[42] Vide supra, p. 39, note 19. [↑]
[43] So our Lord urged on the young man, who lived so exemplary a life in the performance of God’s law, and whom he loved, that unless he gave up his property he could not follow him (comp. Matth. xix. 21 ; Mark x. 21 ; Luke xviii. 22 ), and commanded his disciples to sell all their possessions and distribute the money among the poor (comp. Luke xii. 33 .) [↑]
[44] Ointment being a luxury (comp. Eccl. ix. 8 ; Dan. x. 2 ), the Essenes regarded the use of it as extravagance, and contrary to the simplicity of their manner of life. [↑]
[45] The manner in which Christ commanded his disciples to depart on their journey ( Mark vi. 8–10 ) is the same which these pious Essenes are here said to have adopted. This also explains the injunction given by our Saviour to his disciples in Luke xxii. 36 , about taking arms with them, which has so greatly perplexed commentators who were unacquainted with the customs of the Essenes. [↑]
[46] The Pharisees, too, had a steward in every place to supply the needy with clothing and food. (Comp. Pea viii. 7; Baba Bathra 8 a; Sabbath 118.) [↑]
[47] Comp. also Luke x. 4 , &c. [↑]
[48] Some translate it “they offer prayer (εἰς τὸν ἥλιον) to the sun.” But it is utterly inconceivable that the Essenes, who were such thorough Jews, and so exemplary for their adoration of the Holy One of Israel, would be guilty of idolatry by worshipping the sun. Besides, the prayer in question is described as one transmitted by the fathers. And can it be imagined that there existed among the Jews a national prayer to this luminary in direct violation of the first commandment, and of what is so expressly forbidden in Deut. iv. 10 ? The prayer therefore here spoken of is the well known national morning hymn of praise (המאיר לארץ) for the return of the light of the day, which still forms a part or the Jewish service to the present day. Comp. Berachoth 9 b; Rappaport in the Bikure Ha-Ittim, vol. x., Vienna 1829, p. 115, and infra p. 69. [↑]
[49] This practice of bathing before meals was also common among the Pharisees (comp. Chagiga, 18, b), and as the Essenes covered themselves with their aprons so the Pharisees put on their Talith during their baptisms. (Comp. Berachoth 24, b.) [↑]
[50] The Pharisees, too, regarded the refectory as a sanctuary, and compared its table to the altar in the temple, because the altar in the temple is represented as the table of the Lord ( Ezekiel xli, 22 ). Hence, R. Jochanan and R. Eleazar remark—“As long as the temple stood the altar atoned for the sins of Israel, but now it is man’s table which atones for his sins.” (Talmud Berachoth, 55a). Hence the Chaldee paraphrase of Ezekiel xii. 22 , and the remarks of Rashi and Kimchi on this passage, which cannot be understood unless this traditional interpretation is borne in mind. Comp. also Aboth iii, 3. [↑]
[51] This was also the practice of the Pharisees, and is to the present day the custom among the orthodox Jews. [↑]