These, as Rappaport rightly remarks, are some of the remains of the ancient prayer used by the Essenes. It will be seen that these hymns of praise contain not only thanksgiving for the renewal of the light, to which Josephus refers, but they also refer to the mysterious cosmogony (מעשה בראשית) and theosophy (מעשה מרכבה), as well as to the angels which played such an important part among this brotherhood.[85]
1835.—The difficulty of reading Rabbinical Hebrew in which Rappaport’s profound remarks are written, must have prevented Gfrörer from seeing what this erudite Jewish critic had written on the Essenes; for, although the second edition of vol. i. part 11 of his Critical History of Primitive Christianity, containing an account of the Essenes, appeared in 1835, yet he positively states “that the Essenes and the Therapeutae are the same sect and hold the same views” (p. 299). [[71]]According to him, the development of Essenism is as follows. In the third century before Christ, the Jews in Alexandria formed societies according to the Pythagorean model, and thus originated the sect called the Therapeutae, from these Egyptian Therapeutae again Essenism developed itself in Palestine about 130 B.C. Hence Essenism is the channel through which the Alexandrian theosophy was first transplanted into Palestinian soil. The reason why the Essenes kept their doctrines secret is that the Palestinian priests were hostile to this foreign importation, and persecuted those who received this contraband. Accordingly, the relationship of Pythagorism, Therapeutism and Essenism, to use Gfrörer’s own figure, is that of grandmother, mother and daughter. “So perfect is the agreement between the Therapeutae and the Essenes, that it even extends to their names. For the word Ἐσσαῖνς according to the most correct etymology, is derived from the Syro-Chaldaic verb אסא which denotes to cure, to nurse, and hence is nothing but a literal translation of θεραπευτὴς.”[86]
1843.—Similar in spirit is the elaborate article on the Essenes in Ersch und Gruber’s Cyclopœdia, written by Dähne, who maintains that “Essenism is the produce of the Jewish-Alexandrian philosophy, and that it is only when viewed from this stand-point that the deviations from the rest of their Jewish co-religionists, and their peculiar institutions, doctrines, and precepts appear in the clearest light.” It is not surprising that holding such an opinion Dähne should feel perplexed to account for the existence of this thoroughly Jewish-Alexandrian order, as he makes the Essenes to be, in the very heart of Palestine. All that he can say upon this subject is, that they somehow got there in the middle of the second century before Christ. The affiliation of Essenism to the Jewish-Alexandrian [[72]]philosophy brings it into most intimate relationship with Therapeutism, and necessarily devolves upon Dähne to define this family connection which he does in the following manner.[87] “The difference between the Therapeutae and the Essenes, both of whom are followers of the Jewish-Alexandrian moral philosophy, is that the former devoted themselves entirely to a contemplative life, whilst the latter gave themselves more especially to a practical life. Hence though both rest upon the same foundation, the Therapeutae gave themselves up absolutely to the highest aim of man, as they marked it out, the contemplation of God; whilst the Essenes to some extent voluntarily lingered in the outer court of the Holy of Holies, placed themselves intentionally for the good of the brethren in more frequent contact with the world than the requirements of nature demanded, thereby generously, but certainly unphilosophically, temporarily retarding their own highest perfection and happiness.” Like De Rossi, Bellermann, Gfrörer and others, Dähne derives the name from the Chaldee אסא to heal, and says “accordingly the term Essenes denotes spiritual physicians, or men who strive in the highest sense to lead back the spirit to its natural (i.e. truly divine) character and activity.”[88]
1846.—A new epoch began in the history of the Essenes with the investigation of Frankel on this subject, which [[73]]appeared in his Zeitschrift für die religiözen Interesse des Judenthums, 1846. Taking up the idea of Rappaport, that the Essenes must be looked for in the body of the Jews and not as a separate sect, Frankel refers to the fact that, whilst the Assideans = Chassidim are referred to in 1 Macc. ii. 24 ; 2 Macc. xiv. 6 , &c., the Perushim = Pharisees are never mentioned, to show that no such marked and denominational divisions existed at first in the community, and rightly remarks, that it “is only after a longer development that sects appear in their separation, and sharply defined features, when that which originally formed a united whole is now divided and parted into various branches. And even this partition and separation only shew themselves to the analysing mind, and especially when the analysis is conducted after a foreign fashion, as Josephus has done it, who reduced the Jewish sects into Greek schools, and made the Essenes correspond to the Pythagoreans. But in reality even these divisions flow one into another, and do not stand in opposition to one another, but are simply to be distinguished by their different shades of colour, and by the greater stringency or laxity with which the same rules are regarded, so that they do not form separate sects, but some individuals keep to these rules with greater anxiety, whilst others, though considering them as binding, do not regard them as having such a wide application. Now in early times there were only Essenes = Chassidim (חסדים), the name of Perush = Pharisee (פרוש) was not as yet known; it was only afterwards when in succeeding periods some became more rigid in their manner of life and views of religion, that the name Pharisees (פרושים) appears to denote the less strict Jews, whilst the others were in a special degree denominated by the old, respectable appellation Chassidim = Essenes (חסדים).” This, Frankel corroborates by showing most clearly that many of the vital principles which Josephus describes as peculiar to Essenism, are at the very basis of [[74]]Pharisaism, and that the Essenes are frequently mentioned in the Mishna, Talmud, and Midrashim by the names חסדים הראשונים the original Assideans = Chassidim, חברים the associates, ותיקין those who have enfeebled their bodies through much study; דבירושלים the retired ones; צנועין קהלא קדישא the holy congregation in Jerusalem; טובלי שחרית hemerobaptists. Frankel concluded his essay with the promise to return to this subject on some future occasion.[89]
1847.—Within twelve months of the publication of Frankel’s elaborate Essay, an article appeared in the American Quarterly entitled The Biblical Repository. As there was not sufficient time for this German production to become known in the New World, Mr. Hall, the writer of the article, could not avail himself of it, and was therefore obliged to derive his information from the writings of Dr. Neander. But though Mr. Hall has thrown no light on the Essenes, yet his reflections upon their moral character and their connection with Christianity are so just, sensible and candid, that we subjoin them to show that good Christians may honestly acknowledge the good in Essenism without detracting from Christianity.
“Let us give the Essene credit for all that he was as a worshipper of the true God, and as a man striving after moral purity in a corrupt age. The Gospel that breathed new life into the higher nature of man, can afford to allow all his virtues. We know that the Spirit of Christ opens the eye to the excellencies of others. Truth rejoices in truth, and as all truth is from the same source, the lustre of one development can never be increased by hiding the glory of another. We would not enhance the necessity of our Lord’s appearance by depreciating the moral condition of mankind at that period. Those ascetic Jews deserve well of mankind for the light they gave out in a dark age. We admire the humanity and justice of their principles; their disapproval of war and slavery in the midst of a world lying in wickedness, and the noble example of industry, frugality and moderation in the things of this life they set before all. We honour their honest endeavours to combine the vita contemplativa and the vita activa,—to escape the bondage of the senses, to maintain the supremacy of the spirit, and to unite themselves with the Highest. But in all these respects, they are only the true children of monotheism, the legitimate offspring of the Jewish theocracy. They could have sprung up nowhere else. In the phenomenon of the Essenes let us [[75]]therefore adore the provident wisdom of Jehovah, and recognize the secret working of his love in carrying forward the great, eternal economy of salvation. They exerted an influence on their age which helped to pave the way for the Christ. Conscience spoke, and was spoken to, through them; and the dying sense of virtue was kept alive. Thus were they stars which emitted an humble though useful light before, but grew pale and became invisible after, the coming of the Sun of Righteousness.”[90]
1852.—Though Ewald published the second edition of the fourth volume of his Jewish History in 1852, when Frankel’s Essay had been six years before the literary world, yet he manifests total ignorance of it in his account of the Essenes, contained in this volume. Still, this profound and merciless critic, without having access to the Jewish information gathered from the Talmud and Midrashim, saw that Essenism was no Greek plant transplanted into Palestine, but like Pharisaism grew out of the Chassidim. He remarks that “people who left the great community in order to lead a specially holy life, with the permission and under the direction of the law, were to be found in Israel from the remotest times, yet in its first form there were only the Nazarites, of whom each one lived for himself; and in the second, the Rechabites combined themselves already into a larger union; but now the whole conscience of the people itself, as it were, departed into solitude with numerous Essenes. For it cannot be denied that they, proceeding from the Chassidim, represent the direct and legitimate development of Judaism in the form which became the ruling one since Ezra.” “Their new features and endeavours merely consisted in their intensely earnest and rigorous application of the demands of the law, as understood and interpreted since Ezra. Finding that the rigorous and logical application of these laws was impossible in the great community, especially in that community as regulated by the Pharisees, they preferred to congregate and [[76]]live in solitude.”[91] Very unfortunate is Ewald’s derivation of Essene from the Rabbinic חזן servant (of God), and the assertion that this name was given to them because it was their only desire to be θεραπευταὶ θεοῦ.
1853.—Nearly seven years had now elapsed since Frankel published his masterly Essay on the Essenes, and promised to return to this subject at some future time. True to his promise, he now gave another elaborate treatise, in which he substantiated, by numerous quotations from the Talmud, his former conclusions, that the Essenes are the offspring of Judaism, that they are nothing but stationary, or more correctly speaking consequential Chassidim, that they were therefore not so far distant from the Pharisees as to be regarded as a separate sect, but, on the contrary, that they formed a branch of Pharisaism.[92]
1856.—So convincing was Frankel’s Treatise, that Graetz, who published the third volume of his masterly History of the Jews in 1856, in which he gives an elaborate account of this brotherhood, remarks:[93] “I completely accept these results about this sect being based upon critical investigation, and shall only add a few supplementary points by way of illustration.”[94] The additions consist of a very able analysis of Philo’s reputed Treatise entitled De Vita Contemplativa, showing that it is spurious, and of an attempt to show that the Essenes were perpetual Nazarites (נזירי עולם). His remarks are as follow—“There were great masses of Nazarites in the [[77]]post-exile period (Tosifta Nasir, c. iv.; Babbi Berachoth, 48 a; 1 Macc. ii. 49; Joseph. Antiq. xviii. vi.), but they were of a different character to those of the Biblical period; they were Nazarites for the whole life (Nasir 4 a.) The Mishna presupposed their existence; the magical in Nazaritism, which was connected with the growing of the hair in the Nazarites of the Bible, gradually recedes into the back ground or loses its significance altogether; whereas the Levitical, the guarding against defilement, appears more and more in the foreground among the life-long Nazarites. The Essenes then were such Nazarites as represented in private life the highest priestly consecration. The connection between the Nazarites and Essenes has already been indicated in obscure passages in the Talmud, that one consecrated himself to be a perpetual Nazarite if he simply wished to be a Nazarite in order that he [[78]]might be able to preserve the secrets of disgraceful family circumstances. (Tosifta Nasir, b. i. 6; Kidushim 71 a.)[95]
1857.—The learned historian Jost, who published the first volume of his History of Judaism in 1857, was also perfectly convinced by the results of Frankel’s researches, and made them the basis of his excellent description of the Essenes, in which he maintains that they grew out of Pharisaism or from the ancient Chassidim. “The Essenes,” he submits, “are exactly the same that the other Rabbis wished to be who endeavoured to practise the Levitical law of purity, as leading to higher consecration. They have neither another creed nor another law, but simply institutions peculiar to this brotherhood, and endeavour to reach the highest consecration by their manner of life, in defining the different stages, according to preliminary exercises and certain years of preparation. Their views and tenets are therefore also to be found in the utterances of the learned and the Rabbis who did not enter their order, so that they did not look upon the Essenes as opponents or apostates, but, on the contrary, as holding the same opinions with increased claims and some fewer enjoyments, whom many out of their own midst joined, and who were called Chassidim or Zenuim.”[96]