[22] This is not the only reason why the Essenes withdrew from cities. Their observance of the Levitical laws of purity which rendered them impure when they came in contact with those who did not live according to the same rules, was the principal cause of their living separately. (Vide supra p. 7, note 1.) Philo, however, states the first reason because the Greeks, for whom he wrote, understood it better than the second, which is so peculiarly Jewish in its character. [↑]
[23] The same thing Christ urged on his disciples. Comp. Matth. vi. 19–21 . [↑]
[24] This simple desire for the supply of our daily bread, and the contentment of mind here spoken of, are also commended by our Saviour. ( Matth. vi. 11 , 25–34 .) [↑]
[25] Believing that all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword, Comp. Matth. xxvi. 52 . [↑]
[26] The Apostle Paul, too, admonished the Colossians to “beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy.” ( Col. ii. 8 .) [↑]
[27] Thus also Christ, when he was asked which was the greatest commandment in the law, declared, love to God and love to our neighbour, and that on these two hang all the law and the prophets. (Comp. Matth. xxii. 36–40 .) [↑]
[28] Although the taking of oaths was discountenanced by the Jews generally (Comp. Ecclus. xxiii 11, &c.; and especially Philo De decem oraculis § 17, Opp. Tom. ii. p. 194, &c., ed. Mangey); and the Pharisees took great care to abstain as much as possible from using them (Comp. Shevuoth 39, b; Gittin 35, a; Bemidbar Rabba c. xxii); yet the Essenes were the only order who laid it down as a principle not to swear at all, but to say yea, yea, and nay, nay. So firmly and conscientiously did they adhere to it that Herod, who on ascending the throne had exacted an oath of allegiance from all the rest of the Jews, was obliged to absolve the Essenes from it. (Comp. Joseph. Antiq. book xv. chap. x. § 4). Christ too, laid it down as a principle for his disciples not to swear at all, but to say yea, yea, and nay, nay. (Comp. Matth. v. 38–37 .) [↑]
[29] This community of goods was also adopted by the early Christians, who, as we are told, “sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all as every man needed.”—(Comp. Acts, ii. 45 , iv. 34, 35. ) [↑]
[30] The account here given of the sufferings of the Essenes bears a very striking resemblance to the description in the Epistle to the Hebrews xi. 36–38; and it may be that the Apostle refers to this extraordinary brotherhood. [↑]
[31] This fragment which Eusebius has preserved is given in Philo’s Works, ed. Mangey, vol. ii., p. 622, seq. [↑]