Spoken like a Levitical priest, who might, just might, have had a hand in writing a book bearing his name, Leviticus.
Or maybe just maybe, they were called a Levitical Priest because thats the name of the Book that spells out their duties to God as written by Moses. You would think that Aaron would have been the one who wrote that Book, but it wasnt, it was Moses.
Why place emphasis upon their size and numbers?
Why exclude it? I mean there could be something to the fact that they were much smaller in number than IDK the millions of people in Israel at the time still following some aspect of the Biblical commands to Sacrifice, and lets not forget there was this one guy and His who was kind of a big deal that was indeed following these Commandments that the Essene were rejecting...
Luke 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord
24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
So lets see the Mother of Jesus followed the Commandment in what is called the Law of the Lord to sacrifice turtledoves or pigeons, and she took Jesus where? Oh thats right Jerusalem to the Temple of God. However you want us to believe that all of this was not called for by God or done away with?
There is also another major figure besides Jesus that we see was literally in the midst of performing the Commands written in the Book of Leviticus when something of God happened to him. If we take your/ the Essenes perspective into consideration as Truth then well God would NEVER do such a thing...
Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
So here we see that Gabriel, the Angel of the Lord comes into the Temple that the Essenes consider defiled, to speak with Zacharias, a Priest who married a daughter of Aaron, the beginning of the line of the Levitical Priesthood, while Zacharias was literally in the middle of doing the command as laid out in Leviticus to burn incense, to tell him that God heard his prayer concerning having a child. We see Gabriel tells John that he will have a child and shall name him John and that John will make the way for Jesus the Messiah to come.
John by the way is also a Levitical Priest in case you missed that, the linage you are seeming to want to discount to uphold the Essene refusal to abide by the Commandments of God...
To be honest brother, this alone to anyone who believes the Bible completely destroys any argument one wants to make concerning the Levitical Priesthood or any ideologies concerning the Essene, they are wrong, the Word of God is right period. Jesus and his whole family, John and his whole family all followed the Commandments concerning Sacrifice and all of them still upheld the Temple in Jerusalem as being the dwelling place of God Himself. All of that goes directly against any argument you or the Essene want to make. Whom shall I believe, Jesus, John and the Word of God or a tiny off shoot living outside of Israel and the Religion they made up?
Anyway, if big numbers are the proof of a sect's legitimacy, the estimated 1.2 billion Catholics should be impressive, though, to me, it isn't particularly.
While I do agree that numbers doesnt equate to Truthfulness, its still a fact that the Essene were a small sect and off shoot of Israel. And of course their sizes doesnt mean they are more or less correct, but what does determine it would be the Word of God and the fact that Jesus followed these Commandments that they say are not essential. The fact that John was a Levitical Priest, that his father was literally in the Temple performing the exact Commandments that you and the Essene say God didnt want to be performed ect.
Catholics say the same thing of Protestants, and vice versa, and the Jews of Judaism say it of Christianity as a whole. The Essenes, as I see it, were analogous to Protestants insofar as: 1) they protested against an existing, established priesthood, Levitical/Aaronic rather than Roman, obviously; 2) they took the sacred writings, "the Bible," with them on their puritanical exit; and 3) they proceeded to interpret the Bible differently, in fact, very differently.
Yet they rejected everything that Jesus Himself upheld, so again who is right? Them or Jesus?
Do I understand your position sure, but I see them as running from the True Faith so they can incorporate ideologies they want to follow, just like the Catholic Church has done. They wanted to do rituals they want, they want to make up their own Traditions ect so they create a Religion apart from the actual Faith and follow it...
It's too bad we can't locate an articulate Essene, well versed in the scriptures, to argue his and their case. History leaves only fragments of their writings. At any rate, it seems they saw no use in blood rites and rituals, and they found justification for their beliefs primarily in the writings of the prophets. I, personally, think Hosea's metaphor, "calves of their lips," is an awkward phrase, but it gets the idea across that praise and worship of God were adequate.
Yeah, thats great that they choose to interpret it as they did, but Jesus interpreted it as we are stating, which means one of them are wrong. Jesus made Sacrifices, Jesus celebrated the Holy Days as found in the Torah, Jesus made statements that all of these Books were correct and True ect. If Jesus was against Sacrifice then IDK He probably would have said so, He probably wouldnt have literally Sacrificed Himself for the covering of Sin, He probably wouldnt of called the Temple His Fathers House, He probably wouldnt of participated in all the Temple Rituals. Same with Johns family ect.
They did. It sounds as though, rather like Freemasonry and early Roman Catholicism in this regard, theirs was a sort of secret society, with three grades of initiation.
Yeah that doesnt bode well to their supposed correct interpretation and belief system. Here is what Jesus said:
John 18:20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
Anyway, I cannot name a community which doesn't have a sort of hierarchy of leaders, including most Protestants denominations. They, too, usually have their elders, bishops, teachers, evangelists, etc., and it's usually one of those guys who administers the Protestant version of the Roman Catholic Eucharist, called Communion.
I have no problem with a hierarchy of leaders but your opening remark stated that this type of thing is what they were rebelling against.
Just as our era has Protestants who repudiate the Roman Catholic Priesthood and all of its pomp, rites, ritual and ceremony as decadent
All they did was create their own Priesthood, with their own pomp, rites, rituals and ceremonies, and from what I have read of them, it was NOT according to the actual Biblical Commands, they rejected the Bible, called it wrong and set up their own Religion in place of it. Yes before you go there they did use the Bible, but that is my point as well. The RCC uses the Bible but they reject it in the same breath, adding to it what they want and removing parts to keep their Faith in tact...
I appreciate hearing your perspective, of course, but the point is largely moot. Unless and until we can call an Essene to the witness stand and ask him to counter your theological objections to their position, I would rather stay with history.
Sure history shows their ideology was incorrect in the fact that they dont exist anymore. If their interpretation was the Truth, if that is really what the Bible stated then I am quite sure that God Himself would have made a way that they survived and that their beliefs would be known blatantly throughout the World. In my perspective the fact that they are gone testifies to the fact that they must not have had the Truth because the Truth wouldnt be kept in a tiny sect apart from Israel, and then snuffed out to History.
And I also argue that Jesus Himself is the one that outright denies the interpretations of the Essene because Jesus literally went and participated in everything the Essene called either unclean o r not needed in Worship of God.