[32] The tracing of this brotherhood to Moses is in accordance with the practice which generally prevailed among the Jews of ascribing the origin of every law, mystical doctrine or system, which came into vogue in the course of time, either to Ezra, Moses, Noah or Adam. Thus we are told in the Jerusalem Talmud (Pea, ii. 6), and the Midrash (Coheleth, 96 d.), that all the Scriptural learning which developed itself in course of time, and everything which a Talmid Vatic might bring to light, were revealed to Moses beforehand on Mount Sinai. [↑]
[33] This refers to juvenile members of the fraternity, as the Essenes did adopt children, and trained them up to the practices of the order. Vide infra p. 41. [↑]
[34] The four companies here mentioned most probably refer to the four different classes into which the Essenes were divided, described more minutely by Josephus. Vide infra, p. 47, note 45. [↑]
[35] So also the Apostle Paul recommends us not to be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.—( Rom. xii, 11 .) [↑]
[36] That is if he belongs to the class of Essenes who practised celibacy; for there were those among them who had wives and families. Vide infra p. 49. [↑]
[37] The Mosaic law regards conjugal intercourse as polluting, and enjoins bathing after it ( Levit. xv. 18 .) Hence, when the children of Israel had to sanctify themselves in the highest degree, so as to be fit to receive the law from Mount Sinai, they were commanded not to approach their wives ( Exod. xix. 15 ). Hence, also, those who had the charge of the shew-bread polluted the sacred loaves by going to their wives ( 1 Sam. xxi. 4 ). And hence the remark of the Apostle Paul, that in order to give themselves to fasting and prayer, man and wife may keep aloof from each other by mutual consent ( 1 Cor. vii. 5 ). The same laws obtained among all nations of antiquity. Thus, among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Arabians, Greeks and Romans, both man and wife had to bathe after connubial intercourse (Herod., i. 198). No one was allowed to go after it to the temple without bathing (Herod., ii. 64; Suet. Aug. xciv. 5; Pers. ii. 50, &c.); and the priests had to abstain from approaching their wives when they were ministering in holy things (Porphyrius, de Abstinentia, lib. ii. 50; iv. 7; Plutarch. Sympos. iii. 6; Tibul. lib. ii. Eleg. 1, 11, &c.; Ovid. Metam. x. 434, &c.) Now, as the Essenes strove to be in a perpetual state of sanctification, regarded their refectory as a sanctuary and their meals as sacraments, and most anxiously avoided contact with every thing that defiled, they had of necessity to extend these Mosaic laws, which enjoin abstinence from connubial intercourse as a means of sanctification, and which regard those who indulged in it as defiled, to the whole course of their life; and they had therefore to be celibates. This extension of the Mosaic law was moreover deemed desirable in consequence of the general conviction which the Jews entertained, in common with other nations, that no woman remains faithful to her husband, and that they all defile the bed of marriage. Philo, in the passage before us, and Josephus, as we shall see afterwards (vide infra p. 41, § 2), only give the latter reason, to suit their Greek readers who could both understand it better and sympathise with it more than with the former. [↑]
[38] This is simply a repetition of what the Essenes themselves said about their origin, in accordance with a common practice among the Jews.—Vide supra p. 36, note 14. [↑]
[39] This representation of the three Jewish sects as different philosophical schools, and the supposed resemblance of the Essenes to the Pythagoreans, which he mentions afterwards, (vide infra Antiq. xv. 10; § 4, p. 50) and which have misled modern writers, are nothing but a desire on the part of Josephus to make the divers teachings of his co-religionists correspond to the different systems of Greek philosophy. It is this anxiety to shew the Gentiles, for whom he wrote, how much the Jews resemble them both in doctrine and practice, which detracts from the merits of Josephus’ history. [↑]
[40] This love for the brotherhood, which the Essenes possessed to so extraordinary a degree, was also urged by the Evangelists and Apostles on the early Christians (comp. John xiv. 17 ; Rom. xiii. 8 ; 1 Tim. iv. 9 ; 1 Peter i. 28; xi. 17; 1 John iii. 23 ; iv. 7, 11 ; v. 2 ). [↑]
[41] This does not contradict Philo’s remark (vide supra p. 37), as Herzfeld supposes, (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. ii. p. 375); since the two statements refer to two different things. The former affirms that they do not receive children into the noviciate, whilst the latter speaks of their adopting and educating them, which is a distinct thing from becoming a novice. [↑]