Note 7 — THE ESSENES.

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.