Welcome to the Investigators Guide to the Bible. We will stay on the topic of the Essenes one more time to explain what was going on with these guys around the rest of first century Israel. It could get a little weird! We’ll challenge a long-held belief or two and I’ll do my level best to eviscerate a renowned source on the Essenes. Sounds like fun, right? Like and subscribe for new episodes. Share the episode with everyone you know. Pass it around the campfire, if you want. Why keep all this fun to yourself?

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. Quran Talk Blog (No Author Noted). “Which Messiah Was Jesus? Ben David, Ben Joseph, or Ben Aaron?” 5 Nov 2024. (https://qurantalkblog.com/2024/11/05/jesus-messiah-ben-david-or-ben-aaron/, accessed 28 Jul 2025)

2. Wise, Michael; Abegg, Martin Jr.; and Cook, Edward. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1996

3. Ben-Daniel, John. “The Cave-Dwellers of Mt. Arbel.” Cave-Dwellers of Mt. Arbel, 2021. (Available at https://www.newtorah.org/pdf/The%20Cave-dwellers%20of%20Mt%20Arbel.pdf, accessed most recently on 31 Jul 2025)

4. Mishnah, Online Version from Sefaria (https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.1.6?lang=bi, accessed frequently between 2021 and 2025.)

5. Ben-Daniel, John and Gloria. Saint John and the Book of Revelation: From Essenes to End-Times. Jerusalem: Franciscan, 2019

6. Philo, edited by Fred. C. Conybeare. About the Contemplative Life. New York: Oxford Clarendon Press, 1895

7. The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls: The War Scroll, from The Israel Museum, copyright 1995-2025. http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/war, accessed 30 Jul 2025)

8. 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)

9. 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, 2017

10. Baumgarten, Joseph. The Qumran-Essene Restraints on Marriage. The Center for Online Judaic Studies, undated. (http://cojs.org/the_qumran-essene_restraints_on_marriage-_joseph_baumgarten/, accessed 6 Jun and 8 Sep 2022)

11. 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)

12. Schiffman, Lawrence H. "Community Without Temple: The Qumran Community's Withdrawal from the Jerusalem Temple." Qumran and Jerusalem, 2010, pp. 81-97

13. Map: “Jerusalem at the Time of Jesus.” Conforming To Jesus website (https://www.conformingtojesus.com/charts-maps/en/jerusalem_in_jesus_time_map.htm)

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