Religion: Out of the Desert

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Study of the Law was so important to the Essenes that in each group it was pursued day and night (the membership was divided into three shifts). Government of the sect was in the hands of twelve elders and three priests, "perfect in all that is revealed of the whole Torah, to practice truth and righteousness and justice and loving devotion and to walk humbly each with his neighbor, to guard faithfulness in the land with a strong purpose and a broken spirit." The punishments they administered were severe: for speaking brusquely "so as to undermine the composure of a fellow" the offender's food ration was cut for one year; for falling asleep or spitting in a public session it was cut 30 days.

It is uncertain whether or not the Essenes permitted marriage. The central cemetery seems to contain only male skeletons, but in smaller cemeteries adjoining it the remains of women and children have been found. It is possible that a secondary order of married Essenes grew up near the main community, or that the order relaxed its rule of celibacy at some time during its history (it is known from archaeological evidence that about 31 B.C., roughly coinciding with an earthquake, the Essenes left their desert community, did not return for more than 30 years).

Recent discoveries of a number of charred animal bones that had obviously been buried with care suggest that at some period the Essenes may have performed sacrifices at Qumran.

Where They Came From. That much is fairly certain about Qumran's Essenes. But when did they go into the desert and why? The answer must lie in the history of Israel from 200 B.C. to A.D. 68, the period indicated by paleography and archaeology for the existence of the Qumran community. It was a stretch of history so bloody and chaotic that it is easy to understand how people could believe that the End of Days was near. The tiny Jewish nation was torn and chivvied by powerful neighbors—first Egypt and Syria, later Rome. In the wake of Alexander the Great, the world outside Israel was dominated by Greek ways and Greek ideas, and many Jews were abandoning the ancient paths of their fathers for the new Hellenic mode. According to a widely held theory, the Essenes left Jerusalem in protest against such corruption of the ancient Jewish faith, and because of some unidentified act of persecution, withdrew into the desert to await the End.