Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - We've done and seen so much already, it's time I start sharing some highlights of the things that have impacted me here. I start with:
So far I think this is the most fascinating and surprising subject matter I've learned since I've been here. As you read on, note the similarities to Christianity. The Essenes were an aescetic group of devout Jews that split from mainstream Judaism around 200BC, left Jerusalem and moved out into the desert, voluntarily pursued poverty, replaced animal sacrifice with offerings of prayers, condemned slavery (unheard of for their time!); they believed they were the "last generation". In my opinion, they clearly were anticipating something.
A couple centuries later Jerusalem would be completely, gruesomely destroyed, but the Essenes' literary works would be kept safe from the invaders out in the desert for 2 millenia. They believed in immortality of the soul that survived bodily death. They abandoned the Hebrew Calendar and replaced it with one that consisted of 12 months, 52 weeks, a total of 364 days, some months with 31 days, some with 30. They believed Sunday was the proper day of Sabbath rather than Saturday. They had a daily breaking of bread and sharing of wine. In effect, they were practicing Christianity - 200 years before Jesus. They of course produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, a library work consisting of 3 sections: The Hebrew Bible (proving that the Jewish Bible/Christian Old Testament today is nearly 100% the same as 2000 years ago), a book of community rituals and rules, and their own prophetic books of end times, including an enigmatic "Teacher of Righteousness" within their community that could properly interpret the Hebrew prophets & their prophecies.
The mysteries go deeper. But visiting the Israel Museum that contain the Dead Sea Scrolls and explanations of the Essenes illumined my mind and made me thirsty to know more about these enigmatic people. I plan on studying them more.
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