects, viz., of the
-Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, with the view of making a selection
-from among them. His accounts of the Essenes are dispersed through his
-works. The following is the first description contained in his Jewish
-War, book ii, chap. viii, sec. 2–13.
-
-Ҥ 2. There are three sects of philosophers among the Jews. The
-followers of the first are called Pharisees, of the second Sadducees,
-and of the third, who really seem to practise holiness, Essenes. [39]
-Jews by birth, they love each other more than the others. [40] They
-reject pleasure as an evil, and regard continence and not yielding to
-passions as virtues. They despise marriage, and adopt the children of
-others while still tender and susceptible of instruction, [41] and
-regard them as their own relations, and train them in their practices.
-They do not, however, repudiate marriage, and its consequent,
-succession of the race in themselves; but they are afraid of the
-lasciviousness of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve
-their fidelity to one man. [42]
-
-Ҥ 3. They despise riches, have all things in common in a very
-admirable manner, and there is not one to be found among them who is
-richer than another; for it is a law that those who enter the sect must
-give up their possessions to the society as common property, [43] so
-that there is not to be seen among them all, either the abjectness of
-poverty or the distinction of riches; but as every man’s goods are cast
-into a common treasury, they all, like brothers, have one patrimony.
-They regard ointment as defiling; and if one happens to be anointed
-against his will, he immediately wipes it off his body. [44] To be
-unadorned but dressed in white they regard as commendable. They have
-stewards of their common property, appointed by general election, and
-every one without distinction is proposed for all the offices.
-
-Ҥ 4. They have no separate city, but some of them live anywhere; and
-if any of the society come from other places, whatever they have lies
-open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go to those whom
-they have never seen before as if they had been most intimate. Hence
-they take nothing with them when they go on a journey, [45] but arms
-for defence against robbers. A steward is appointed in every city of
-this order to provide strangers with clothes and other necessaries.
-[46] The keeping and appearance of their body are such as of children
-brought up in fear; they change neither garments nor shoes till they
-are worn out or made unfit by time. [47] They neither sell nor buy
-anything among themselves, but everyone gives of that which he has to
-him that wants, and gets from him that which he needs; and even without
-requital they can freely take whatever they want.
-
-Ҥ 5. Their piety towards God is extraordinary, for they never speak
-about worldly matters before the sun rises, but offer up, with their
-faces towards it, some of the prayers transmitted by their forefathers,
-as if they supplicated it to rise. [48] Hereupon, they are all sent by
-the overseers, every one to work in the department in which he is
-skilled; and, having diligently laboured till the fifth hour, assemble
-again together in one place, girt round with their linen apron, and
-have a baptism with cold water. [49] After this lustration they resort
-to a special house, in which no one of another faith is admitted, and
-go to the refectory purified as into a holy temple. [50] Having quietly
-taken their seats the baker gives every one a loaf of bread according
-to order, and the cook places before each one a dish with one sort of
-food. The priest commences with prayer, and no one is allowed to taste
-his food before grace is said. He also returns thanks after the meal;
-for both at the commencement and at the conclusion they praise God as
-the giver of their food. [51] Whereupon they put off their white
-garments as if they were sacred, and betake themselves again to their
-work till evening. On returning again they take their supper together,
-at which strangers, who happen to be in the place, are allowed to sit
-down with them. No noise or tumult ever desecrates their house, but
-they let every one take part in the conversation in turn; and the
-silence of those who are within appears to those that are without as
-some awful mystery. The cause of this is the uninterrupted sobriety, as
-well as the fact that their eating and drinking are so measured out as
-just to suffice the cravings of nature.
-
-Ҥ 6. Whilst they do nothing without the injunctions of their
-overseers, yet there are two things in which they have free action,
-viz., helping the needy, and shewing mercy; to help the deserving when
-they are in want, and to give food to the hungry, they have perfect
-liberty; but to give anything to their relations they are not allowed
-without the permission of the overseers. They are just dispensers of
-their anger, curbers of their passions, representatives of fidelity,
-ministers of peace; and every word with them is of more force than an
-oath. They avoid taking an oath, and regard it as worse than perjury;
-for they say that he who is not believed without calling on God to
-witness is already condemned of falsehood. [52] They take
-extraordinarily great pains in studying the writings of the ancients,
-and select that especially which is beneficial both for the soul and
-body; hence they investigate medical roots and the property of minerals
-for the cure of distempers. [53]
-
-Ҥ 7. When any one desires to enter the sect, he is not immediately
-admitted, but although he has to remain a whole year without, yet he is
-obliged to observe their ascetic rules of living, and they give him an
-axe, an apron as mentioned above, and a white garment. [54] If he has
-given proof of continence during this time, he approaches nearer to
-their life and partakes of the holier water of purification; but is
-still not as yet admitted to their common table. Having thus given
-proof of his perseverance, his conduct is tested two more years, and,
-if found worthy, he is admitted into the society. But before he touches
-the common meal, he swears, by most awful oaths, [55] first to fear
-God, and next to exercise justice towards all men—neither to wrong any
-one of his own accord nor by the command of others; always to detest
-the wicked and side with the righteous; ever to keep faith inviolable
-with all men, especially with those in authority, for no one comes to
-office without the will of God; [56] not to be proud of his power nor
-to outshine his subordinates, either in his garments or greater finery,
-if he himself should attain to office; always to love truth and strive
-to reclaim all liars; to keep his hands clear from stealing, and his
-mind from unholy gain; not to conceal anything from the brotherhood,
-nor disclose anything belonging to them to those without, though it
-were at the hazard of his life. He has, moreover, to swear not to
-communicate to any one their doctrines in any other way than he has
-received them; [57] to abstain from robbing the commonwealth; and
-equally to preserve the writings of the society and the names of the
-angels. [58] By such oaths they bind those who enter the brotherhood.
-
-Ҥ 8. Such as are caught in heinous sins are excommunicated from the
-society; and the excommunicated frequently die a miserable death. For,
-being bound by oaths and customs, they cannot receive food from any out
-of the society, so that they are forced to eat herbs till, their bodies
-being famished with hunger, they perish. [59] Hence they
-compassionately receive many of them again when they are at their last
-gasp, thinking that suffering, approaching unto death, is sufficient
-for their sins.
-
-Ҥ 9. In their verdicts they are most exact and just, and never give
-sentence if there are less than a hundred of the brotherhood present:
-but what is then decreed is irrevocable. Next to God they have the
-highest veneration for the name of the lawgiver, Moses, and punish with
-death any one who blasphemes it. To submit to the elders and to the
-majority they regard as a duty: hence, when ten of them sit together,
-no one will speak if the other nine do not agree to it. They avoid
-spitting before the face, or to the right hand, [60] and are also
-stricter than all other Jews not to touch any labour on the Sabbath
-day—for they not only prepare their Sabbath-day’s food the day before,
-that they may not kindle a fire on that day, but they will not move a
-vessel out of its place [61] nor go to ease nature. On all other days
-they dig a pit of a foot deep with the spade (such an one being given
-to the novice), and having covered it all round with a cover, that it
-may not offend the Divine rays, they set themselves over it, and then
-put the earth, that was dug out again into the pit; and do this, after
-having chosen the most lonely places. And although the voiding of
-bodily excrements is natural, yet it is their custom to bathe after it,
-as if they had been defiled. [62]
-
-Ҥ 10. They are divided, according to the time of leading this mode of
-life, into four different classes, and the juniors are so much inferior
-to the seniors, that the latter must wash themselves when they happen
-to touch the former, as if they had been defiled by a stranger. [63]
-They live to a great age, so that many of them live to above a hundred
-years—arising from the simplicity of their diet, as it appears to me,
-and from their order. They despise suffering, and overcome pain by
-fortitude. Death, if connected with honour, they look upon as better
-than long life. Of the firmness of their minds in all cases the war
-with the Romans has given ample proof; in which, though they were
-tortured, racked, burned, squeezed, and subjected to all the
-instruments of torment, that they might be forced to blaspheme the
-lawgiver or eat what was forbidden, yet they could not be made to do
-either of them; nor would they even once flatter their tormentors or
-shed a tear, but, smiling through their torments and mocking their
-tormentors, they cheerfully yielded up their souls, as those who would
-soon receive them back again. [64]
-
-Ҥ 11. For they firmly believe that the bodies perish and their
-substance is not enduring, but that the souls are immortal—continue for
-ever and come out of the most subtile ether—are enveloped by their
-bodies, to which they are attracted through a natural inclination, as
-if by hedges—and that when freed from the bonds of the body, they, as
-if released from a long servitude, rejoice and mount upwards. In
-harmony with the opinion of the Greeks, [65] they say that for the good
-souls there is a life beyond the ocean, and a region which is never
-molested either with showers or snow or intense heat—is always
-refreshed with the gentle gales of wind constantly breathing from the
-ocean; whilst to the wicked souls they assign a dark and cold corner,
-full of never-ceasing punishments. And it seems to be according to the
-same opinion that the Greeks assigned to their valiant men, whom they
-called heroes and demigods, the Island of the Blessed, but to the souls
-of the wicked the regions of the impious in Hades; as also their fables
-speak of several there punished, as Sisyphus and Tantalus and Ixion and
-Tityus. This they teach, partly because they believe that the souls are
-immortal, and partly for the encouragement of virtue and the
-discouragement of vice. For good men are made better in their lives by
-the hope of reward after their death, whilst the passions of the wicked
-are restrained by the fear they are in that, although they should be
-concealed in this life, after death they must suffer everlasting
-punishment. This is the doctrine of the Essenes about the
-soul—possessing thereby an irresistible bait for those who have once
-tasted their philosophy.
-
-Ҥ 12. There are also some among them who undertake to foretell future
-events, having been brought up from their youth in the study of the
-sacred Scripture, in divers purifications, and in the sayings of the
-prophets; and it is very seldom that they fail in their predictions.
-
-Ҥ 13. There is also another order of Essenes who, in their way of
-living, customs, and laws exactly agree with the others, excepting only
-that they differ from them about marriage. For they believe that those
-who do not marry cut off the principal part of human life—that is,
-succession—especially that, if all were of the same opinion, the whole
-race would soon be extinguished. They, however, try their spouses for
-three years, and after giving evidence, by three natural purgations,
-that they are fit to bear children, they marry them. They have no
-connubial intercourse with them when with child, to show that they do
-not marry to gratify lust, but only to have children. The women, too,
-have their garments on when they have baths, just as the men have on
-their aprons. Such are the customs of this brotherhood.”
-
-The next mention which Josephus makes of them is in his Antiq. Book
-xiii. chap. v. § 9, and is as follows:—
-
-“§ 9. At this time [166 B.C.] there were three sects (αἱρέσεις) among
-the Jews, differing in their opinion about human affairs. The first was
-called the sect of the Pharisees, the second the sect of the Sadducees,
-and the third the sect of the Essenes. The Pharisees affirm that some
-things only, but not all, are the work of fate (τῆς εἱμαρμένης), and
-some are in our own power, whether they should take place or whether
-they should not occur; the sect of the Essenes maintain that fate
-governs all things, [66] and that nothing can befal man contrary to its
-determination and will (ψῆφος); whilst the Sadducees reject fate,
-saying that there is no such thing, and that human events do not
-proceed from it, and ascribe all to ourselves, so that we ourselves are
-the cause of our fortunes, and receive what is evil from our own
-inconsiderateness. However, I have given a more minute description of
-this in the second book of the Jewish War.”
-
-He speaks of them again in Antiq. Book xv. chap. x. § 4, towards the
-end, and § 5, as follows:—
-
-Ҥ 4. The Essenes, as we call them, were also exempted from this
-necessity [of taking an oath of allegiance to Herod]. These men live
-the same kind of life which among the Greeks has been ordered by
-Pythagoras. [67] I have discoursed more fully about them elsewhere. The
-reason, however, why Herod had the Essenes in such honour, and thought
-more highly of them than of mortal nature, is worthy of record. For
-this account, too, is not unsuitable for this history, inasmuch as it
-shows the people’s opinion about the Essenes.
-
-“§ 5. There was a certain Essene, named Menahem (Μενάημος = ‏מנחם‎) who
-was celebrated not only for the uprightness of his conduct, but also
-for the fore-knowledge of the future proceeding from God. When he once
-saw Herod, as a boy going to school, he addressed him by the name of
-‘King of the Jews.’ [68] Herod thought that he did not know him or that
-he jested, and reminded him that he was of common origin. But Menahem
-smiled on him most friendly, clapped him on the back with his hand, and
-said—‘Thou wilt, nevertheless, be king, and wilt begin thy reign
-happily, for God has found thee worthy of it. And remember the blows
-that Menahem has given thee, as being the symbol of the change of thy
-fortune. For this assurance will be salutary for thee when thou wilt
-love justice and piety towards God and equity towards thy citizens.
-However, I know that thou wilt not be such a one, for I can perceive it
-all. Thou wilt, indeed, excel more than any one in happiness, and
-obtain an everlasting reputation, but thou wilt forget piety and
-justice. This will not be concealed from God, for he will visit thee
-with his wrath for it, towards the end of thy life.’ Herod paid very
-little attention to it at that time, as he had no hope of it. But as he
-soon afterwards advanced to the dignity of king and was happy, he
-ordered Menahem to come to him in the height of his dominion, and asked
-him how long he should reign; but Menahem did not tell him. Seeing that
-he was silent, he asked again whether he should reign ten years.
-Whereupon he replied, ‘Yes; twenty, nay, thirty years;’ but did not
-determine the exact limit of his reign. Herod, rejoicing on it, gave
-Menahem his hand and dismissed him, and from that time continued to
-honour the Essenes. I thought of relating this to the readers (though
-to some it may seem incredible), and of making it known, as it concerns
-us, because many of the Essenes are highly esteemed for their virtuous
-conduct and knowledge of Divine things.”
-
-Josephus also relates instances in which Essenes foretold future
-events, in Antiq., book xviii., chap, ii., § 2; book xviii., chap.
-xiii. § 3; and Jewish War, book 1, chap. iii., § 5.
-
-The last account which Josephus gives us is to be found in his Antiq.,
-book xviii., chap, i., § 2 and 5.
-
-Ҥ 2. There have been three philosophies among the Jews ever since the
-ancient time of the fathers (ἐκ τοῦ πάνυ ἀρχαίου τῶν πατρίων), that of
-the Essenes, and that of the Sadducees, and a third which the so-called
-Pharisees followed. Although I have already spoken of them in the
-second book of the Jewish War, yet will I mention here also something
-about them.
-
-“§ 5. The doctrine of the Essenes delights in leaving all to God (Θεῷ
-καταλιπεῖν φιλεῖ τὰ πάντα). They regard the soul as immortal, and say
-that the attainment to virtue must be fought for with all our might.
-Although they send consecrated gifts to the Temple, yet they never
-bring any sacrifice on account of the different rules of purity which
-they observe; hence, being excluded from the common sanctuary, they
-offer sacrifices in themselves (spiritually). Otherwise, they are in
-their manner of life the best of men, and employ themselves wholly in
-the labour of agriculture. Their uprightness is to be admired above all
-others who endeavour to practice virtue; such uprightness, which is by
-no means to be found among the Greeks and foreigners, is not of recent
-date, but has existed among them from times of yore (ἐκ παλαιοῦ),
-striving most scrupulously not to disturb the community of goods, and
-that the rich should not enjoy more of the common property than the
-poor. This is the conduct of this people who are more than four
-thousand in number. They never marry wives, nor endeavour after the
-possession of property; for they believe that the latter leads to
-injustice, and the former yields opportunities for domestic discord.
-Living by themselves they serve each other. They choose good men, who
-are also priests, to be the stewards of their incomes and the produce
-of the fields, as well as to procure the corn and food. They do not
-differ at all in their living, but are more like those whom the Dacae
-call Polistae.”
-
-We notice next the account of Caius Julius Solinus, the author of the
-Geographical compendium called Polyhistor, who flourished about 238
-A.D. His accounts, which are to be found in chap. xxxv. § 7–10 of his
-work, are evidently derived from Pliny.
-
-“In the interior of Judea, towards the west, are the Essenes, who
-differ from the usages of all other nations in their marvellous
-constitutions, and who, according to my opinion, have been appointed by
-divine providence for this mode of life. No woman is to be found there;
-connubial pleasures they have entirely renounced; money they know not,
-and palm-berries are their food. [69] Not a single birth takes place
-there, and yet there is no want of population. The place itself is
-devoted to modesty. Although a very large number of persons run to it
-from all quarters, yet none is admitted who is not thought to possess
-purity, fidelity and innocence; for, if one has been guilty of the
-slightest misdemeanour, though he endeavour to obtain admission by
-offering never so large a fortune, he is excluded by a divine decree.
-Thus it is that through an immense space of ages (per immensum spatium
-saeculorum), incredible to relate, [70] this society is perpetuated
-though no child is born among them.”
-
-The next account is that of Porphyry, the neo-Platonic philosopher and
-celebrated antagonist of Christianity, who was born 233 A.D. and died
-about 306 A.D. His description of the Essenes, which is given in his
-treatise On the Abstinence from Animal Food (Lugduni ap. Morillon,
-1620, p. 381, &c.), is, as he himself tells us, taken from Josephus. He
-has, however, made some alterations, as may be seen from the following:
-
-“There were three sorts of philosophers among the Jews, the first were
-headed by the Pharisees, the second by the Sadducees, and the third,
-who seemed the most honourable (σεμνοτάτη), by the Essenes. The latter
-formed such a society as Josephus has described it in different parts
-of his works, as well as in the second book of the Jewish History,
-which he composed in seven books, as in the eighteenth book of his
-Antiquities, which he composed in twenty books, and in the second part
-to the Greeks. [71]
-
-“The Essenes are Jews by birth, and love one another more than other
-people. They avoid sensual enjoyments as vices, and regard continence
-and the power to resist the passions as the first virtue; they despise
-marriage and adopt the children of strangers, whilst still young and
-suitable for instruction, regard them as their own, and train them in
-their usages. They do not repudiate matrimony and child birth in
-themselves, but they guard against the sensuality of women. They
-despise riches, and there is a wonderful community of goods among them.
-There is no one found among them who occupies a distinguished position
-through his wealth; for they have a law that those who enter the
-society give up their possessions to the brotherhood, so that there is
-no such thing among them as abjectness of poverty or arrogance of
-riches; but the possessions of all put together form a fraternal and
-common property. If one of them happens to be inadvertently anointed,
-he immediately washes his whole body; for they regard it as
-praiseworthy to have a dry skin, and they are always dressed in white.
-They appoint stewards to manage their common property; and every one,
-without distinction, is eligible for all the offices.
-
-“They are not confined to one city, but live in different places, and
-everything they have is at the service of the members who happen to
-come from another city. Though meeting for the first time they at once
-salute each other as intimate friends (ἴσασιν ὥσπερ συνήθεις); hence
-they travel without taking anything with them. They do not change
-either garments or sandals till they are torn or worn out by age; they
-neither buy nor sell, but every one gives of that which he has to him
-that wants it, and receives that which he needs; but even without
-receiving anything in return they freely communicate to him that wants.
-Their piety towards God is extraordinary. None of them speak about
-anything profane before the sun rises; but they offer to it some of the
-prayers transmitted to them by their forefathers, as if they
-supplicated it to rise, &c., &c.” He repeats almost literally the whole
-of § 5 of Josephus On the Jewish War, book ii. chap. viii., which we
-have given above, p, 43.
-
-Porphyry omits § 6 of Josephus, but gives, with a few verbal
-alterations, both the whole of § 7, which describes the admission into
-the order, and § 8, which describes the punishment. He omits the
-greater part of § 9, and adds the following statement, which is not to
-be found in Josephus. “Their food is so poor and scanty that they do
-not require to ease nature on the Sabbath, [72] which they devote to
-singing praises to God and to rest.” He omits from § 10 the description
-of the division of the Essenes into four classes, and simply mentions
-firmness in suffering and death. He also omits from § 11 the whole
-piece beginning with the words “In harmony with the opinion of the
-Greeks, &c.;” whilst he not only gives the whole of § 12, but has also
-the following addition, “With such a manner of life, and with their
-firm adhesion to truthfulness and piety, there are naturally many among
-them who can foretel future events, &c.;” and concludes with the words,
-“This is the nature of the order of the Essenes among the Jews,”
-omitting altogether what Josephus says in § 13 about those Essenes who
-marry.
-
-Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia and metropolitan of Cyprus, who was
-born in Bezanduca, a small town of Palestine, in the first part of the
-fourth century, and died in 403, has also given us some brief notices
-of the Essenes in his celebrated work Against the Heretics. His first
-notice is to be found in Adver. Haer., lib. i. ord. x. p. 28, ed. Col.,
-1682, under the title Against the Essenes and the Samaritans, and is as
-follows:
-
-“The Essenes continue in their first position, and have not altered at
-all. According to them there have been some dissensions among the
-Gorthenes, in consequence of some difference of opinion which has taken
-place among them—I mean among the Sebuens, Essenes and Gorthenes. The
-difference of opinion relates to the following matter. The law of Moses
-commands the Israelites of all places to come up to Jerusalem to the
-three festivals, viz., the feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and
-Tabernacles. As the Jews in Judea and Samaria were largely dispersed,
-it is supposed that those of them who made their pilgrimage to
-Jerusalem went through Samaritan cities, and as the Samaritans assemble
-at the same time to celebrate the festivals, a conflict arose between
-them.”
-
-Epiphanius speaks of them again (Adv. Haer., lib. i. ord. xix. p. 39),
-and under the title, Against the Ossenes (κατὰ Ὀσσηνῶν), as follows:
-
-“Next follow the Ossenes, who were closely connected with the former
-sect. They too are Jews, hypocrites in their demeanour, and peculiar
-people in their conceits. [73] They originated, according to the
-tradition which I received, in the regions of Nabatea, Itruria,
-Moabitis and Antilis, (Ἀρηϊλίτις), in the surrounding neighbourhood of
-the so-called Dead Sea.... The name Ossenes, according to its
-etymology, signifies the stout race (στιβυρὸν γένος).... A certain
-person named Elxai joined them at the time of the Emperor Trajan, after
-the advent of the Saviour, who was a false prophet. He wrote a
-so-called prophetical book, which he pretended to be according to
-divine wisdom. He had a brother named Jeeus, who also misled people in
-their manner of life, and caused them to err with his doctrine. A Jew
-by birth, and professing the Jewish doctrines, he did not live
-according to the Mosaic law, but introduced quite different things, and
-misled his own sect.... He joined the sect of the Ossenes, of which
-some remnants are still to be found in the same regions of Nabatea and
-Perea towards Moabitis. These people are now called Simseans.” [74]
-
-“But hear the Sadducee’s nonsense (comp. ibid., p. 42): he rejects the
-sacrificial and altar services, as repulsive to the Deity, and as
-things which, according to the meaning of the fathers and the Mosaic
-law, were never offered to the Lord in a worthy manner. Yet he says
-that we must pray with our faces to Jerusalem, where the sacrificial
-altar and the sacrifices have their place. He rejects the eating of
-animal flesh which is common among the Jews, and other things; nay,
-even the sacrificial altar and the sacrificial fire, as being foreign
-to the Deity. The purifying water, he says, is worthy of God, but the
-fire is unworthy, because of the declaration of the prophet: ‘Children,
-go ye not there to see the fire of the sacrifices, for ye err; yea, it
-is already an error to think such a thing.’ ‘If you look at the fire
-very closely,’ says he, ‘it is still far off. Moreover, go ye not to
-look at the sacrificial fire, but go ye rather to the doctrine of the
-water....’ There is much more of such idle talk to be found among the
-Ossenes.” [75]
-
-These are the sources from which writers upon the Essenes have, till
-within very lately, drawn their information. As to the account of
-Eusebius (comp. Hist. Ecclesiast., lib. ii, cap. xvii), to which appeal
-is often made, it is nothing but a Christianized reproduction of the
-so-called Philonic description of the Therapeutae. It would therefore
-be useless to give it. In looking through these accounts, it will be
-seen that there are only three independent ones among them,
-namely—Philo’s, Josephus’s and Pliny’s; as the notice of Solinus is
-merely a repetition of Pliny, the description of Porphyry is almost a
-literal reproduction of Josephus; whilst the distorted scraps of
-Epiphanius are not only worse than useless, but are unworthy of him,
-and the account of Eusebius is simply misleading, inasmuch as it is a
-repetition of an apocryphal story, which has nothing to do with the
-Essenes.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-III.
-
-
-Having given the ancient documents, all that now remains is that I
-should give a brief sketch of the most important modern literature on
-the Essenes. In doing this part of my task, as in the former, I shall
-try as much as it is possible to follow the chronological order.
-
-1513–1577.—Accordingly De Rossi occupies the first position. In his
-erudite work, called Meor Enajim, i.e., The Light of the Eyes, which is
-a Cyclopœdia of Biblical literature and criticism, this profound critic
-gives us a brief notice of this brotherhood, in which he maintains that
-the Essenes are identical with the Greek sect called Baithusians in the
-Talmud, and Therapeutae by Philo. His account is as follows: “It has
-often appeared to me strange that the Talmud should say nothing
-whatever about that sect which obtained a good report among the
-nations. I therefore examined the works of our sages, to ascertain
-whether I could find in them any distinction made between the Sadducees
-and the Baithusians. And it appeared to me that though both alike
-denied the traditional law (‏התורה שעל פה‎), yet the Baithusians are no
-where charged with the sin of denying, like the Sadducees, the
-immortality of the soul and future judgment. Moreover, I thought of the
-similarity of the names Baithusians and Essenes (‏ביתוסים איסיאי‎), and
-especially of the manner in which the ancients changed names. Now,
-owing to the word ‏בית‎ being so frequently found prefixed to names of
-schools and families, the appellation ‏ביתוסים‎ might easily have
-originated from a junction of the words ‏בית איסיאי‎. I also saw the
-passage in the Talmud, Sabbath, cap. viii, fol. 108, as quoted also in
-Sopherim, cap. i, which is as follows:—‘A Baithusian asked R. Joshuah
-whence do we know that phylacteries must not be written upon the skin
-of an unclean animal?’ To which he replied—‘It is written that the
-Lord’s law may be in thy mouth, (Exod. xiii, 9) this signifies that
-phylacteries must be written upon the skin of an animal which thou
-canst take into thy mouth, i.e., eat.’ To this he said—‘This being the
-case, we must also not write the phylacteries upon the skin of an
-animal which died;’ [for an Israelite is as much forbidden to taste the
-flesh of it, as to eat an unclean animal.] Hereupon the Rabbi
-replied—‘I will tell thee a parable, to make the thing clear. Two men
-are condemned to death: the one the king kills, and the other is killed
-by the executioner: now, which of the two dost thou esteem higher?
-Surely the one whom the king himself has executed. So the animal which
-died, [i.e., which the King of Kings caused to die] must be preferred
-to the others.’ Whereupon the Baithusian said—‘Accordingly, we ought
-also to eat it.’ R. Joshuah replied—‘The Bible prohibits it (Deut.
-xiv), and dost thou want to eat it?’ The Baithusian then said—‘‏קלוס‎.’
-This expression Rashi of blessed memory rightly says is Greek; i.e.
-‘καλὸν.’ Hence it is to be inferred that the Baithusian was a Greek;
-and, indeed, we know from Philo and Josephus that the Essenes were also
-Greek Jews, living in Alexandria.... From all these things I easily
-quieted my mind, and concluded that the Baithusians are the same as the
-Essenes.’ [76] Now, from a careful perusal of the account given by
-Josephus of the Essenes, it will be seen that he never describes them
-as Greek Jews. Besides, this is utterly at variance with ancient
-tradition, as the Talmudic authorities most positively declare that the
-Baithusians and Sadducees were both alike in doctrine, that both
-derived their names from the founder of these sects, Baithos (‏ביתוס‎)
-and Zadok (‏צדיק‎), the disciples of Antigonus of Soho, and that they
-gave rise to these sects, through misinterpreting the following saying
-of their master [77] which he had received from Simon the Just:—“Be not
-like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a
-reward, but be ye like servants who serve their master without the view
-of receiving a reward,” recorded in Aboth. i. 3. Upon this Aboth d. R.
-Nathan (cap. v.) remarks, “Antigonus’ two disciples at first continued
-implicitly to teach this saying to their disciples, and these again to
-their disciples. At last, however, they began to ponder over it, and
-said—‘What did our fathers mean by this saying? Is a labourer to labour
-all day and not receive his wages in the evening? Now if our fathers
-had believed that there is another world, and a resurrection of the
-dead, they would not have spoken thus.’ Hence they dissented from the
-law, and from them originated the two sects, the Sadducees and the
-Baithusians, the Sadducees from Sadok and the Baithusians from Baithus.
-They used gold and silver vessels all the days of their life, not
-because they were proud, but because they said that the Pharisees
-themselves have a tradition that they afflict themselves in this world,
-and have nothing in the world to come.” From this we see that 1. The
-Baithusians, like the Sadducees, derived their appellation from the
-proper name of their founder, which is Baithus ‏ביתוס‎ so that the
-first part of the name ‏בית‎ cannot be separated from it. 2. Like the
-Sadducees, the Baithusians denied the immortality of the soul and the
-existence of angels, whereas the Essenes firmly believed in the
-immortality of the soul, and made the angels play a very important part
-in their creed. That the Sadducees and the Baithusians were considered
-to be identical, or, at all events, to hold similar doctrines is also
-evident from the fact that what is in one place of the Talmud ascribed
-to the former, is in another place ascribed to the latter. Thus, for
-instance, in Succa 48 b. the Sadducees are said to have questioned the
-necessity of bringing a libation of water on the Feast of Tabernacles;
-in Tosifta Succa cap. iii. it is ascribed to the Baithusians. In
-Maccoth, 5, b. Chagiga, 16 b. it is said that the Sadducees urged that
-a false witness should only then be executed if the individual whom he
-had falsely accused had already been executed; in Tosifta Sanhedrin,
-cap. vi. the same thing is ascribed to the Baithusians. According to
-Joma, 19 b. 53 a, the Sadducees would have it that the High Priest
-should put the incense on the fire outside the Sanctuary on the great
-Day of Atonement, in Tosifta Joma, cap. 1, and Jerusalem Joma, i. 5,
-this is also ascribed to the Baithusians. Comp. also 115, b., Megillath
-Taanith, cap. vi., with Tosifta Jadajim cap. ii. And 4. The Baithusians
-are constantly spoken of as heretics and false witnesses (comp.
-Jerusalem Rosh Ha-Shana, ii, 1; Babl. ibid. 226), which is utterly at
-variance with the high character given to the Essenes even by those who
-belonged to opposite sects.
-
-1587–1643.—Our learned countryman, Dr. Thomas Godwyn occupies the next
-position. In his interesting and erudite volume, entitled Moses and
-Aaron: which was first published in London 1625, Godwyn devotes the
-twelfth chapter of the first book to the Essenes. The etymology of this
-name he takes to be the Syriac ‏אסא‎ to heal, to cure diseases, and
-submits that they were called Essenes = θεραπευται physicians, because
-they cultivated the study of medicine. His summary of their doctrines
-and practices is made from Josephus’ description of them as well as
-from Philo’s reputed account of the Therapeutae which has nothing to do
-with the Palestinian Essenes. Godwyn also gives a number of supposed
-parallels between the doctrines and practices of Essenism and
-Pythagorism. He does not attempt to account for these resemblances, nor
-does he try to trace the origin of the brotherhood. He is, however,
-certain that they existed in the time of Judas Maccabæus and “continued
-until the day of our Saviour and after; for Philo and Josephus speak of
-them as living in their time.” He assigns the following reasons for
-their not being mentioned in the New Testament 1. Their being small in
-number. 2. “They were peaceable and quiet, not opposing any; and
-therefore not so liable to reproof as the Pharisees and Sadducees, who
-opposed each other, and both joined against Christ.” 3. They were
-passed over in silence in the New Testament just “as the Rechabites in
-the Old Testament, of whom there is mention only once and that
-obliquely, although their order continued about three hundred years,
-before this testimony was given of them by the Prophet Jeremiah.” And
-4. “Though the name of the Essenes be not found in Scripture, yet we
-shall find in St. Paul’s Epistles many things reproved, which were
-taught in the school of the Essenes. Of this nature was that advice
-given unto Timothy:—‘Drink no longer water, but use a little wine.’ (1
-Tim. v. 23). Again, ‘Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain
-from meats is a doctrine of devils’ (1 Tim. iv. 3); but especially
-Colossians ii., in many passages the Apostle seemeth directly to point
-at them, ‘Let no man condemn you in meat and drink’ (verse 16): ‘Let no
-man bear rule over you, by humbleness of mind and worshipping of
-angels’ (verse 18) ‘Why are ye subject to ordinances (τί δογματίζεσθε
-verse 20)?’ The Apostle useth the word δόγματα which was applied by the
-Essenes to denote their ordinances aphorisms or constitutions. In the
-verse following he gives an instance of some particulars, ‘Touch not,
-taste not, handle not’ (ver. 21). Now the junior company of Essenes
-might not touch the seniors. And in their diet their taste was limited
-to bread, salt, water and hyssop. And these ordinances they undertook
-διὰ πόθον σοφίας saith Philo, for the love of wisdom; but the Apostle
-concludeth (ver. 23) that these things had only λόγον σοφίας a show of
-wisdom. And whereas Philo termeth the religion of the Essenes by the
-name of θεράπεια which word signifieth religious worship; the Apostle
-termeth in the same verse εθιλεθρεκείαν voluntary religious worship or
-will worship; yea, where he termeth their doctrine πάτρων φιλοσοφιας a
-kind of philosophy received from their forefathers by tradition; St.
-Paul biddeth them beware of philosophy (ver. 8).” I have given this
-extract in full because succeeding writers have with more or less
-exactness based their opinion upon it. In animadverting upon it, I need
-only refer to the former part of this Essay, where it will be seen that
-some of the things here mentioned, are not peculiar to the Essenes, and
-others do not belong to them at all, whilst the last quotation from
-Philo describes the Therapeutae and not the Essenes. [78]
-
-1628–1678.—Next in point of time is Theophilus Gale, who gives us a
-description of the Essenes in his famous work called The Court of the
-Gentiles, part ii. (Oxford, 1671), book ii. § 9, p. 146–156. As might
-be expected from this learned writer, who wrote this elaborate work to
-demonstrate that “the original of all human literature, both philology
-and philosophy, is from the Scriptures and the Jewish Church,” he
-endeavours to prove that Pythagoras took the whole of his philosophic
-system from the Essenes. “As for the origination of their name,” Gale
-tells us, “they were called ‏חסדים‎ i.e. according to the Greek καθαροὶ
-and according to our English dialect pure. Now the origination or rise
-of these Essenes I conceive (by the best conjectures I can make from
-antiquity), to be in or immediately after the Babylonian captivity
-(though some make them later), and the occasion of their separation and
-consociation seems this. Many of the carnal Jews defiling themselves
-either by being too deeply plunged in worldly affairs, even to the
-neglect of their religion, or, which was worse, by sensual compliances
-with their idolatrous lords, thereby to secure their carnal interests,
-these ‏חסדים‎ or Essenes, to preserve themselves from these common
-pollutions, separated and retired themselves from the crowd of worldly
-affairs into an holy solitude, and private condition of life; where
-they entered into a strict confederation or consociation to lead
-together a collegiate devout life.” [79] He then gives an epitome of
-their doctrines and practices, and finally endeavours to shews that
-Pythagoras got his system from them. In doing this, Gale mixes up the
-Therapeutae with the Essenes, and follows largely the description of
-Godwyn.
-
-1643–1724.—We then come to Dean Prideaux, who has a lengthy description
-of the Essenes in The Old and New Testaments Connected, part ii. book
-v., which first appeared in London, 1717. The chief value of Prideaux’s
-work on this subject consists in the fact, that he has given in English
-Philo and Josephus on the Essenes, as well as the short notice from
-Pliny. In his own remarks, which follow these extracts, he, in common
-with his predecessors, mixes up the Therapeutae with the Essenes, and
-tries to repel the Romanists who adopted the assertion of Eusebius
-(Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. ii. c. 17), that these Therapeutae or
-contemplative Essenes were Christian monks instituted by St. Mark. He
-also endeavours to expose the folly of the Deists, who infer, from the
-agreement between the Christian religion and the documents of the
-Essenes, that Christ and his followers were no other than a sect
-branched out from that of the Essenes. Among the accusations which the
-Dean brings against the Essenes for violating the law of God, is the
-charge that they “absolutely condemned servitude which the holy
-Scriptures of the New Testament (Philemon 9–21), as well as the Old,
-allow.” [80] Instead of blaming them for repudiating slavery, we
-believe that the civilized world in the present day will be unanimous
-in pronouncing it to have been one of the glorious features of
-Essenism, anticipating the spirit of Christianity and the philanthropy
-of the nineteenth century.
-
-1653–1723.—Basnage gives a very lengthy account of the Essenes in his
-History of the Jews lib. ii. chaps. xii. xiii. Those who are acquainted
-with the writings of this learned Frenchman, know that he could not
-write on anything without bringing together a mass of useful
-information. He, however, mistook the character of the Essenes, as well
-as the value of the documents upon which he relies. Preferring Philo’s
-account to that of Josephus, though the latter lived amongst the
-Essenes, Basnage confounds the brotherhood with the Therapeutae, and
-hence asserts that “they borrowed several superstitions from the
-Egyptians, among whom they retired.” Through this, he is led to occupy
-by far the greater part of his description with the needless discussion
-of the question “Whether the Essenes from being Jews were converted to
-Christianity by St. Mark, and founded a monastic life.” [81]
-
-1692–1762.—Dr. Jennings’ chapter on the Essenes is simply a commentary
-on Godwyn’s account. Jennings disputes some of the imaginary parallels
-between Essenism and Pythagorism exhibited by Godwyn, and inclines to
-the opinion “that the Essenes begun a little before the time of the
-Maccabees, when the faithful Jews were forced to fly from the cruel
-persecutions of their enemies into deserts and caves, and by living in
-those retreats, many of them being habituated to retirement, which
-thereby became most agreeable to them, they chose to continue it, even
-when they might have appeared upon the public stage again, and
-accordingly formed themselves into recluses.” As to the difficulty to
-account for “the absolute silence of the evangelical history concerning
-the Essenes,” Jennings reiterates the remarks of Godwyn upon the
-subject. [82]
-
-In 1821, appeared in Berlin, Bellermann’s valuable little volume on the
-Essenes and Therapeutae. [83] The author with characteristic German
-industry and perseverance, brought together in this monograph the
-ancient documents on the Essenes. His critical acumen, however, is not
-commensurate to his industry, and while his little volume will
-deservedly continue to be a useful manual for the student who wishes to
-acquaint himself with what Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry,
-Epiphanius and Eusebius said upon this subject, it is to be questioned
-whether Bellermann’s conclusions will be shared by many. He is of
-opinion that “the Essenes and Baithusians are the same both in name and
-doctrine,” and that “the Essenes have four other names in history
-besides their proper name, viz.:—they are called, 1, Therapeutae by the
-Greek Alexandrians. 2. Hiketeans by Philo, in the superscription to the
-Treatise on contemplative life. 3. Ossenes or Ossens, by Epiphanius.
-And 4, Baithusians in the Talmud, and by several Rabbins. As this
-notion, which has been advanced by De Rossi three centuries and a half
-ago, has already been refuted, it would be needless to repeat the
-arguments here.
-
-1825.—Neander, whose first instalment of his gigantic Church History
-appeared in 1825, now began to grapple with this mysterious
-brotherhood. In the introductory chapter of this history, in which a
-description is given of the religious condition of the world at the
-advent of Christ, he gives a very brief but very pregnant sketch of the
-Essenes. With that deep penetration, which was one of the chief
-characteristics of this sagacious critic, he repudiates the notion that
-the Essenes originated under foreign influences, and maintains that “it
-is a gross error to infer from the resemblance of certain religious
-phenomena the relationship of which is to be traced to a common inward
-cause, inherent in the nature of the human mind, that they have an
-external origin, having been copied from the other.” Hence, he submits
-that Essenism arose out of the deeper religious meaning of the Old
-Testament, that it afterwards adopted some of the old Oriental, Parsee,
-and Chaldean notions, and that it had no Alexandrian elements. Neander
-moreover most justly cautions against the accounts of Philo and
-Josephus, saying that they clothed the opinions of the Essenes in a
-garb peculiarly Grecian, which we might rightly consider as not
-originally belonging to them. [84]
-
-1829.—The difficulty which perplexed Christian writers, arising from
-the fact that the Essenes are not mentioned in the New Testament, did
-not affect Jewish writers, although it is true that this name is also
-not to be found in the ancient Jewish writings. For if it be granted
-that this appellation is a corruption of an Aramaic word, the Essenes
-must be looked for in the Talmud and Midrashim, which are chiefly
-written in Aramaic, under their original designation whatever that
-might be. The clue to it must, of course, be the identity of the
-features ascribed to them by Philo and Josephus and those ascribed in
-the ancient Jewish volumes to any order of Judaism. To this task
-Rappaport, the corypheus of Jewish critics, betook himself. Knowing
-that the Essenes were no distinct sect, in the strict sense of the
-word, but simply an order of Judaism, and that there never was a
-rupture between them and the rest of the Jewish community, Rappaport
-most justly does not expect that they would be spoken of under a fixed
-denominational name. He therefore rejects De Rossi’s notion that the
-Baithusians, so frequently denounced in the Talmud and Midrashim, are
-the Essenes described by Philo and Josephus, and sought to identify
-them by their peculiar practices, expecting to find that they would be
-spoken of by different names. He soon found that what Philo and
-Josephus describe as peculiarities of the Essenes tallies with what the
-Mishna, the Talmud, and the Midrashim record of the Chassidim
-(‏חסדים‎), and that they are most probably the so-called old believers
-(‏ותיקין‎), who are also described in the Talmud as the holy community
-in Jerusalem (‏קהלא קדישא דבירושלים‎). He rightly recognised in them an
-intensified form of Pharisaism, and remarks that what is said in the
-Mishna about the moderation observed in eating and drinking, the great
-humility, endurance under sufferings, zeal for everything that is holy,
-community of goods, &c, refers to this holy community, or the Essenes.
-He also quotes the following remark from the Midrash Coheleth, on
-Eccles. ix, 9, about this holy community; “Rabi repeated from the
-traditions of the holy community (‏עדה קדושה‎) ‘acquire a trade in
-connection with the study of the Scriptures, &c.’—[Query] ‘Why are they
-called holy community?’ [Reply] ‘Because they divided the day into
-three divisions—devoting one-third to the study of the Scriptures,
-another to prayer, and the third to work. Some say that they devoted
-the whole of the winter to studying the Scriptures and the summer to
-work.’” He, too, was the first who pointed out that the prayer which
-Josephus tells us the Essenes offered up at the rising of the sun, is
-the national hymn of praise, which still constitutes a part of the
-Jewish daily service, and is as follows:—
-
-
-    He in mercy causes His light to shine upon the earth and upon the
-    inhabitants thereof; and in His goodness unfailingly renews every
-    day the work of creation. How numerous are Thy works, O Lord! Thou
-    hast made them all in wisdom; the earth is full of Thy possessions.
-    O King, Thou only art the exalted one from everlasting, the praised
-    and glorified and extolled since the days of yore! Lord of the
-    universe, in Thy great mercy have mercy upon us! Lord our might,
-    fortress of our strength, shield of our salvation, defend us! O
-    Lord, be Thou praised, Thou great in wisdom, who hast ordained and
-    created the rays of the sun: the Infinitely Good has formed a
-    glorious testimony for His name. He surrounded His majesty with
-    luminaries. The chiefs of His heavenly hosts are holy beings; they
-    glorify the Almighty; they continually declare the glory of God and
-    his holiness. Blessed be the Lord our God, for the excellency of
-    the works of Thy hands, and for the shining luminaries which Thou
-    hast. They shall glorify Thee for ever.
-
-    God, the Lord of all created things, is praised and blessed in the
-    mouths of all the living. His power and goodness fill the universe;
-    wisdom and intelligence are round about Him. He exalts himself
-    above the angels, and beams in glory upon his chariot-throne.
-    Interceding goodness and rectitude are before His throne,
-    loving-kindness and mercy before his majesty. Benign are the
-    luminaries which our God has created. He has formed them in wisdom,
-    intelligence, and understanding; He has endowed them with power and
-    strength, to bear rule in the midst of the world. Filled with
-    splendour and brightness, their glory illuminates all the world;
-    rejoicing in rising and joyous in setting they perform with awe the
-    will of their Creator. They give praise and glory to His name, joy
-    and song to the memory of His kingdom. He called the sun, and light
-    rose; He saw and shaped the form of the moon. Praise Him all ye
-    heavenly hosts; ascribe glory and majesty to Him ye seraphim,
-    ophanim, and holy angels.
-
-
-These, as Rappaport rightly remarks, are some of the remains of the
-ancient prayer used by the Essenes. It will be seen that these hymns of
-praise contain not only thanksgiving for the renewal of the light, to
-which Josephus refers, but they also refer to the mysterious cosmogony
-(‏מעשה בראשית‎) and theosophy (‏מעשה מרכבה‎), as well as to the angels
-which played such an important part among this brotherhood. [85]
-
-1835.—The difficulty of reading Rabbinical Hebrew in which Rappaport’s
-profound remarks are written, must have prevented Gfrörer from seeing
-what this erudite Jewish critic had written on the Essenes; for,
-although the second edition of vol. i. part 11 of his Critical History
-of Primitive Christianity, containing an account of the Essenes,
-appeared in 1835, yet he positively states “that the Essenes and the
-Therapeutae are the same sect and hold the same views” (p. 299).
-According to him, the development of Essenism is as follows. In the
-third century before Christ, the Jews in Alexandria formed societies
-according to the Pythagorean model, and thus originated the sect called
-the Therapeutae, from these Egyptian Therapeutae again Essenism
-developed itself in Palestine about 130 B.C. Hence Essenism is the
-channel through which the Alexandrian theosophy was first transplanted
-into Palestinian soil. The reason why the Essenes kept their doctrines
-secret is that the Palestinian priests were hostile to this foreign
-importation, and persecuted those who received this contraband.
-Accordingly, the relationship of Pythagorism, Therapeutism and
-Essenism, to use Gfrörer’s own figure, is that of grandmother, mother
-and daughter. “So perfect is the agreement between the Therapeutae and
-the Essenes, that it even extends to their names. For the word Ἐσσαῖνς
-according to the most correct etymology, is derived from the
-Syro-Chaldaic verb ‏אסא‎ which denotes to cure, to nurse, and hence is
-nothing but a literal translation of θεραπευτὴς.” [86]
-
-1843.—Similar in spirit is the elaborate article on the Essenes in
-Ersch und Gruber’s Cyclopœdia, written by Dähne, who maintains that
-“Essenism is the produce of the Jewish-Alexandrian philosophy, and that
-it is only when viewed from this stand-point that the deviations from
-the rest of their Jewish co-religionists, and their peculiar
-institutions, doctrines, and precepts appear in the clearest light.” It
-is not surprising that holding such an opinion Dähne should feel
-perplexed to account for the existence of this thoroughly
-Jewish-Alexandrian order, as he makes the Essenes to be, in the very
-heart of Palestine. All that he can say upon this subject is, that they
-somehow got there in the middle of the second century before Christ.
-The affiliation of Essenism to the Jewish-Alexandrian philosophy brings
-it into most intimate relationship with Therapeutism, and necessarily
-devolves upon Dähne to define this family connection which he does in
-the following manner. [87] “The difference between the Therapeutae and
-the Essenes, both of whom are followers of the Jewish-Alexandrian moral
-philosophy, is that the former devoted themselves entirely to a
-contemplative life, whilst the latter gave themselves more especially
-to a practical life. Hence though both rest upon the same foundation,
-the Therapeutae gave themselves up absolutely to the highest aim of
-man, as they marked it out, the contemplation of God; whilst the
-Essenes to some extent voluntarily lingered in the outer court of the
-Holy of Holies, placed themselves intentionally for the good of the
-brethren in more frequent contact with the world than the requirements
-of nature demanded, thereby generously, but certainly
-unphilosophically, temporarily retarding their own highest perfection
-and happiness.” Like De Rossi, Bellermann, Gfrörer and others, Dähne
-derives the name from the Chaldee ‏אסא‎ to heal, and says “accordingly
-the term Essenes denotes spiritual physicians, or men who strive in the
-highest sense to lead back the spirit to its natural (i.e. truly
-divine) character and activity.” [88]
-
-1846.—A new epoch began in the history of the Essenes with the
-investigation of Frankel on this subject, which appeared in his
-Zeitschrift für die religiözen Interesse des Judenthums, 1846. Taking
-up the idea of Rappaport, that the Essenes must be looked for in the
-body of the Jews and not as a separate sect, Frankel refers to the fact
-that, whilst the Assideans = Chassidim are referred to in 1 Macc. ii.
-24; 2 Macc. xiv. 6, &c., the Perushim = Pharisees are never mentioned,
-to show that no such marked and denominational divisions existed at
-first in the community, and rightly remarks, that it “is only after a
-longer development that sects appear in their separation, and sharply
-defined features, when that which originally formed a united whole is
-now divided and parted into various branches. And even this partition
-and separation only shew themselves to the analysing mind, and
-especially when the analysis is conducted after a foreign fashion, as
-Josephus has done it, who reduced the Jewish sects into Greek schools,
-and made the Essenes correspond to the Pythagoreans. But in reality
-even these divisions flow one into another, and do not stand in
-opposition to one another, but are simply to be distinguished by their
-different shades of colour, and by the greater stringency or laxity
-with which the same rules are regarded, so that they do not form
-separate sects, but some individuals keep to these rules with greater
-anxiety, whilst others, though considering them as binding, do not
-regard them as having such a wide application. Now in early times there
-were only Essenes = Chassidim (‏חסדים‎), the name of Perush = Pharisee
-(‏פרוש‎) was not as yet known; it was only afterwards when in
-succeeding periods some became more rigid in their manner of life and
-views of religion, that the name Pharisees (‏פרושים‎) appears to denote
-the less strict Jews, whilst the others were in a special degree
-denominated by the old, respectable appellation Chassidim = Essenes
-(‏חסדים‎).” This, Frankel corroborates by showing most clearly that
-many of the vital principles which Josephus describes as peculiar to
-Essenism, are at the very basis of Pharisaism, and that the Essenes are
-frequently mentioned in the Mishna, Talmud, and Midrashim by the names
-‏חסדים הראשונים‎ the original Assideans = Chassidim, ‏חברים‎ the
-associates, ‏ותיקין‎ those who have enfeebled their bodies through much
-study; ‏דבירושלים‎ the retired ones; ‏צנועין קהלא קדישא‎ the holy
-congregation in Jerusalem; ‏טובלי שחרית‎ hemerobaptists. Frankel
-concluded his essay with the promise to return to this subject on some
-future occasion. [89]
-
-1847.—Within twelve months of the publication of Frankel’s elaborate
-Essay, an article appeared in the American Quarterly entitled The
-Biblical Repository. As there was not sufficient time for this German
-production to become known in the New World, Mr. Hall, the writer of
-the article, could not avail himself of it, and was therefore obliged
-to derive his information from the writings of Dr. Neander. But though
-Mr. Hall has thrown no light on the Essenes, yet his reflections upon
-their moral character and their connection with Christianity are so
-just, sensible and candid, that we subjoin them to show that good
-Christians may honestly acknowledge the good in Essenism without
-detracting from Christianity.
-
-
-    “Let us give the Essene credit for all that he was as a worshipper
-    of the true God, and as a man striving after moral purity in a
-    corrupt age. The Gospel that breathed new life into the higher
-    nature of man, can afford to allow all his virtues. We know that
-    the Spirit of Christ opens the eye to the excellencies of others.
-    Truth rejoices in truth, and as all truth is from the same source,
-    the lustre of one development can never be increased by hiding the
-    glory of another. We would not enhance the necessity of our Lord’s
-    appearance by depreciating the moral condition of mankind at that
-    period. Those ascetic Jews deserve well of mankind for the light
-    they gave out in a dark age. We admire the humanity and justice of
-    their principles; their disapproval of war and slavery in the midst
-    of a world lying in wickedness, and the noble example of industry,
-    frugality and moderation in the things of this life they set before
-    all. We honour their honest endeavours to combine the vita
-    contemplativa and the vita activa,—to escape the bondage of the
-    senses, to maintain the supremacy of the spirit, and to unite
-    themselves with the Highest. But in all these respects, they are
-    only the true children of monotheism, the legitimate offspring of
-    the Jewish theocracy. They could have sprung up nowhere else. In
-    the phenomenon of the Essenes let us therefore adore the provident
-    wisdom of Jehovah, and recognize the secret working of his love in
-    carrying forward the great, eternal economy of salvation. They
-    exerted an influence on their age which helped to pave the way for
-    the Christ. Conscience spoke, and was spoken to, through them; and
-    the dying sense of virtue was kept alive. Thus were they stars
-    which emitted an humble though useful light before, but grew pale
-    and became invisible after, the coming of the Sun of
-    Righteousness.” [90]
-
-
-1852.—Though Ewald published the second edition of the fourth volume of
-his Jewish History in 1852, when Frankel’s Essay had been six years
-before the literary world, yet he manifests total ignorance of it in
-his account of the Essenes, contained in this volume. Still, this
-profound and merciless critic, without having access to the Jewish
-information gathered from the Talmud and Midrashim, saw that Essenism
-was no Greek plant transplanted into Palestine, but like Pharisaism
-grew out of the Chassidim. He remarks that “people who left the great
-community in order to lead a specially holy life, with the permission
-and under the direction of the law, were to be found in Israel from the
-remotest times, yet in its first form there were only the Nazarites, of
-whom each one lived for himself; and in the second, the Rechabites
-combined themselves already into a larger union; but now the whole
-conscience of the people itself, as it were, departed into solitude
-with numerous Essenes. For it cannot be denied that they, proceeding
-from the Chassidim, represent the direct and legitimate development of
-Judaism in the form which became the ruling one since Ezra.” “Their new
-features and endeavours merely consisted in their intensely earnest and
-rigorous application of the demands of the law, as understood and
-interpreted since Ezra. Finding that the rigorous and logical
-application of these laws was impossible in the great community,
-especially in that community as regulated by the Pharisees, they
-preferred to congregate and live in solitude.” [91] Very unfortunate is
-Ewald’s derivation of Essene from the Rabbinic ‏חזן‎ servant (of God),
-and the assertion that this name was given to them because it was their
-only desire to be θεραπευταὶ θεοῦ.
-
-1853.—Nearly seven years had now elapsed since Frankel published his
-masterly Essay on the Essenes, and promised to return to this subject
-at some future time. True to his promise, he now gave another elaborate
-treatise, in which he substantiated, by numerous quotations from the
-Talmud, his former conclusions, that the Essenes are the offspring of
-Judaism, that they are nothing but stationary, or more correctly
-speaking consequential Chassidim, that they were therefore not so far
-distant from the Pharisees as to be regarded as a separate sect, but,
-on the contrary, that they formed a branch of Pharisaism. [92]
-
-1856.—So convincing was Frankel’s Treatise, that Graetz, who published
-the third volume of his masterly History of the Jews in 1856, in which
-he gives an elaborate account of this brotherhood, remarks: [93] “I
-completely accept these results about this sect being based upon
-critical investigation, and shall only add a few supplementary points
-by way of illustration.” [94] The additions consist of a very able
-analysis of Philo’s reputed Treatise entitled De Vita Contemplativa,
-showing that it is spurious, and of an attempt to show that the Essenes
-were perpetual Nazarites (‏נזירי עולם‎). His remarks are as
-follow—“There were great masses of Nazarites in the post-exile period
-(Tosifta Nasir, c. iv.; Babbi Berachoth, 48 a; 1 Macc. ii. 49; Joseph.
-Antiq. xviii. vi.), but they were of a different character to those of
-the Biblical period; they were Nazarites for the whole life (Nasir 4
-a.) The Mishna presupposed their existence; the magical in Nazaritism,
-which was connected with the growing of the hair in the Nazarites of
-the Bible, gradually recedes into the back ground or loses its
-significance altogether; whereas the Levitical, the guarding against
-defilement, appears more and more in the foreground among the life-long
-Nazarites. The Essenes then were such Nazarites as represented in
-private life the highest priestly consecration. The connection between
-the Nazarites and Essenes has already been indicated in obscure
-passages in the Talmud, that one consecrated himself to be a perpetual
-Nazarite if he simply wished to be a Nazarite in order that he might be
-able to preserve the secrets of disgraceful family circumstances.
-(Tosifta Nasir, b. i. 6; Kidushim 71 a.) [95]
-
-1857.—The learned historian Jost, who published the first volume of his
-History of Judaism in 1857, was also perfectly convinced by the results
-of Frankel’s researches, and made them the basis of his excellent
-description of the Essenes, in which he maintains that they grew out of
-Pharisaism or from the ancient Chassidim. “The Essenes,” he submits,
-“are exactly the same that the other Rabbis wished to be who
-endeavoured to practise the Levitical law of purity, as leading to
-higher consecration. They have neither another creed nor another law,
-but simply institutions peculiar to this brotherhood, and endeavour to
-reach the highest consecration by their manner of life, in defining the
-different stages, according to preliminary exercises and certain years
-of preparation. Their views and tenets are therefore also to be found
-in the utterances of the learned and the Rabbis who did not enter their
-order, so that they did not look upon the Essenes as opponents or
-apostates, but, on the contrary, as holding the same opinions with
-increased claims and some fewer enjoyments, whom many out of their own
-midst joined, and who were called Chassidim or Zenuim.” [96]
-
-1857.—The comparatively few and unessential deviations from Judaism to
-be found in Essenism were, however, more than Herzfeld could tolerate,
-without characterising the innovators as heretics and smugglers of
-contraband opinions. Dissatisfied with the modern researches of Frankel
-and Graetz on this subject, this learned historian, and chief Rabbi of
-Brunswick, returned to the old notion of De Rossi, that the Essenes of
-Josephus and Philo are identical with the Baithusians mentioned in the
-Talmud. Still he thinks that De Rossi’s opinion “must be better proved
-than he had done it,” and therefore remarks—“first of all, seeing that
-the prefixed ‏בית‎ denotes school or sect in the appellations
-Beth-Shammai, Beth-Hillel; that ‏בית הכותים‎ in Tosifta Helem ii. b,
-and ‏בי כותאי‎ in Chullin 6 a, denotes the sect or the land of Cuttim;
-and then that ‏בית סין‎ stands twice Tosifta Succa, cap. iii., and
-Tosifta Menachoth cap. x. for Baithusians, can it mean anything else
-than house or sect of Essenes? When ‏אסי‎ physician became the name of
-a sect, an Essene could not so well be called ‏אסי‎ without ambiguity;
-he was therefore described as one of ‏בית אסי‎.” [97] Thus much for the
-origin of the name, and now let us hear Dr. Herzfeld’s theory about the
-brotherhood itself. It is simply this [98]—“A Jew, who became
-acquainted with the allegorical exegesis prevalent among the
-Alexandrian Jews, and with its mother the Greek wisdom, but who, like
-Pythagoras, Plato and Herodotus, had also found an opportunity to learn
-some things from Egyptian priests, conceived and carried out the plan,
-eclectically to form from it and from Judaism a speculative and ascetic
-system, as well as to organise, according to its model, a sect from the
-Jewish ascetics.” [99] This Alexandrianized Palestinian Jew founded the
-order of the Essenes in Palestine about 230 B.C.
-
-1857.—Another effort was made in this year to explain the origin of
-this mysterious brotherhood. Professor Hilgenfeld of Jena, who
-maintains their genuine Jewish origin, starts the notion that the
-Essenes belonged to the Apocalytical school, and that they must be
-regarded as the successors of the ancient prophets, and as constituting
-the prophetic school. It is only when we view them from this stand
-point that their precepts and practices can be understood, and that the
-high antiquity ascribed to them by Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 1, 2) and
-Pliny (Hist. Nat. v. 17), can be comprehended. This he moreover assures
-us gives the clue to the explanation of their name. The Hebrew prophets
-were also called ‏חזים‎ seers, which, being in the Aramaic
-pronunciation ‏חזין‎, easily gave rise through Greek change of vowels
-to the name Ἐσσαῖου, Ἐσσηνοί. Hilgenfeld manifests an almost
-inexcusable ignorance of the labours of Frankel and Graetz on the
-Essenes. [100]
-
-1860.—A necessarily brief but interesting article on the Essenes,
-written by the able Mr. Westcott, appeared in Smith’s Dictionary of the
-Bible. The writer wisely availed himself of the labours of Frankel and
-Jost, and properly traced the origin of the brotherhood to the
-Chassidim. His fear, however, lest any shining virtues in the Essenes
-might be thought by some to pale some of the brightness of the Sun of
-Righteousness, prevented him from appreciating the true character of
-this order, as well as from seeing that they paved the way to
-Christianity.
-
-1863.—Graetz again, in the second edition of the third volume of his
-History of the Jews, in which he has an additional chapter on the Rise
-and Progress of Christianity, goes to the other extreme, and maintains
-that “Jesus simply appropriated to himself the essential features of
-Essenism,” [101] and that primitive Christianity was nothing but an
-offshoot from Essenism.
-
-1862.—Of the article on the Essenes in Dr. Alexander’s valuable edition
-of Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, being written by me, I
-can do no more than say that it embodies the substance of this Essay.
-
-1863.—The description of the Essenes in the new edition of Dean
-Milman’s History of the Jews, gives a very imperfect idea both of the
-development and morality of this brotherhood. [102] The learned Dean
-seems to be wholly unacquainted with the researches of Frankel and
-Graetz on this subject. He, however, rightly rejects the notion that
-Essenism had its origin in Pythagorism.
-
-
-
-1847.—After the above was printed, I found a notice of the Essenes in
-Hirschfeld’s work on the Hagadic Exegesis, in which he submits that the
-name Essene may be derived from the Greek ἦθος manners, morality,
-virtue, that though the Essenes had several things in common with the
-Therapeutae, yet there was a great difference between the two sects,
-and that the former rested more on the Bible and on Judaism. Still he
-affirms that “some Neo-Platonic, Pythagorean and Persian ideas found
-their way among the Essenes, and brought with them some practices and
-institutions which this brotherhood mixed up with the Jewish views of
-religion, and amongst which are to be classed their extension of the
-laws of purification, &c.” Hirschfeld, moreover, maintains that, “like
-the Alexandrians, but only from a different standpoint, the Essenes
-aimed to reconcile religion with science.” As this opinion has already
-been discussed in this Essay, it is needless to repeat the objections
-against it. [103]
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-NOTES
-
-
-[1] According to tradition there were four degrees of purity. 1. The
-ordinary purity required of every worshipper in the temple (‏טהרת
-חולין‎). 2. The higher degree of purity necessary for eating of the
-heave-offering (‏טהרת תרומה‎). 3. The still higher degree requisite for
-partaking of the sacrifices (‏טהרת הקודש‎). And 4. The degree of purity
-required of those who sprinkle the water absolving from sin (‏טהרת
-חטאת‎). Each degree of purity required a greater separation from the
-impurities described in Leviticus xi, 24–xv, 28. These impure subjects
-were termed the fathers of impurity; that which was touched by them was
-designated the first generation of impurity; what was touched by this
-again, was called the second generation of impurity; and so on. Now,
-heave-offerings—the second degree of holiness—became impure when
-touched by the third generation; the flesh of sacrifices—the third
-degree of holiness—when coming in contact with the fourth generation;
-and so on. These degrees of purity had even to be separated from each
-other; because the lower degree was, in respect to the higher one,
-regarded as impure, and any one who lived according to a higher degree
-of purity became impure by touching one who lived according to a lower
-degree, and could only regain his purity by lustrations (‏טבילה‎). The
-first degree was obligatory upon every one, the other grades were
-voluntary. Before partaking of the heave-offering, the washing of hands
-was required; and before eating of the flesh of sacrifices, immersion
-of the whole body was required—Comp. Babylonian Talmud, Tract Chagiga,
-18 b.
-
-[2] Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. iii, part ii, p. 583 ff.
-
-[3] The figures before each point of comparison do not exit in the
-original German; I have inserted them in the translation in order to
-facilitate the references to these different points of comparison.
-
-[4] Comp. Diog. Laert. de Vitis Philosophorum, lib. viii. Vit.
-Pythagor. xii. It is true that Cicero represents Cotta as giving no
-credit to this story, because, as he apprehends, Pythagoras never
-offered animal sacrifices (De Natura Deorum, lib. iii. cap. xxxvi.),
-but it is also related by Athenaeus (Deipnosoph. lib. x.), Plutarch and
-others.
-
-[5] An excellent account of the Pythagorean system is given by Zeller,
-Geschichte der Philosophie. Erster Theil, Tübingen, 1856, pp. 206–365;
-Grote, History of Greece, vol. iv. London, 1857, pp. 527–553; and
-Mason, in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and
-Mythology, Article Pythagoras.
-
-[6] R. Nathan, the Babylonian as he is called, was Vice-President of
-the College in Palestine, under the Presidency of Simon III. b.
-Gamaliel II. A.D. 140. The above-quoted work of which he is the reputed
-author, as indicated by its title, ‏אבות דרבי נתן‎ i.e. the Aboth of R.
-Nathan, is a compilation of the apothegms and moral sayings of the
-Jewish fathers (‏אבות‎), interspersed with traditional explanations of
-divers texts of Scripture, consisting of forty-one chapters. Both the
-historian and moral philosopher will find this work an important
-contribution to the literary and philosophical history of antiquity. It
-is printed in the different editions of the Talmud, and has also been
-published separately with various commentaries, in Venice, 1622:
-Amsterdam, 1778, &c., &c.; and a Latin translation of it was published
-by our learned countryman, Francis Taylor, under the title of R.
-Nathanis Tractatus de Patribus, latine cum Notis. London, 1654, 4to.
-Comp. Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden. Berlin, 1832,
-p.p. 108, 109; Fürst, Kultur- und Literaturgeschichte der Juden in
-Asien. Leipzig, 1849, p. 16 ff; by the same author, Bibliotheca
-Judaica, volume iii. Leipzig, 1863, p. 19 ff; Steinschneider, Catalogus
-Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleiana col. 2,032 ff.
-
-[7] For the passages embodying the sentiments of the Essenes, which
-constitute the above comparisons, we must refer to the second part of
-this Essay and the notes.
-
-[8] Compare the account of Philo, p. 36; Pliny, p. 40; Josephus, p. 52;
-in the second part of this Essay.
-
-[9] This prophecy is given in full in the second part of this Essay, p.
-50.
-
-[10] Zeitschrift für die religiösen Interessen des Judenthums. Berlin,
-1856, p. 449.
-
-[11] Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner Secten, vol. 1, Leipzig,
-1857, p. 207.
-
-[12] As Mr. Westcott, the writer of the article Essenes in Smith’s
-Dictionary of the Bible, has misunderstood this passage and wrongly
-represented Jost himself as deriving this name from ‏חשאין‎ the silent,
-the mysterious, we give Jost’s own words:—“Uns will scheinen, dass
-Josephus den Namen allerdings von ‏חשא‎ schweigen, geheimnissvoll sein,
-ableitet; dahin führt seine Uebertragung des Wortes ‏חשן‎ in die
-griechischen Buchstaben ἐσσην Ed. Hav. Ant. 1, 147, welches Wort die
-LXX λογεῖον übersetzen. Da das Wort ‏חשאין‎ seinen Zeitgenossen sehr
-geläufig war, so konnte er annehmen, dass man sich unter dem Namen der
-Sekte einen angemessenen Begriff dachte und er keiner Erläuterung
-bedürfe. Ja, es wäre möglich, dass er den Begriff aus ‏חשן‎ selbst
-ableitet, und auf λογεῖον oder λογίον, als mit Weissagung begabte,
-zurückführte. Vergleichte Gfrörer, Philo 1, 196.”
-
-[13] Aboth di. R. Nathan, cap. xxxvi.
-
-[14] Comp. Epiphan. Haeres. xix. lib. i. tom. ii. sect. 4, p. 120, ed.
-Petav.
-
-[15] Comp. Petite Variae Lectiones, c. xxviii. p. 2600.
-
-[16] Josippon b. Gorion also called Gorionides, lived in Italy about
-the middle of the tenth century. He is the compiler of the celebrated
-Hebrew Chronicle called Josippon, or the Hebrew Josephus. His real
-character and the value of his Chronicle are discussed under the
-article Jossippon in Dr. Alexander’s edition of Kitto’s Cyclopædia of
-Biblical Literature.
-
-[17] De Rossi, also called Asarja min Ha-Adomim, was born at Mantua in
-1513, and died 1577. For an account of this eminent Jewish scholar, who
-may be regarded as the father of Biblical criticism at the time of the
-Reformation, see Dr. Alexander’s edition of Kitto’s Cyclopædia of
-Biblical Literature, Article Rossi.
-
-[18] Salmas. Plinian. exercitat. in Solinum cap. xxxv. p. 432, edit.
-Ultraject.
-
-[19] Comp. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden. Dritter Band, Zweite Auflage,
-Leipzig. 1863, p. 464, &c.; Frankel, Programm des jüdisch-theol.
-Seminars von 1854.
-
-[20] Comp. Philonis Opera, ed. Mangey. London, 1742, vol. ii pp.
-457–45.
-
-[21] Josephus, who also mentions this fact, distinctly says that their
-not offering sacrifices in the temple is owing to the different degree
-of holiness which they practised. (Vide infra p. 228.) From the
-repeated declarations in the Bible, that a life of uniform obedience
-and faithful service is far more acceptable to God than the cattle of a
-thousand hills (1 Sam. xv. 22; Ps. xl. 7; l. 7–14; li. 17; Prov. xxxi.
-3; Isa. i. 11, 17; lxv. 3; Jer. vii. 21–23; Hos. vi. 6; xiv. 3; Micah,
-vi. 6–8), the Essenes could easily be reconciled to their abstaining
-from offering animal sacrifices, and would be led to attach infinitely
-greater importance to the presenting of their bodies a living
-sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. (Comp. also Rom. xii. 1). This
-circumstance led Petitius to the conclusion that Herod, who was
-friendly to the Essenes in consequence of the favorable prophecy about
-him uttered by the Essene Menahem (vide infra p. 50), employed them to
-translate the Prophets and the Psalms into Greek, and that they availed
-themselves of the opportunity to introduce their tenets and rites into
-this version, now called the Septuagint. Thus, for instance, when David
-said “Sacrifice and burnt offering thou didst not desire, mine ears
-hast thou opened” (Ps. xl. 6), the Essenes rendered it “Sacrifice and
-burnt offering thou dost not desire, but a body hast thou prepared me,”
-interpolating three of their tenets. 1. They made the Prophet speak
-absolutely, as if God had entirely rejected sacrifices because they
-would offer him none. 2. By dropping the words, “mine ears hast thou
-opened,” they showed their disapprobation of slavery. (Comp. Exod.
-xxi). And 3, by substituting “a body hast thou prepared me,” they
-understood the college of devout Essenes, who met together as a body,
-and whom God appointed instead of sacrifice. Comp. Basnage, History of
-the Jews, English translation. London, 1708, p. 128.
-
-[22] This is not the only reason why the Essenes withdrew from cities.
-Their observance of the Levitical laws of purity which rendered them
-impure when they came in contact with those who did not live according
-to the same rules, was the principal cause of their living separately.
-(Vide supra p. 7, note 1.) Philo, however, states the first reason
-because the Greeks, for whom he wrote, understood it better than the
-second, which is so peculiarly Jewish in its character.
-
-[23] The same thing Christ urged on his disciples. Comp. Matth. vi.
-19–21.
-
-[24] This simple desire for the supply of our daily bread, and the
-contentment of mind here spoken of, are also commended by our Saviour.
-(Matth. vi. 11, 25–34.)
-
-[25] Believing that all they that take the sword shall perish with the
-sword, Comp. Matth. xxvi. 52.
-
-[26] The Apostle Paul, too, admonished the Colossians to “beware lest
-any man spoil you through philosophy.” (Col. ii. 8.)
-
-[27] Thus also Christ, when he was asked which was the greatest
-commandment in the law, declared, love to God and love to our
-neighbour, and that on these two hang all the law and the prophets.
-(Comp. Matth. xxii. 36–40.)
-
-[28] Although the taking of oaths was discountenanced by the Jews
-generally (Comp. Ecclus. xxiii 11, &c.; and especially Philo De decem
-oraculis § 17, Opp. Tom. ii. p. 194, &c., ed. Mangey); and the
-Pharisees took great care to abstain as much as possible from using
-them (Comp. Shevuoth 39, b; Gittin 35, a; Bemidbar Rabba c. xxii); yet
-the Essenes were the only order who laid it down as a principle not to
-swear at all, but to say yea, yea, and nay, nay. So firmly and
-conscientiously did they adhere to it that Herod, who on ascending the
-throne had exacted an oath of allegiance from all the rest of the Jews,
-was obliged to absolve the Essenes from it. (Comp. Joseph. Antiq. book
-xv. chap. x. § 4). Christ too, laid it down as a principle for his
-disciples not to swear at all, but to say yea, yea, and nay, nay.
-(Comp. Matth. v. 38–37.)
-
-[29] This community of goods was also adopted by the early Christians,
-who, as we are told, “sold their possessions and goods, and parted them
-to all as every man needed.”—(Comp. Acts, ii. 45, iv. 34, 35.)
-
-[30] The account here given of the sufferings of the Essenes bears a
-very striking resemblance to the description in the Epistle to the
-Hebrews xi. 36–38; and it may be that the Apostle refers to this
-extraordinary brotherhood.
-
-[31] This fragment which Eusebius has preserved is given in Philo’s
-Works, ed. Mangey, vol. ii., p. 622, seq.
-
-[32] The tracing of this brotherhood to Moses is in accordance with the
-practice which generally prevailed among the Jews of ascribing the
-origin of every law, mystical doctrine or system, which came into vogue
-in the course of time, either to Ezra, Moses, Noah or Adam. Thus we are
-told in the Jerusalem Talmud (Pea, ii. 6), and the Midrash (Coheleth,
-96 d.), that all the Scriptural learning which developed itself in
-course of time, and everything which a Talmid Vatic might bring to
-light, were revealed to Moses beforehand on Mount Sinai.
-
-[33] This refers to juvenile members of the fraternity, as the Essenes
-did adopt children, and trained them up to the practices of the order.
-Vide infra p. 41.
-
-[34] The four companies here mentioned most probably refer to the four
-different classes into which the Essenes were divided, described more
-minutely by Josephus. Vide infra, p. 47, note 45.
-
-[35] So also the Apostle Paul recommends us not to be slothful in
-business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.—(Rom. xii, 11.)
-
-[36] That is if he belongs to the class of Essenes who practised
-celibacy; for there were those among them who had wives and families.
-Vide infra p. 49.
-
-[37] The Mosaic law regards conjugal intercourse as polluting, and
-enjoins bathing after it (Levit. xv. 18.) Hence, when the children of
-Israel had to sanctify themselves in the highest degree, so as to be
-fit to receive the law from Mount Sinai, they were commanded not to
-approach their wives (Exod. xix. 15). Hence, also, those who had the
-charge of the shew-bread polluted the sacred loaves by going to their
-wives (1 Sam. xxi. 4). And hence the remark of the Apostle Paul, that
-in order to give themselves to fasting and prayer, man and wife may
-keep aloof from each other by mutual consent (1 Cor. vii. 5). The same
-laws obtained among all nations of antiquity. Thus, among the
-Egyptians, Babylonians, Arabians, Greeks and Romans, both man and wife
-had to bathe after connubial intercourse (Herod., i. 198). No one was
-allowed to go after it to the temple without bathing (Herod., ii. 64;
-Suet. Aug. xciv. 5; Pers. ii. 50, &c.); and the priests had to abstain
-from approaching their wives when they were ministering in holy things
-(Porphyrius, de Abstinentia, lib. ii. 50; iv. 7; Plutarch. Sympos. iii.
-6; Tibul. lib. ii. Eleg. 1, 11, &c.; Ovid. Metam. x. 434, &c.) Now, as
-the Essenes strove to be in a perpetual state of sanctification,
-regarded their refectory as a sanctuary and their meals as sacraments,
-and most anxiously avoided contact with every thing that defiled, they
-had of necessity to extend these Mosaic laws, which enjoin abstinence
-from connubial intercourse as a means of sanctification, and which
-regard those who indulged in it as defiled, to the whole course of
-their life; and they had therefore to be celibates. This extension of
-the Mosaic law was moreover deemed desirable in consequence of the
-general conviction which the Jews entertained, in common with other
-nations, that no woman remains faithful to her husband, and that they
-all defile the bed of marriage. Philo, in the passage before us, and
-Josephus, as we shall see afterwards (vide infra p. 41, § 2), only give
-the latter reason, to suit their Greek readers who could both
-understand it better and sympathise with it more than with the former.
-
-[38] This is simply a repetition of what the Essenes themselves said
-about their origin, in accordance with a common practice among the
-Jews.—Vide supra p. 36, note 14.
-
-[39] This representation of the three Jewish sects as different
-philosophical schools, and the supposed resemblance of the Essenes to
-the Pythagoreans, which he mentions afterwards, (vide infra Antiq. xv.
-10; § 4, p. 50) and which have misled modern writers, are nothing but a
-desire on the part of Josephus to make the divers teachings of his
-co-religionists correspond to the different systems of Greek
-philosophy. It is this anxiety to shew the Gentiles, for whom he wrote,
-how much the Jews resemble them both in doctrine and practice, which
-detracts from the merits of Josephus’ history.
-
-[40] This love for the brotherhood, which the Essenes possessed to so
-extraordinary a degree, was also urged by the Evangelists and Apostles
-on the early Christians (comp. John xiv. 17; Rom. xiii. 8; 1 Tim. iv.
-9; 1 Peter i. 28; xi. 17; 1 John iii. 23; iv. 7, 11; v. 2).
-
-[41] This does not contradict Philo’s remark (vide supra p. 37), as
-Herzfeld supposes, (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. ii. p. 375);
-since the two statements refer to two different things. The former
-affirms that they do not receive children into the noviciate, whilst
-the latter speaks of their adopting and educating them, which is a
-distinct thing from becoming a novice.
-
-[42] Vide supra, p. 39, note 19.
-
-[43] So our Lord urged on the young man, who lived so exemplary a life
-in the performance of God’s law, and whom he loved, that unless he gave
-up his property he could not follow him (comp. Matth. xix. 21; Mark x.
-21; Luke xviii. 22), and commanded his disciples to sell all their
-possessions and distribute the money among the poor (comp. Luke xii.
-33.)
-
-[44] Ointment being a luxury (comp. Eccl. ix. 8; Dan. x. 2), the
-Essenes regarded the use of it as extravagance, and contrary to the
-simplicity of their manner of life.
-
-[45] The manner in which Christ commanded his disciples to depart on
-their journey (Mark vi. 8–10) is the same which these pious Essenes are
-here said to have adopted. This also explains the injunction given by
-our Saviour to his disciples in Luke xxii. 36, about taking arms with
-them, which has so greatly perplexed commentators who were unacquainted
-with the customs of the Essenes.
-
-[46] The Pharisees, too, had a steward in every place to supply the
-needy with clothing and food. (Comp. Pea viii. 7; Baba Bathra 8 a;
-Sabbath 118.)
-
-[47] Comp. also Luke x. 4, &c.
-
-[48] Some translate it “they offer prayer (εἰς τὸν ἥλιον) to the sun.”
-But it is utterly inconceivable that the Essenes, who were such
-thorough Jews, and so exemplary for their adoration of the Holy One of
-Israel, would be guilty of idolatry by worshipping the sun. Besides,
-the prayer in question is described as one transmitted by the fathers.
-And can it be imagined that there existed among the Jews a national
-prayer to this luminary in direct violation of the first commandment,
-and of what is so expressly forbidden in Deut. iv. 10? The prayer
-therefore here spoken of is the well known national morning hymn of
-praise (‏המאיר לארץ‎) for the return of the light of the day, which
-still forms a part or the Jewish service to the present day. Comp.
-Berachoth 9 b; Rappaport in the Bikure Ha-Ittim, vol. x., Vienna 1829,
-p. 115, and infra p. 69.
-
-[49] This practice of bathing before meals was also common among the
-Pharisees (comp. Chagiga, 18, b), and as the Essenes covered themselves
-with their aprons so the Pharisees put on their Talith during their
-baptisms. (Comp. Berachoth 24, b.)
-
-[50] The Pharisees, too, regarded the refectory as a sanctuary, and
-compared its table to the altar in the temple, because the altar in the
-temple is represented as the table of the Lord (Ezekiel xli, 22).
-Hence, R. Jochanan and R. Eleazar remark—“As long as the temple stood
-the altar atoned for the sins of Israel, but now it is man’s table
-which atones for his sins.” (Talmud Berachoth, 55a). Hence the Chaldee
-paraphrase of Ezekiel xii. 22, and the remarks of Rashi and Kimchi on
-this passage, which cannot be understood unless this traditional
-interpretation is borne in mind. Comp. also Aboth iii, 3.
-
-[51] This was also the practice of the Pharisees, and is to the present
-day the custom among the orthodox Jews.
-
-[52] This paragraph almost embodies the sentiments uttered by our
-Saviour in Matth. chap. v.
-
-[53] These ancient books on magical cures and exorcisms were the
-reputed works of Solomon, who, according to the Talmud as well as the
-Byzantine and Arabian writers, composed treatises on miraculous cures
-and driving out evil spirits. (Comp. Pesachim 56 a; Fabricius, Codex
-pseudepigraphus Vet. Test. p. 1042, &c.; Weil, Biblische Legenden der
-Muselmänner, p. 225–279). Josephus tells us elsewhere that some of
-these Solomonic productions still existed in his own days, and that he
-had actually seen demons driven out and people cured by their aid.
-(Comp. Antiq. book viii. chap. ii. § 5.) This account most strikingly
-illustrates what Christ says in Matth. xii. 27.
-
-[54] This custom has its origin in the extension of a Mosaic law. The
-hosts of the Lord are commanded in Deut. xxiii 13, 15, to have spades
-among the martial instruments in order to bury therewith their
-excrements without the camp, and thus to keep themselves pure from
-every pollution, and to be a holy camp, because the Holy One of Israel
-dwells in the midst thereof. Now as the Essenes strove to be, in a
-pre-eminent sense, the spiritual hosts of the Lord, every one of them
-was obliged to have this spade in order to guard their sacred camp from
-defilement. For this reason the apron was also given to cover their
-nakedness in their numerous baptisms, and thus to keep their thoughts
-from dwelling upon anything which might lead to impurity; whilst the
-white garment was the symbol of their holiness. This, however, was not
-peculiar to the Essenes, as the Talmud tells us that when any one
-applied to become a member of the Pharisaic order (‏חבר‎), he had to
-pass through a noviciate of twelve months, at the expiration of which
-he received a sort of garment called ‏כנפים‎, and having duly qualified
-himself in this stage, he was afterwards admitted to the holier
-lustrations (‏מקבלין לכנסּים ואחר כד מקבלין לטהרות‎). (Comp. Tosifta
-Demai e. 11; Jerusalem Demai ii. 3; Babylonian Becharoth 30, 6).
-
-[55] This was the only occasion on which the Essenes were permitted to
-take an oath.
-
-[56] This does not refer to governments generally, as Gfrörer will have
-it (Philo und die jüdisch-alexandrinische Theosophie, vol. ii, p. 333,
-&c.), but to the office of overseer or steward among the brotherhood,
-as is evident from the immediately following statement, which most
-unquestionably pledges every Essene to retain his simplicity of
-character if he should ever attain to any official position or
-stewardship in the order.
-
-[57] This is not peculiar to the Essenes. The Pharisees, too, would not
-indiscriminately propound the mysteries of the cosmogony and the
-theosophy, which, according to them, are contained in the history of
-the Creation and in the vision of Ezekiel, except to those who were
-regularly initiated in the order. Comp. Mishna Chagiga, ii, 1.
-
-[58] This evidently refers to the secrets of the Tetragrammaton, and
-the angelology which played so important a part among the Jewish
-mystics from time immemorial. Comp. Wisdom of Solomon vii. 20; Mishna
-Chagiga, ii, 1.
-
-[59] The reason why he ate herbs and not bread, or the simple dish
-which the order generally took, is that, being bound by an oath to
-observe the practices of the brotherhood, he could only accept meals
-from those who lived according to the highest degree of purity (‏על
-טהרת חטאת‎), and who, as a matter of course, kept their meals according
-to this degree. But as such a mode of life was of very uncommon
-occurrence, the excommunicated Essene was obliged to live on herbs or
-vegetables which he had to pluck himself; for, according to the Talmud,
-plants are only then considered unclean when they are cut off and water
-is poured upon them (‏משהוכשרו לקבל טומאה משנתלשו‎). As for Josephus’
-saying that he died a miserable death, and that he could only eat grass
-(ποιηφάγων), this is simply another instance of his exaggerating and
-colouring his subject.
-
-[60] The Pharisees, too, regarded ten persons as constituting a
-complete number for divine worship, held the assembling of such a
-number as sacred, and would not spit in their presence. (Comp.
-Berâchoth 51 a; Jerusalem Berachoth iii. 5; Aboth iii. 6.)
-
-[61] This is not peculiar to the Essenes; for the Pharisees, too, would
-not remove a vessel on the Sabbath (comp. Tosifta Succa, iii); and the
-orthodox Jews, to the present day, will not even carry a handkerchief
-on the Sabbath; they tie it round the body to serve as a girdle, so
-that it might not be said that they carry the weight of even so small a
-thing on the sacred day. Comp. also Mark xi, 16.
-
-[62] Neither is this peculiar to the Essenes; for not only did the
-Pharisees of old do the same (comp. Ioma 28, a); but the orthodox Jews
-of the present day wash after performing the duties of nature.
-
-[63] This division of the brotherhood into four classes, as well as the
-impurity contracted by the higher class when touching one who belonged
-to a lower class of purity, also existed among the Pharisees. (Vide
-supra, p. 7, note 1.)
-
-[64] Philo, too, speaks of this fact. (Vide supra p. 36.)
-
-[65] This is another instance of the anxiety of Josephus to make the
-different phases of Judaism harmonise with the Greek mode of thinking.
-
-[66] It is evident that Josephus, as an orthodox and pious Jew, cannot
-mean by εἱμαρμένη the Fatum of the Stoics, which was above the deities;
-but intends to convey thereby the idea of eternal counsels and
-predestination spoken of in the Bible. Indeed, elsewhere Josephus tells
-us distinctly that “the doctrine of the Essenes delights to leave all
-things to God” (vide infra p. 52); so that that which is in the one
-case ascribed to fate, is in the other ascribed to God.
-
-[67] No more regard is to be paid to this remark, that the Essenes are
-like the Pythagoreans, than to the assertion which Josephus makes
-afterwards that they are related in their manner of life to the
-Polistae, (vide infra p. 53), as his aim was to shew how much the
-Jewish sects resembled the Greek systems of philosophy. Comp. p. 41,
-note 21.
-
-[68] The fact that Menahem saw Herod in Jerusalem, and that the Essene
-Judah, as Josephus tells us elsewhere (comp. Jewish War, book i. chap.
-iii. § 5; Antiq. book xiii. chap. xi. § 2), foretold in the temple the
-death of Antigones, clearly shows that the Essenes did not at first
-form a separate community, but lived together with the rest of their
-Jewish brethren.
-
-[69] Pliny, whom Solinus copies, simply says that the Essenes live in
-the society of palm-trees (socia palmarum), to form an antithesis with
-the appellation a solitary community (sola gens); and this is perfectly
-correct. But Solinus’ alteration of it into “palm-berries are their
-food” (palmis victitant) is incorrect, inasmuch as they lived from the
-cultivation of the land, bees, &c.
-
-[70] This is simply a reiteration of what Pliny says about the
-antiquity of the Essenes.
-
-[71] This work of Josephus, addressed to the Greeks, is no longer
-extant.
-
-[72] This is simply imaginary; the real reason for it was, that they
-could not dig on the Sabbath the hole that was requisite for it
-without, as they thought, violating the sanctity of the day, as to do
-so was considered a labour.
-
-[73] This unjust remark about the Essenes, whose exemplary virtues and
-self-denying life elicited the unqualified admiration of Jews, Greeks,
-and Romans, is just what might be expected from the bigoted persecutor
-of heretics, amongst whom he put no less a person than St. Chrysostom.
-
-[74] This name may be derived from the Hebrew Shemesh (‏שמש‎) sun, and
-was most probably given to the Essenes, because of the erroneous notion
-that they worshipped the sun.
-
-[75] The whole of this account is worse than useless, inasmuch as it
-not only gives us no information whatever about this interesting order,
-but is positively misleading.
-
-[76] Comp. Meor Enajim, edit. Mantua. 1547, fol. 88 b.
-
-[77] ‏אנטיגנוס איש סוכו קבל משמעון הצדיק הוא היה אמר אל תהיו כעבדים
-המשמשים את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס אלא היו כעברים המשמשים את הרב שלא על מנת
-לקבל פרס ויהי מורא שמיס עליכם כדי שיהיה שכרכם כפול: לעתיד לבא: אנטיגנוס
-איש סוכו היו לו שני תלמידים שהיו שונין בדבריו שונין היו לתלמידים
-ותלמידים לתלמידיהם עמרו ודקדקו אחריהן ואמרו מה ראו אבותינו לומר אפשר
-שיעשה פועל מלאכה כל היום ולא יטול שכרו ערבית אלא אילו יודעין אבותינו
-שיש העולם (אחר) ויש תחיית המתים לא היו אומרים כך עמדו ופירשו מי התורה
-ונפרצו מהם שתי פרצות צדוקים וביתוסין צדוקים על שום צדוק ביתוסין על שום
-ביתוס שהיה משתמש בכלי זהב וכלי כסף כל ימיו לא היתה דעתו גסה עליו אלא
-צדוקים אומרים מסורה בית פרושים שהן מצערין עצמן בעולם הזה ובעולם הבא אין
-להם כלום‎
-
-[78] Comp. Moses and Aaron: Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites used by the
-Ancient Hebrews, eighth edition (London, 1672), book i, chap, xii, p.
-50–59.
-
-[79] The Court of the Gentiles. Pt. ii of “Philosophy,” Oxford, 1671,
-p. 147, &c.
-
-[80] The Old and New Testaments Connected, seventeenth editions, vol.
-iii. London, 1815, part ii, book v, p. 406–431.
-
-[81] The History of the Jews, from Jesus Christ to the present day.
-London, 1708, p. 125–137.
-
-[82] Jewish Antiquities; or a Course of Lectures on the two first books
-of Godwyn’s Moses and Aaron, ninth edition. London, 1837, book i.,
-chap. xii, p. 281–287.
-
-[83] Geschichtliche Nachrichten aus dem Alterthume über Essäer und
-Therapeuten. Berlin, 1821.
-
-[84] General History of the Christian Religion and Church, English
-Translation, Clark’s Theological Library, vol. i, Edinburgh, 1851, p.
-58–66.
-
-[85] Rappaport, in the Hebrew Annual, entitled Bikure Ha-Ittim, vol. x,
-Vienna, 1829, p. 118 ff.
-
-[86] Comp. Kritische Geschichte des Urchristenthums. 1 Theil Philo und
-die jüdish-alexandrianische Theosophie, 11 Abtheilung. Stuttgart, 1835.
-p. 299–356.
-
-[87] Diese Trennung nun aber unter ben Anhängern der
-jüdisch-alexandrinischen Religionsphilosophie selbst in solche, welche
-sich ausschliesslich dem beschaulichen und in Andere, welche sich
-vorzugsweise dem praktischen Leben widmeten, ist es eben, welche sich
-in unserem fraglichen Doppelorden auch äusserlich repräsentirte,
-sodass, wenn schon beide ganz auf derselben philosophischen Unterlage
-ruhten, die Therapeuten sich möglichst ausschliesslich und unmittelbar
-dem höchsten von ihnen angestrebten menschlichen Lebensziele, der
-Anschauung Gottes selbst, hingaben, während die Essäer gewissermassen
-freiwillig in dem Vorhofe zum Allerheiligsten zögernd, sich absichtlich
-und zum Besten der Brüder häufiger in Berührung setzten mit dem
-Sinnlichen, als es die Naturnothwendigkeit foderte und so ihre eigene
-höchste Vollkommenheit und Seligkeit zwar grossmuthig, aber gewiss auch
-unphilosophisch genug augenblicklich noch verkümmerten.
-
-[88] Comp. Ersch und Gruber’s Allgemeine Encyklopädie, section i. vol.
-xxxviii, p. 173–192.
-
-[89] Comp. Frankel, Zeitschrift für die religiösen Interessen des
-Judenthums, vol. iii. Berlin, 1846, p. 441–461.
-
-[90] Comp. The Biblical Repository and Classical Review. New York,
-1847, p. 162–173.
-
-[91] Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Vierter Band. Göttingen, 1852, p.
-419–428.
-
-[92] Comp. Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums,
-Zweiter Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1853, p. 30–40; 61–73.
-
-[93] Ich nehme diese auf kritischer Forschung, beruhenden Resultate
-über diese Secte vollständig an und werde nur noch einige Pünkte
-nachträglich beleuchten.
-
-[94] Die Eigenthümlichkeiten der Essäer lassen sich nicht genügend aus
-dem Wesen der im Talmud vorkommenden ‏חסידים‎ oder ‏חסידים הראשנים‎ und
-der in der Makkabäerzeit auftretenden “Assidäer” erklären; man muss
-auch auf das nasiräische Wesen Rücksicht nehmen. Nasiräer gab es in der
-nachexilischen Zeit eine grosse Menge (Tosifta Nasir c. iv. Babli
-Berachot 48 a. 1 Makkab. ii, 49. Jos. Alterth. xviii, 6, 1). Aber sie
-trugen zugleich einen andern Charakter, als die der biblischen Zeit:
-sie waren Nasiräer fürs ganze Leben ‏נזיר עולם‎ (Nasir 4 a). Die
-Mischna setzt das Vorhandensein solcher ohne Weiteres voraus, und das
-Magische an dem Nasiräerthum, das sich bei den biblischen Nasiräern an
-den Haarwuchs knüpfte, tritt immer mehr zurück, oder hat vielmehr gar
-keine Bedeutung mehr. ‏נזיר עולם הכביד שערו מיקל בשער‎ (das.). Hingegen
-tritt bei den lebenslänglichen Nasiräern das Levitische, die Hut vor
-Verunreinigung, immer mehr in den Vordergrund (das.). Die Essäer werden
-also solche Nasiräer gewesen sein, welche in ihrem Privatleben die
-höchste priesterliche Weihe darstellen wollten. Den Zusammenhang
-zwischen Nasiräern and Essäern deutet schon eine dunkle talmudische
-Stelle an, dass Jemand sich dadurch schon dem vollständigen Nasireat
-weiht, wenn er auch nur insofern Nasiräer sein will, um die Geheimnisse
-entehrender Familienverhältnisse bewahren zu können: ‏הריני נזיר אם לא
-אגלה משפחות הרי זו נזיר ולא יגלה משפחות‎ (Tosifta Nasir c. 1 b
-Kiduschim 71 a). Die Erklärung dieser Stelle durch den Essenismus hat
-schon Edeles (‏מהרש״א‎) in seinem Agadacommentar z. St. geahnt. Diesen
-Zusammenhang zwischen Nasiräerthum und Essenismus haben Epiphanius und
-die arabischen Schriftsteller Makrisi und Abulfarag’ geahnt; wenn auch
-Epiphanius die Ναζαραῖοι von den Ὀσσηνοί unterscheidet, so sind die
-Eigenheiten, die er von den Erstern berichtet, doch ganz essäisch.
-Ebenso hat Makrisi die Essäer in drei Secten zerspalten, in die Täufer
-(‏מנטהרון‎ = ἡμεροβαπτισταί), die Essäer (‏אסאניון‎) und in die
-Nasiräer (‏מתחשפון‎) (in de Sacy Chrestomathie Arabe Ausgabe von 1806,
-arabischer Theil 172 und tome ii, 218). Das arabische Makkabäerbuch
-bezeichnet die Essäer durch Chassidäer (c. xxv); in Josippon fehlen an
-der Stelle, wo er von den drei Secten spricht, gerade die Essäer (iv,
-6, Breithaupt) Die Identität von Nasiräern, Essäern und Assidäern wird
-also von vielen Seiten bestätigt. Auch aus Josephus’ Angabe, die Essäer
-hätten eigne Bücher gehabt (jüd. Kr. ii, 8, 7), lässt sich ihre
-Identität mit den Assidäern erweisen. Im Talmud (Jeruschalmi Barachot,
-Ende) wird aus einem Buchs der Chassidäer der Satz mitgetheilt:
-“Verlässt du sie einen Tag, so verlässt sie dich zwei Tage”: ‏כתוב בספר
-חסידים אם תעובה יום יומים תעובך‎
-
-[95] Geschichte der Juden, vol. iv. Leipzig, 1856, p. 96–106; 518–528.
-
-[96] Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner Secten, vol. 1. Leipzig,
-1857, p. 207–215.
-
-[97] Die Essäer waren die Baitusim, wie schon R. Asarja de’ Rossi
-vermuthet hat; es muss dies nur besser begründet werden, als von ihm
-geschehen ist. Ich bemerke zu dem Ende erstens, dass wie das
-vorgesetzte ‏בית‎ auch in den Benennungen Bet-Schammaj, Bet-Hillel
-Schule oder Fraction bedeutet, so Tosifta Kelim ii, 6 ‏בית הכותים‎,
-Chulin 6, a ‏בי כותאי‎ für die Sekte oder das Land der Cutim vorkommt;
-sodann dass Tosifta Succa, K. iii zweimal und Tosifta Menachot K. z.
-für Baitusim ‏בית סין‎ stehet: kann dies wohl etwas Anderes als Haus,
-Sekte der Essener bedeuten? Als ‏אסי‎ (Arzt) Sektenname wurde, konnte
-man den Essäer nicht gut mehr schlechthin ‏אסי‎ nennen, ohne undeutlich
-zu werden, man umschrieb ihn daher wohl als Einen vom ‏בית אסי‎,
-bildete danach auch mit Zugrundelegung der Form Essener, das
-nachgewiesene ‏בית סין‎ and zog dann Jenes zusammen, um den einzelnen
-Essäer zu bezeichnen, gab aber dieser Form den u-Laut, entweder nachdem
-man das syrische Wort ‏אסי‎ zuweilen nach syrischer Weise ôsseh, also
-dunkel ausgesprochen hatte, woher die Aussprache Ossener bei Epiphanius
-herrühren mag, oder was mir noch wahrscheinlicher ist, indem man dem
-Worte Peruschim conform Zedukim und Baitusim bildete.
-
-[98] Nach allem diesen scheint es, dass ein Jude, welcher mit der unter
-den alexandrinischen Juden aufblühenden allegorischen Exegese und mit
-deren Erzeugerin, der griechischen Weisheit, bekannt geworden war,
-daneben aber auch Gelegenheit gefunden hatte, von ägyptischen Priestern
-Manches zu lernen, wie Pythagoras selbst, Platon und Herodot, den Plan
-gefasst und ausgeführt habe, eklektisch hieraus und aus dem Judenthume
-ein speculatives und asketisches System sowie nach demselben aus
-judäischen Asketen eine Sekte zu bilden. Dass es an Solchen nicht
-gefehlt habe, verbürgt das Vorkommen von Nasiräern, z. B. nach Tosifta
-Nasir K. iv unter Schimon dem Gerechten, ferner 1 Mack. iii, 49, und
-von ihrer 300 auf einmal unter Schimon ben Schatach nach Nasir jer. v,
-3. Dass er aber nicht mit jüdischen Asketen in Ägypten diesen Versuch
-machte, geschah vielleicht, weil es damals dort noch an solchen Asketen
-fehlte, oder weil er selbst aus Judäa gebürtig sein mochte.
-
-[99] Geschichte des Volkes Israel von Vollendung des Zweiten Tempels
-bis zur Einsetzung des Mackabäers Schimon zum hohen Priester und
-Fürsten, Zweiter Band. Nordhausen, 1857, p. 368–377; 387–409.
-
-[100] Die jüdische Apokalyptik in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung.
-Jena, 1857, p. 245–278.
-
-[101] Geschichte der Juden, Dritter Band Zweite Auflage. Leipzig, 1863,
-p. 216–252.
-
-[102] The History of the Jews from the earliest period down to modern
-times. London, 1863, vol. ii. p. 110–115.
-
-[103] “Sie lieferte zwar nicht wissenschaftliche Resultate, aber ihr
-Leben deutet sattsam darauf hin, dass ihre Bestrebungen darauf
-gerichtet waren, wie in Alexandrien, nur von einem andern Standpunct
-ans, die Religion und die Wissenschaft zu versöhnen.” Der Geist der
-ersten Schriftauslegungen order: Die hagadische Exegese. Berlin, 1847,
-p. 114, &c.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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