ESSENES
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ESSENES
the mysteries connected with the cosmogonj' (mi^"T2 ri"iwN13) which played so important a part both among the Essenes and the Cabbalists.
III. Origin and Relalionship to Judaism and Christ i- anitij. — Tlie origin of this sect has been greatly nnsti- fied by Philo and Josephus, who, being anxious to rep- resent their co-religionists to cultivated Greeks in a Hellenistic garb, made the Essenes resemt)le as much as possible the Ascetic, Pythagorean, Platonic, and other philosophers. It has been still more mystified by the account of Plinj', who tells us that this com- munity has prolonged its existence for thousands of ages (" per seculorum millia — incredibile dictu — gens seterna est in qua nemo nascitur," Hist. Nat. v, 15). Most modern writers have shaped their description of this community according to these accounts, supposing that tiie Essenes are neither mentioned in the N. T. nor in the ancient Jewish writings, and hence conclud- ing that the sect originated in Egypt or Greece, or in the philosophic sj'stems of both countries. Hilgenfeld (^Zeits.fur tviss. Tkeol., 1867, i, art. vi) undertakes to show the historical connection of Essenism with Par- sism and Buddhism. Frankel seeks, from a number of passages in the Talmud and Midrashim, to show that Essenism is simply an order of Pharisaism, that both are sections of the Chasidim or Assidseans [see Ciiasidim], and that all these three orders are fre- quently spoken of under the same name. That the Essenes are an order of Pharisees is distinctly stated in Abofk R. Nathan, c. xxxvii, where we are told that there are eight distinctions or orders among the Phar- isees, and that those Pharisees who live in celibacy are
the 7;sseHes c:^':jv insin:3 ciiE— cn c-'-ji'ns'n).
This will, moreover, be seen from a comparison of the following practices, which Josephus describes as pecul- iar characteristics of the Essenes, with the practices of the Pharisees, as given in the Talmud and Midra- shim :
1. The Essenes had four classes of Levitical purit}-, which were so marked that a member of the upper class had to bathe himself when he touched anj'thing belonging to the lower class, or when he came in con- tact with a stranger; so also the Pharisees (comp. Jo- sephus, War, ii, 8, 10, with Char/if/a, ii, 7).
2. The Essenes regarded ten persons as constituting a complete number for divine worship, and held the assembly of such a number as sacred ; so the Phari- sees (comp. Wa?; 2, 8, 9, with Aboth, iii, G; Beruchoth, 54, a).
3. The Essenes would not spit out in the presence of an assembh', or to the right hand ; so the Pharisees (comp. War, ii, 8, 9, witli Jerusalem, Bei-uchoth, iii, 5).
4. The Essenes regarded their social meal as a sac- rament; so the Pharisees (compare War, ii, 8, 5, with Berachoth, 55, a).
5. The Essenes bathed before meals ; so the Phari- sees (comp. War, ii, 8, 5, with Chagiga, 18, b).
6. The Essenes put on an apron on the lower part of the body when bathing ; the Pharisees covered them- selves with the talith (comp. War, ii, 8, 5, with Bera- choth, 24, b).
7. The Essenes bathed after performing the duties of nature ; so the priests (comp. War, ii, 8, 9, with Yo- ma, 28, a).
8. The Essenes abstained from taking oaths ; so the Pharisees (coni])are War, ii, 8, G, with Shehuoth, 39, b ; Gitlin, 35, a ; Beniidbar Rabba, xxii).
9. The Essenes would not even remove a vessel on the Sabbath ; so the Pharisees (compare War, ii, 8, 9, with Tosiphta Succa, iii).
10. The Essenes had a steward in every place where they resided to supply the need}' strangers of this or- der with articles of clothing and food; so the Phari- sees (comp. War, ii, 8, 4, with Peah, viii, 7; Baba Ba- thra, 8, a; Sabbath, 118).
11. The Essenes believed that all authority comes
from God ; so the Pharisees (comp. War, ii, 8, 7, with Berachoth, 58, a).
12. An applicant for admission to the order of the Essenes had to pass through a novitiate of twelve months; so the I^H among the Pharisees (compare l('«r, ii, 8, 7, with Bechoroth, 30, b).
13. The novice among the Essenes received an ajiron {■n-fpi'L^Mfia) the first year of his probation ; so the Cha- ber among the Pharisees (compare War, ii, 8, 7, with Tosiphta Demay, c. ii ; Jerusalem, Demay, ii, 3, b ; Ee- choroth, 80, b).
14. The Essenes delivered the thcosophical books, and the sacred names, to the members of their society; similarly the Pharisees (comp. War, ii, 8, 7, with Cha- giga, ii, 1 ; Kiddushim, 71, a).
The real differences between the Essenes and the Pharisees developed them.'elves in the course of time, when the eitreme rigor with which the former sought to perform the laws of Levitical purit}' made them with- draw from intercourse with their fellow-men, and led them, 1. To form an isolated order ; 2. To keep from marriage, because of the perpetual pollutions to which women are subject in menstruation and childliirth, and because of its beine: a hindrance to a purely devo- tional state of mind ; 3. To abstain from frequenting the Temple and offering sacrifices (compare Jopephus Ant. xviii, 1, 5) ; and, 4. Though they firnil}' believed in the immortalit}' of the soul, yet they did not lielieve in the resurrection of the bodj' {}Var, ii, 8, 11). To the Pharisees they stood nearly in the same relation as that in which the Pharisees themselves stood with regard to the mass of the people. The difference lay mainh' in rigor of practice, and not in articles of be- lief. See Pharisee.