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< Back to From the BAS Library The Dead Sea Scrolls and Why They MatterWhat Jesus Learned from the Essenes Talkback Add Your Comment
The Blessing of Poverty, the Bane of Divorce Scholars have been cautious about drawing a direct line between Jesus and the Dead Sea Scroll sectarians. Indeed, perhaps the most criticized sentence in the vast literature about the Dead Sea Scrolls is one penned by the great American literary critic Edmund Wilson. Based on the conclusions of the French Dead Sea Scroll scholar André Dupont-Sommer, Wilson wrote:
The monastery [at Qumran, adjacent to the caves where the scrolls were found], this structure of stone that endures, between the waters and precipitous cliffs, with its oven and its inkwells, its mill and its cesspool, its constellations of sacred fonts and the unadorned graves of its dead, is perhaps, more than Bethlehem or Nazareth, the cradle of Christianity.1
There is much to criticize here. Indeed, it is a gross exaggeration. Yet in certain instances it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Jesus did indeed base some of his teachings directly on sectarian doctrine found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I shall discuss two such instances here.
The sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls reflect the teachings of the Essenes from about 150 B.C.E. to 70 C.E. Although some scholars still question the identification of the scrolls as Essene, I believe with time and study this classification will become even stronger. Moreover, I believe (although this remains a bit more of a question) Judaism of the first century C.E., at least Palestinian Judaism, was divided into three main streams: the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes.2 It would therefore be a mistake to minimize the importance of the Essenes.
The first matter on which I wish to focus is the Essene attitude to wealth. The Essenes were the only Jewish religious movement that regarded poverty as a value.
Normative Judaism, to paraphrase Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, does not regard poverty as a shameful situation, but neither does it see it as something to be proud of. Before the rise of Essenism, the poor were considered wretched creatures who were taken care of by a compassionate Lord. The new movement of Essenes, however, made poverty and the sharing of material goods a cornerstone of their theology and the main principle of their organization.3
The first-century C.E. Jewish historian Josephus, who may himself have tried out Essenism, tells us: “Riches they despise, and their community of goods is truly admirable; you will not find one among them distinguished by greater opulence than another. They have a law that new members on admission to the sect shall confiscate their property to the order” (
This is exactly what we are told in the sectarian scroll known as the Rule of the Community, or Serekh ha-Yahad (referred to in scholarly shorthand as 1QS): “When he had completed a year within the Community. . .his possessions and his earnings will also be joined at the hand of the Inspector.”5
This people’s dismissive attitude toward wealth is expressed frequently throughout the scrolls. For example, in the hymnic compositions called Hodayot, we read: “The soul of Thy servant has loathed [riches] and gain, and he has not [desired] exquisite delights.”6
Compare these sentiments to the Gospels. One of the most famous sayings of Jesus is, “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25; Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25). This is almost surely an authentic saying of Jesus–it appears in all three Synoptic Gospels* (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and it agrees with other gospel traditions.
Another terse epigrammatic dictum is, “No one can serve two masters. . .You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
A similar statement can be found in the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24).7
  This attitude toward wealth (and poverty) has had a marked influence on human history. It seems well-nigh certain that it was originally an Essene doctrine that was passed on to the Jesus movement.
Where did Jesus learn this Essene doctrine? It seems probable that he was directly exposed to Essene preaching. He may also have learned this from John the Baptist, who was himself a follower of certain Essene principles. Indeed, John the Baptist may even have lived at Qumran for a time.* It was John himself who said, “He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise” (Luke 3:11).
The second doctrine that I believe came directly from the Essenes to Jesus is his attitude toward divorce. Indeed, the best-attested tradition in the Gospels is the prohibition on divorce. No reasonable doubt can be cast upon its authenticity.8 It appears four times in the Synoptic Gospels, in two short pericopes and two long ones, and again in one of Paul’s epistles: “Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery” (Luke 16:18; Mark 10:10; cf. Matthew 5:32; 19:9; 1 Corinthians 7:1–40).
As the rationale for this doctrine, the Gospel of Mark specifically cites two passages in Genesis. Mark writes, “But from the beginning of creation, ’God made them male and female’” [quoting Genesis 1:27]. ’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ [Genesis 2:24]. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:6–8; see also Matthew 19:4–6).
This is a very different attitude from that of the Pharisees, who accepted divorce. Indeed, in the Gospel of Mark (and in Matthew 19), Jesus gives his views on divorce in answer to a question put to him by Pharisees: “And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, ’Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’” (Mark 10:2). The Pharisees then put forth their own opposing doctrine: “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away” (Mark 10:4). It is clear that the Pharisees wish to test Jesus on a matter on which their views are diametrically opposed.
  The Mosaic law on divorce, which the Pharisees cite in Mark, is explicit and unequivocal: Divorce is the prerogative of the husband (Leviticus 21:7; Numbers 30:10; Deuteronomy 22:19, 29). Moreover, this was the practice of rabbinic Judaism as well. The school of Hillel says: “[He may divorce her] even if she spoiled a dish for him, for it is written–’because he has found some indecency in her’ [Deuteronomy 24:1].” Rabbi Akiva said: “Even if he has found another fairer than she, for it is written–’If then she finds no favor in his eyes’ [Deuteronomy 24:1]” (Mishna, Gittin 9.10). A man is also allowed to divorce (literally, to chase away) his wife if she is a scold (Mishna, Ketuboth 7.6).
The Essenes were the only group in Judaism to take a dim view of divorce. That’s because the Essenes, like the followers of Jesus, considered marriage a sacred union in which two people become one.9
The Dead Sea Scroll known as the Damascus Document speaks of those who are “caught in fornication twice by taking a second wife while the first is alive.”10 The text then cites as Biblical authority the very passage cited in Mark: “Male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).
The Temple Scroll places this prohibition even on the king: “And he shall not take upon her [his first wife] another wife, for she alone shall be with him all the days of her life. But should she die, he may take unto himself another [wife] from the house of his father, from his family.”11 In the Damascus Document, the Qumran sectarians cite the prohibition in Deuteronomy 17:17 against a king’s having many wives.
  Thus, remarriage is permitted to the Essenes only after the death of a spouse. While the prohibition against divorce is not an Essene absolute (contrary to what many scholars believed until recently),12 divorce must have been extremely rare in light of the ban on remarriage while the divorced spouse was still alive. Interestingly, Jesus, too, allowed divorce in cases of porneia (fornication or unchastity) (Matthew 5:31, 19:9).
In sum, Jesus must have been deeply influenced by the Essene attitude toward marriage as a sanctified union. In both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospels, doctrine on marriage and divorce is based on the same passage in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 1:27: “Male and female He created them”). There is thus good reason to think that this attitude was adopted by Jesus from the Essenes.
The two doctrines discussed here–toward poverty and toward marriage–have shaped the lives of millions of Christians in the past two millennia. These attitudes, I believe, were directly shaped by the attitudes on the same subjects of the Essenes as revealed to us in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Of course, the Essene doctrines in many respects differed markedly from that of the Jesus movement. Jesus viewed the Essenes as pious simpletons. In the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:8–9), he says: “For the sons of this world are wiser in their generation than the sons of light [a reference to the Essenes]. And I tell you make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.”
For further details, see Magen Broshi, “Matrimony and Poverty: Jesus and the Essenes,” in Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 36 (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), pp. 252–258; reprinted from Revue de Qumran, 19 (2000), pp. 628–634.
NakanoI subscribed this site to read the actual text of DSS, but all I've got is explanations about it, NOT the actual text! Where can I find the English translation of the actual text? • • • • • • • Dead Sea Scrolls not translatedOn a Christian web site the writer tells about visiting William Kando's antiquities shop in Bethlehem. "Kando," he said, "owns the remains of one large scroll of Genesis worth 35 million dollars and other DSS fragments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars." The Kando family also say they possess jars taken from the Qumran caves. Have scholars been allowed to view these fragments in order to get an idea of their content? • • • • • • • Dead Sea Scrolls "per se"... not tedious comments on them!This is all very nice but where are the links for the actual translations of the texts "per se"? Perhaps I couldn't locate them, so, would you be kind enough as to provide the link(s) to them? Thank you. And blessed be those who do not conceal these things from the little ones such as myself. Amen. • • • • • • • DSS in EnglishThere are at least three English translations available. Vermes, Garcia-Martinez, and the Wise, Abegg and Cook translation. I've read virtually all of all three. I would suggest that comparing passages between the three translations gives new insights. • • • • • • • DSS UnderstandingNot sure about online, but for a critical look at the currently accepted translation and process read: Norman Golb, Who Wrote The Dead Sea Scrolls? And for a good version of the currently accepted translation: Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English • • • • • • • DSS in EnglishIt's not as black and white as just reading the text because these original writings require scholarly interpretation of ancient language and customs. There is no one "exactly as the authors meant" version. So far, the Jewish historical perspective seems to be lacking, which explains the original weak theory that all of these writings were by one group. The best we can do is read everything we can, translations and critical books about the process of the translations. • • • • • • • DSSYea, umm, I would just like to read the DSS for myself, in the english language, however, all that I can find on the internet is discussion about the DSS and not the DSS interpreted in English online! Can somebody help? • • • • • • • Truth anyone??There are some great books that take a critical look at the monopoly the École Biblique held on scholarly interpretation. The basic premise that ONE group (Essenes of Qumran) wrote such a radically diverse body of literature is a real misunderstanding of Judaism, and the diversity within it. There are many concepts in various scrolls that contradict the Essene lifestyle, like war documents and codes dealing with children. Insights into early Christianity, yes. The mothership itself, no. • • • • • • • Dead Sea ScrollsThe DSS were hidden because the Romans were coming. The Essenes of Qumran saw themselves as serving two basic purposes. To preserve ancient knowledge and to teach. Both Jesus and John were students there and friends with common interests. Jesus was Baptized by John for the same reason others were. To be cleansed of sin and be reborn in light. The thought that these two people of knowing were in competition could only be considered by someone who is unrealized. • • • • • • • jesus is teh Teacher of RighteousnessChristianity started 100 years earlier than we have been told, The DSS documents this. The "Teacher of Righteousness" is Jesus; the "wicked Priest" is Hyrcanus II and "Man of the Lie" is Shimon Shetach. Judaism and Christianity can't be understood without understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Maccabean Dynasty. • • • • • • • EisenmanYou left out the one man who really matters in DSS research: Eisenman. He pegged the Wicked Priest (Ananus), Lying Spouter (Paul) and Righteous Teacher (James)! • • • • • • • 4q521http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/4q521.html • • • • • • • The Scrolls are not about the J-manIf you are expecting to find support for Christianity in The Dead Sea Scrolls you are going to be disappointed. QUOTE:"The Dead Sea Scrolls generated so much excitement when they were first found in part because it was thought they might contain some of the earliest Christian writings. Graham Stanton asks, “A Gospel Among the Scrolls?” but replies, Alas not." It turns out that the scrolls contain a copy of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and some of the Jewish "apocryphal" writings. There are NO mentions of the Jesus his friend in the scrolls. I think it is becoming clear that even his own followers knew he was not "the messiah" and CERTAINLY NOT "g-d in the flesh" G-D FORBID! That isn't how the G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac and G-d of Jacob rolls. • • • • • • • Jesus vs. John the BaptistThe Salome with Jesus was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of his son's; compare Mr 15:40; Mt 27:56. Also, if you read the book of John (the Apostle, not the Baptist) you will see that John and Jesus were never adversaries; no "vs." need go between their names. • • • • • • • Jesus vs John the BaptistPerhaps Jesus was behind the death of John. They both had followings of disciples and most likely also had disputes along with competition. If Jesus was the 'son of God' why did John ask whether he was the 'one to come or should we look for another'? Surely he of all people would know! At the death of John the bible says the disciples of Jesus came to him and told him all that happened, as if he was waiting somewhere for the news. Also, there was a female follower of Jesus' whose name was Salome. Could this have been the same Salome who danced for Herod and requested the head of John? Jozef Milik was one of the original DSS translators and also a RC priest. He left the church and married. One of the reasons he left the church was due to what he found in those scrolls. That information belongs to the world and I highly resent that all we get are crumbs and what the powers that be decide we can have. What does it take to wake people up? I for one, would love to know just what the truth is and EVERYTHING contained in the scrolls. How many more have to die over religion before we all come to our senses? How many children dying in such conflicts over who has the right god and who doesn't will it take. I fear many are still in the savage and barbaric state of ignorance and superstition and it is not only distressing, it is scary. • • • • • • • Importance of the Dead Sea ScrollsAs they stand today, their importance is terribly underestimated because the public has given up following the scholarly debates that brought more confusion than clarification. This was however a necessary phase where all ideas, be they contradictory, had to be debated. Everybody agrees on the importance of the DSC for nascent Christianity, but nobody agrees on their exact significance. Something new has to happen to shake off drowsiness. Time has come when we have to think differently. And realise that the Qumran Messiahs of the 'Apocalyptic fragment' represented two different clans supporting two different projects within the Teacher's Community. They were not waiting for two Messiahs, but each clan for its own Messiah. The avant-garde won, advocating a more political approach than the Essene traditionalists who did not search much further than eschatology. This is an enormous change in perception, and opens up to a different view of the Gospels. Considering all the affinities between the two communities, do the Gospels also oppose two Messiahs? Here also, we have to think differently. The first Gospels were written by a Jewish community for their own purposes and were not originally intended to becomoe a religion for Rome. We can therefore expect the Gospels to convey a local message very different from the one currently understood after they had been exported and set out of context. Thinking differently means realising that the Gospels are not telling us about a wandering Messiah whose words and deeds have been collected by different witnesses, but the story of a community at different stages of its history, explaining the baffling differences. They tell the story of the Essene community becoming a 'Christian' community. This community context in Antiochus where the Gospels were written becomes terribly apparent for the authors are also dealing here with two Messiahs, one winning, the other losing, quarelling until they accept to recognise the traditionalists in as much as they had preceeded the avant-garde and that they belonged to their antecedents. This is the meaning of the baptism of Jesus by John: a peace treaty. The avant-garde no longer rejects the traditionalists portrayed by John the Baptist and his baptism by water. The 'Jesus' clan is saying 'we accept that you were there before us and belong to our history'. This scene did not initially belong to Mark, the quarreller, but is typical of Mathew's healing the divided community. Thinking differently also means that we are terribly endebted to all those who previously studied the scrolls and were circling around their real meaning, without landing where they wanted on the planet Eurêka. • • • • • • • Why the Dead Sea Scrollls are ImportantTo Matt who doesn't understand why the Dead Sea Scrolls are important. Excerpting from the article: The scrolls were written between the dates of 250 B.C.E. and 68 C.E. when the Roman legions were on their way to destroy Solomon's Temple in 70 C.E. Matt, these scrolls were written during these times in history, just think back over all of those years and realize the these documents which are real and in the hands of autoratative people being deciphered so that we can now know their contents and see the actual original documents when they are on public display. Matt, what would it mean to you to have in your hands important archaeological religious historical documents written well over 2,000 years ago. Matt, the most important information was given to us at the beginning of the article. I am quoting directly from the manuscript: Read carefully . . . "This priceless collection of ancient manuscripts is invaluable to our understanding of (1)the history of Judaism, (2)the development of the Hebrew Bible, and (3)and the beginnings of Christianity." • • • • • • • Connie's questionConnie, if you research under "calendar" or "roman calendar" you will see that the current calendar was presented to the then-current Pope in 531 by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus. But Dionysius was wrong about the date of the birth of Jesus - scholars now put that three years earlier in 4 BC not 1 BC. So if Jesus was born in Aril 4BC, he could not have been born in the year 0, Dec 25, or in the year -1 (1 BC), on Dec 25. In effect, if you do some research, you will see that all dates are wrong, from that starting point in 531. Everyone knows but no one wants to change the calendar. • • • • • • • NEED MORE INFO ON WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANTIts pretty good but i think it needs to have more information on why they are important to us!!! • • • • • • • time lineI am a little confused on the time line you have posted, I was always under the assumption that the cuurent era began with the birth of Jesus. And that hew was app. 33 years when he was crucafied. That would make His crusafixtion somewhere betwee 32-34 AD. The time line shows His birth at 4A.D. and his crucafixtion at 30 A.D.. Which would make him 26. We have always been told that men could not begin to teach before the were 30 years old. Could you explain this to me, I am sure I am missing somethg significant. Thank you. • • • • • • • SCROLLSKEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! • • • • • • • teacher of righteousnessdoes Barbara Thiering's theory of the teacher of righteousness being John the Baptist, fit with the idea that the text is telling of future events when the end of days is imminent? • • • • • • • The Dead Sea ScrollsI agree with Mr. Johson in the fact that the scrolls should be shared publically. No one should have absolute authority as to peace-meal the information out as they see fit. • • • • • • • DSSI certainly agree with Don. those findings should be shared with the public. remember the scrolls were not found by archaeologist but rather poor shepherds. even then it was shared. • • • • • • • PhotosThe Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah is available on the Internet along with an English translation. I also have two different book with photos of the entire scroll of Isaiah. But, that is all a layperson can find. I would like to have photos of all of the balance of the scrolls and fragments. • • • • • • • Robert EisenmannWhy is not Bob Eisenmann mentioned amoung the people surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Surely, his efforts deserve mention • • • • • • • Where are the photo copies?Why are photocopies of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the internet not available free to the public? Why are the intellectuals who control them allowed to have such exclusive rights, and cut the public out of such finds of Biblical importance? I’m only glad these fellows went into the field of archaeology. Had they gone into the field of atmospherics we would all be denied the very air we breath. • • • • • • • |
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