115. Philo, Quod omnis probus liber, 12, ed, Mang. ii. p. 457; Jos. Ant. xviii. 1.5.
116. They are also mentioned by Pliny (Hist. Natur. v. 16).
117. This may be inferred from Josephus' Life, c. 2.
118. This point is conclusively disposed of by Bishop Lightfoot in the third Dissertation
appended to his Commentary on the Colossians (pp. 397-419). In general, the masterly
discussion of the whole sub ject by Bishop Lightfoot, alike in the body of the Commentary
and in the three Dissertations appended, may be said to form a new era in the treatment of
the whole question, the points on which we would venture to express dissent being few
and unimportant. The reader who wishes to see a statement of the supposed analogy
between Essenism and the teaching of Christ will find it in Dr. Ginsburg's Article
'Essenes,' in Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography. The same line of
argument has been followe d by Frankel and Gärtz. The reasons for the opposite view are
set forth in the text.
We posses no data for the history of the origin and development (if such there was) of
Essenism. We may admit a certain connection between Pharisaism and Essenism, though
it has been greatly exaggerated by modern Jewish writers. Both directions originated
from a desire after 'purity,' though there seems a fundamental difference between them,
alike in the idea of what constituted purity, and in the means for attaining it. To the
Pharisee it was Levitical and legal purity, secured by the 'hedge' of ordinances which they
drew around themselves. To the Essene it was absolute purity in separation from the
'material,' which in itself was defiling. The Pharisee attained in this ma nner the distinctive
merit of a saint; the Essene obtained a higher fellowship with the Divine, 'inward' purity,
and not only freedom from the detracting, degrading influence of matter, but command
over matter and nature. As the result of this higher fello wship with the Divine, the adept
possessed the power of prediction; as the result of his freedom from, and command over
matter, the power of miraculous cures. That their purifications, strictest Sabbath
observance, and other practices, would form points of contact with Pharisaism, follows as
a matter of course; and a little reflection will show, that such observances would naturally
be adopted by the Essenes, since they were within the lines of Judaism, although
separatists from its body ecclesiastic. On the other hand, their fundamental tendency was
quite other than that of Pharisaism, and strongly tinged with Eastern (Parsee) elements.
After this the inquiry as to the precise date of its origin, and whether Essenism was an
offshoot from the original (ancie nt) Assideans or Chasidim , seems needless. Certain it is
that we find its first mention about 150 b.c.,119 and that we meet the first Essence in the
reign of Aristobulus I.120
119. Jos. Ant. xiii. 5. 9.
120. 105-104 b.c.; Ant. xiii. 11. 2; War i. 3. 5.
Before stating our conclusions as to its relation to Judaism and the meaning of the name,
we shall put together what information may be derived of the sect from the writings of
Josephus, Philo, and Pliny.121 Even its outward organisation and the mode o f life must
have made as deep, and, considering the habits and circumstances of the time, even
deeper impression than does the strictest asceticism on the part of any modern monastic
order, without the unnatural and repulsive characteristics of the latter. There were no
vows of absolute silence, broken only by weird chaunt of prayer or 'memento mori;' no