Jos. eiiually implies that they were more or less Hellenized. Would he have conspired with Philo to misrepresent them ? Nothing is more im- probable.
The conclusion, then, is probable that they owed their origin to the introduction and diffusion of Greek culture in the early part of tlie 2nd cent. B.C. They woj-" in some respects very strict Jews, and even fanatical observers of the Mosaic Law j but in others, notably in their election of their own priests,* and in the thereby implied super- session of the Levite hereditary priesthood, and in
• Jos. uses ff-«^^«Ti7»» {Ant. xvi. vi. 2). It la found In a very earlv Onooo-Jewish papyrus, edited by Mr. B. P. Grenfell, of Oxford.
t rk ^9f wXitrrm tik rvftfiiXjn i^mvrfiwp ^tikmrv v«^' •un4l
X Ant, XVIII. 1. 6; aw^ytHTui rSt w^triimi x*"'**"^^*^*' • ■ • it^^t it ivi vaitirii rtrm rt ■«« Sfi*>u*rtii. If the h>senea di» carded sacrifices, they had no need for priests of the old kind.
772
ESTATE
ESTHEK
their repudiation of animal sacrifices, they were a new dupai'ture in Judaism, and very closely akin to Jesus and His disciples.
The literature relating to the Essenes is so vast as to defy detailed reference. The student may be advised to study for himself the very limited documentary sources relating to them, and then to draw his own conclusions.* F. C. Conybearb.
ESTATE In AV (1611 and mod. edd.) 'estate'
occurs 19 times, ' state ' 14 times, without diUer- ence of meaning ; thus Col 4' ' All my state (to. Kar (fii rdfTa) shall Tychicus declare unto you,' but v.' ' that he might know your estate ' (TR rd jrtpl i/j.Qr) ; and again, Ph 2''- ** ' your state ' (to Trepl iiiiCir). Cf. Melvill, Diary, 289, ' We fand him in a miserable esteat ' ; Calderwood, History, 144, ' I, Mr. Andrew Melville . . . most earnestly hath prayed at all times, and specially in the fore- said Sermon, for the preservation and prosperous estate of his Majestie.' The meaning is either ' condition ' as in those examples, or ' position ' as Ps 136^ ' Who remembered us in our low estate ' (uSep*?), Ec 1" ' I am come to great estate ' (■fi'rijn). Cf. T. Elyot, The Govemour (Croft's ed. 1. 26),' 'a man of the base estate of the communaltie ' ; Calderwood, History, 149, ' They declare how some of low estate, borne to no heritage . . . have creeped in favour with the King.' But in Dn 11'- *>■ »J- >* the meaning seems to be ' high rank,' •dignity,' as 11' ' Out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate.' The Heb. is [j kSn, which means ' place ' (as RV here) or ' office ' (as RVm), and the favourite translation before AV was 'in his stead' (Cov. Gen. Bish.); once, how- ever, the word is translated ' state ' (Pr 28', AV and RV). Akin to this meaning is Mk 6-' ' Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee ' (toU irpuirois, RV ' the chief men '), where, however, the word is used of the men to whom the dignity belongs. Cf. Fuller, Ch. Hist V. iii. 28, 'Item, that God never gave grace or knowledge of Holy Scripture to any great estate or rich man.' See also Ac 22° ' The high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders,' Gr. irav ri vpeff^vr^pioy, lit. ' all the presbytery,' i.e. the Sanhedrin (which see). Compare Communion Office in Pr. Bk. 1549, ' the whole estate of Christ's Church militant here in earth,' changed in 1552 into ' state.' In Ezk 36" ' I will settle you after your old estates,' the plu. is used simply because the ref. is to more than one person ; so Pref. to AV 1611, 'support fit for their estates.' J. Hastings.
ESTEEM, ESTIMATION.—* Esteem ' and ' esti- mate ' both come from Lat. oestimare, the latter directly, the former through Old Fr. estimer. The meaning of cBstimare is to assign a value, appraise, rate ; and that is the meaning of ' esti- mate' (Heb. ^1^) in Lv 27"'"', its only occur- rences in EV. 'Estimation ' occurs 20 times in the same chapter ; elsewhere Lv S"* " 6', Nu 18", and
• Schdrer (^HJP ii. iL 188 fl.) baa a full record of the litera- ture. The important names are Frankel, *Die Essaer," in Zntschr. fur rfie retigiSsen InUrasen df* Judenthutn^, 1846, 441-4(tl ; and ' Die Essaer nach thalraud. Quellen,' in MonaUchr, fur llach. u. Wisaemch. de» Judenlh. 1853, .'iO-iO, 61-73 ; Jost, (lexch. det JudeiMuma u. teiTKT Secten, 1857, i. 207-214 ; llerz- feld, Gi'iirJi. det Volk<-» Irr. (2nd ed. 1883), ii. 303 ff . , 388 £r. , 609 fl. ; Lijihttoot in Colnxnam and Philemon, 82-98, 349-419; same in Dumf^atv/ru, 323-4li7 ; Lucius, Der Kmeninimts, 1881 ; Uilpen- feld, Ki-'Ufnji'gcli. dfs Urchristejithuing, 1884, 87-149. Schurer may be supitlemented l)y adding ; Uinshurg in Smith and Wace, Diet. Chr. UiiKj. 1880 ; Ohle, 'Die Essener.^in JPTh (1888) xiv ; also ' Die PseiKlophilonischen Essaer und die Therapeuten.' in JSntnujt zur KtrchenjKch. 1888; Thomson, Bwkt which inlhii'nad our Lord. 18S9, 75-122; Morrison, Jew$ mider Kmnan Rule, 1890. 323-347; Cheyne, Oriyin of the Psalter, 1891, 418-421. 448-449; Cohn in JQR, 1892, 38-42; Fricdl^mder, 2ur BnUtehungSfjeich. det Chrigtenthumt, 1894, 9S-142 ; Cony- beare, Philo about the Contemplative Lift, 1695, 278 flf.— Editor.