25 The Essenes: Beyond the Scrolls

Welcome to the Investigators Guide to the Bible. I thought we would get out of Jerusalem this episode, but we have to clean up a few of the controversies, first. So, we’ll stick around Jerusalem, wander over to Qumran, and hit the points in between for one more episode before we close out our deep dive into the nonstop party that was the religious scene in ancient Israel, two thousand years ago.Resources and References so I can pretend I’m really smart:* Most Bible quotes I used come from the New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010 This is just my working Bible for most of these episodes. Any Bible you use will be fine for all of the Biblical references.If you read something that is not a direct quote and think the brilliant thought might be mine, it is safer to assume I messed up the citation. Give credit to the super smart people below.1. Sauter, Megan. “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament.” Bible History Daily. Biblical Archaeology Society, Washington DC, 14 Jun 2025 (https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/dead-sea-scrolls/the-dead-sea-scrolls-and-the-new-testament/, accessed 16 Jun 2025)2. Edgar Cayce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Cayce, accessed 17 Feb 20233. Taylor, Joan E. The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 20124. Josephus, Flavius. The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston, PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK. Release Date: 10 Jan 2009 [EBook #2850], Updated: 3 Aug 2013 (available at https://archive.org/details/CompleteWorksOfJosephusTranslatedByWilliamWhiston1737)5. Wise, Michael; Abegg, Martin Jr.; and Cook, Edward. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 19966. Nati, James. “The Community Rule or Rules for the Communities? Contextualizing the Qumran Serakhim.” Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy, Volume 2. Edited by Joel Baden, Hindy Najman, and Eibert Tigchelaar. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 20177. Bergsma, John. Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Image Penguin Random House, 20198. Kohler, Kaufman. “Essenes.” The Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com, The Kopelman Foundation, 2002-2021 (https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5867-essenes, accessed most recently on 28 May 2025)9. Hesemann, Michael, translated by Michael J. Miller. Mary of Nazareth: History, Archeology, Legends. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, CA 2016 (Original German edition, 2011, Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg, Germany.)10. Pike, Dana M. “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament,” in New Testament History, Culture, and Society: A Background to the Texts of the New Testament, ed. by Lincoln H. Blumell (Provo and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, 2019), 109-121.11. Werman, Cana. “Epochs and End-Time: The 490-Year Scheme in Second Temple Literature.” Dead Sea Discoveries, vol. 13, no. 2, 2006, pp. 229–55. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4193399. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023.12. Pixner, Bargil, O.S.B. Paths of the Messiah: Messianic Sites in Galilee and Jerusalem. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 201013. Hempel, Charlotte. “The Place of the Book of Jubilees at Qumran and B