Dead Sea Scrolls Essay

Alike the Sadducees, historical data on this Jewish sect was vague, incomplete and perhaps thought to be destroyed until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is from the Dead Sea Scrolls that their existence was made available. The Essenes were a semi-monastic and separatist community, and they would have been the recorders and preservers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Essenes lived ascetic lives. They denied themselves the pleasures and luxuries of the world system. They lived alone in tents and some in caves. Some Essenes lived like monks in monasteries and denied themselves money, and women. No pleasures of love with women and some were celibate. However, there were various sects of Essenes that did marry and only had sexual intercourse for procreation purposes only. They secluded themselves away from cities and preferred living in wildernesses and deserts. As a community of people, they held all things common.
After becoming a member, they would turn any personal property over to the community. If they worked, their pay was given to the common treasury, and any goods or supplies would be kept in a common storehouse. It is believed that the Essenes were diligent workers and would work in their occupations for the …show more content…
They would “vow piety to God, justice to man, hatred of the wicked and love for the just; they also promised to love the brethren, love truth, conceal nothing from one another and reveal nothing to outsiders” (Ross, 2006, Chapter 4). The Essenes were very strict with their religious observances. They were diligent in their studying and preserving the Scriptures, the books of their sect, and the names of angels. It is believed that they were good at foreseeing the things to come in the future. Their worship was in obedience to the Law. They presented offerings during their temple worship and had strict sacrificial and purification