BEMA Episode Link: 78: Silent Years — Essenes
Episode Length: 21:45
Published Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2018 01:00:00 -0700
Session 3
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings continue a look at the responses to Hellenism in the world of first-century Judaism, this time examining the group known as the Essenes.

Silent Years — Essenes Presentation (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 78

Qumran — Wikipedia

Dead Sea Scrolls — Wikipedia

Transcript for BEMA 78

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

  • Debate about the Essenes
    • There is a lot of controversy about who they were and what they did.
  • Who were the Essenes
    • We believed they were entirely men who were priests.
      • However, bones of women in grave yards which has been confusing.
    • Because of the Sadducees, the Essenes thought God had abandoned the system.
    • They moved to the middle of the desert to prepare because they saw the corruption of the temple as a sign of the end times.
    • They went to the desert to become sons of light and reject the sons of darkness.
    • Zechariah may be someone who had Essene connections that would had continued to serve in the temple because it was his duty.
    • Essenes were committed to the path.
      • Jeremiah “stay at the cross roads”
      • Someday someone will ask about the path and someone better be able to tell them and show them what the path is.
    • The Essenes went out to know the path and walk out the text.
  • Qumran
    • There is a photo of a large mikvah that does not match the dimensions of mikvahs as they are described in the Talmud. The Essenes did not follow the Talmud.
    • Writing the Text
    • Mikvot had to be full of living water: That is water from a spring or rain falling from the sky.
      • How do you fill your mikvah with living water in the middle of the desert?
      • They built a dam in the wadi and a canal to direct water to their mikvah.
      • This was their devotion to walking the way.
      • Isaiah 40: “2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed.”
  • John the Baptist
    • There are a LOT of hints that John the Baptist was closely tied to the Essenes.
    • The difference is how he engages community. He baptizes and that is something that the Essenes wouldn’t have cared to do.
    • Less than three miles from the Essene compound at Qumran is where the Jordan river enters the Dead Sea. This is one of the places where we’re told John the Baptist baptizes people. This is also where Jesus goes to be baptized by John to begin his ministry.
    • Is it coincidence that Jesus begins his ministry so close to a group of people who believed that their devout dedication to the path would reveal the glory of the Lord and that God would return?
  • Problems with the Essenes?
    • They aren’t talking to anybody
    • They’ve separated themselves entirely from the world
  • The Essenes believed:
    • Ray said to Marty one time, “Not only do I think that the Essenes were right in that if they stayed devoted to the path, God would show up, I believe it would happen again. I believe that if God ever finds another group of people that want to be that devoted to knowing the path and walking the path, I think God will show up.”
    • This is one of the reasons Marty started Bema.

Discussion

  • Remember
    • Essenes isolated themselves for a purpose.
    • The isolation may have been a problem but their dedication was not.
    • They called themselves the sons of light and the sons of Zadok.
  • Head
    • If we’re looking for Head conversation, take a look at this Son’s of Zadok lecture and wrestle with some of the debate about who the Essenes were and what they cared about.
  • Heart
    • Thoughts on how devoted this group at Qumran was to the scriptures?
    • Has what we’ve learned so far changed anyone’s heart for the scriptures in any direction?
    • It’s ok to struggle with this.
  • Hands
    • Who wants to dive in? Who is excited to be more devoted to the text?
    • What is everyone’s relationship to the text?
    • What methods are used for memorization?
    • Anyone making a new commitment today?
    • Anyone interested in challenging the group

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