Was Jesus an Essene?

[Stephan Huller]

Right that's correct. But how do you square that with a (presumed) mortal/human Jesus?

[Stephan Huller]

Of course this leads inevitability IMO back to the etymology of the Hebrew term 'Essenes.' Was Jesus a member of a pre-existent group of 'healers'? Or was Jesus the god - the angel of truth as you term it - that the community awaited to make a visitation to earth?

[Stephan Huller]

This is why I place so much emphasis on etymology. Why were they 'Essenes'? What does 'Essene' mean? This is critical and no one can speak of Jesus's relationship to anything - especially a group which bore the name 'Essenes' - until we figure out why they were so called.

[Stephan Huller]

Not just Eisenman but even Evans sees עָשָׂה 'to accomplish, to make, to bear, to observe' as the root of the term. I am not so sure. But I guess the place to start is whether there are other examples of 'aw' (ayin) being translated with epsilon = Εσσήνοι. I know that in modern Hebrew Essene is 're-translated' with aleph - אִסִּיִים

[Stephan Huller]

I have to go to a soccer game but when I get home I will go through Jastrow and see if any ayin Aramaic words are spelled in Greek with epsilon. It's a start at least.

[Stephan Huller]

Not so far. In the case of עֵ֫בֶר = Ἕβερ (on the accent in manuscripts see Tdf. Proleg., p. 103; Treg. Ἑβέρ, cf. Tdf. Proleg., p. 107; WH. Introductory § 408; cf. B. D. under the word ) or Heber.

[Stephan Huller]

Same with 'Hebrew' עִבְרִי 'Hebiri' and עֲבָרִים (Numbers 33:47) = Αβαριμ

[Stephan Huller]

It does occur Numbers 33:34 - Εβρωνα.

[John T]

Of course this leads inevitability IMO back to the etymology of the Hebrew term 'Essenes.' Was Jesus a member of a pre-existent group of 'healers'? Or was Jesus the god - the angel of truth as you term it - that the community awaited to make a visitation to earth?

You have too many questions to answer without me making a mess in the process.

So, I will try to unpack them and address them one by one.

1. The Qumran community called themselves the "sons of Light"....The Community Rule, III 15-25. I could have equally phrased the question: Was Jesus a son of Light? But if you insist to know if the etymology of "Essene" in found within the Dead Sea Scrolls, I will grant you I have no such knowledge. I use the word "Essene" for the Qumran community out of convenience. Instead, I'm trying to focus on the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls and compare and contrast them to the New Testament for clues that Jesus was probably a member of the Qumran community, a.k.a. Essene.

2. You asked: "Was Jesus a member of a pre-existent group of 'healers'?" Well, that one takes more time to explain because the word pre-existent has different meanings to different people. What do I think it meant to the Essenes? Please read The Community Rule, 3:10-25. In a nut-shell, the God of Knowledge existed before the sons of Light and the sons of darkness. Satan a.k.a. the Angel of Darkness is allotted spirits to lead the sons of Light astray. However, at the end time, the 'Prince of Light', a.k.a. "Melchizedek" leads an angelic army to overthrow the Gentiles and the forces of Satan. The better question should be: Did Jesus claim to be the Messiah, Son of Man, Melchizedek, the Angel of Truth, son of Light or something else?

Sincerely,
John T

[John T]

Eisenman had this to say about the origin of the word 'Essene' in his book titled: "James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls".

"Sectarian terminology thus tends to slide around a good deal, depending on who is doing the observing, what vocabulary he is employing, and what his own misunderstandings or prejudices might be. For instance, in his Vita Josephus suddenly tells us about a 'wilderness' sojourn he made during a trial he says he was conducting of all the sects. There he meets a teacher he calls 'Bannu' - not a name, but a title or cognomen of some kind, probably having something to do with bathing - without telling us that this teacher is almost indistingushable from Jewish Crhistians or Essenes, the group heading his list of Jewish sects."...pg12

Needless to say, Eisenman does not support Epiphanius etymology of "Essene" as a derivative of "Jessaeans" from David's father Jesse.

So, once again, I concede the point that if we can't positively tie the word Essene within the Dead Sea Scrolls then we can't claim with certainty the Qumran community and/or writers of the DSS were known by Josephus as Essene.

So, how to proceed to your satisfaction? How should I reword the question: Was Jesus an Essene?
Or was your goal never to proceed in the first place?