Another View: Do Josephus’s Writings Support the “Essene Hypothesis”?

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In a recent issue of BAR, Steve Mason challenges the traditional “Essene hypothesis”—the belief that the Dead Sea scrolls and the archaeological site of Qumran are connected with the Essenes—based on the writings of Josephus. Accusing Scroll scholars of being “less sensitive to the nuances of Josephus’s historical narratives,” he argues that the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls remain a mystery. In this brief response, we will explain why, with the exception of the scrolls themselves, Josephus remains our best evidence in support of the “Essene hypothesis.”

Both of Josephus’s two great works, The Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War, as well as his autobiographical Life, reveal his fascination with the Essenes. Mason’s article gives the impression that Josephus merely uses the Essenes to illustrate the manliness of the Judeans. In Josephus’s famous description of the major forms of Judaism in his Jewish War (2.119–161), he devotes 43 paragraphs out of 47 to the Essenes, leaving only two to the majority Pharisees and one to the Sadducees. Why this interest in the Essenes when the Pharisees—a sect also known for its punctilious, or manly, lifestyle—would have sufficed? Josephus chose the Essenes because his audience was interested in them, and because he was once an Essene. He writes in his autobiography:

At about the age of sixteen I determined to gain personal experience of the philosophical schools into which our nation is divided. These, as I have frequently mentioned, are three in number—the first that of the Pharisees, the second that of the Sadducees, and the third that of the Essenes. I thought that, after a thorough investigation, I should be in a position to select the best. So I toughened myself to hard training and laborious exercises and passed through the three courses. Not content, however, with the experience thus gained, on hearing one named Bannus, who dwelt in the wilderness, wearing only such clothing as trees provided, feeding on such things as grew of themselves, and using frequent ablutions of cold water, by day and night, for purity’s sake, I became his devoted disciple. With him I lived for three years … (Life 10–12)

Josephus uses the phrase “philosophical schools” to show his audience that all these forms of Judaism were as rigorous as any pagan philosophical system, including the Spartan lifestyle. He consistently portrays those who practice solemnity, dignity and gravity as espousing prized Roman virtues. He describes those he likes, whether Jews or Gentiles, in this fashion, while he accuses those he despises, such as his fellow rebels and the Galilean Zealots, of being womanly.¹ He does not believe manliness was unique to the Essenes.

Mason cites the Dead Sea Scroll known as the Community Rule to suggest that the scrolls do not reflect the manly and well-ordered group Josephus describes. But after paying careful attention to the genre of Josephus’s writings, Mason fails to read this scroll correctly. He interprets it as an exhaustive rulebook for new members when it is actually a manual of instruction (written about a century earlier than 058Josephus’s works) for leaders to create the ideal community. It was not Josephus’s intention to explain sectarian rules and regulations, but to expound upon the lofty goals and ideas of the Essene movement. Nevertheless, the points of correspondence between Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the archaeological remains at Qumran are so compelling that the Essene theory remains our best explanation to account for the available data. Let’s consider a few of the points that Mason questions:

According to Josephus, the Essenes refrain from spitting in assemblies and to the right (War 2.147). The Community Rule warns: “And the person who spits in the midst of a meeting of the Many shall be punished thirty days” (1QS 7.13). By itself this may appear to be a coincidence, but the numerous other parallels suggest otherwise.

Mason argues that Josephus’s Essenes were not unique in their attitude to oil. The Dead Seas Scrolls show that the Essenes, in contrast to the rabbis, believed that stone and unfired clay vessels (like wood) can become impure if they come into contact with oil, and that oil stains on these materials could transmit impurity. The Essenes’ attitude must be due to purity concerns, despite the fact that Josephus attributes it to a preference for being unwashed.² Josephus apparently did this in order to present the sectarians’ lifestyle as an ascetic ideal to his Roman audience.

Josephus’s descriptions of Essene meals are similar to the prohibitions of the Community Rule, which strictly regulates the manner and order in which members may speak, and penalizes those who talk loudly, foolishly or out of turn.³ Josephus claims the Essenes are served on individual dishes. This practice accounts for the discovery of hundreds of small plates, cups and bowls in pantries attached to the communal dining rooms at Qumran (pantries in Locus 86 and Locus 114).⁴

Josephus insists that Essenes refrain from defecating on the Sabbath, and on other days relieve themselves by digging a pit with the hatchet given to initiates (War 2.137,147–149). The scroll known as the Temple Scroll mandates that toilets be placed 3,000 cubits (1.4 km) away from Jerusalem’s walls, which is beyond the maximum distance a person is permitted to walk on the Sabbath.⁵ The toilets in the Temple Scroll—“roofed houses with pits within them into which the excrement will descend”—are permanent built facilities like 059the toilet at Qumran (Locus 51).^a In contrast, Josephus describes how the sectarians relieved themselves when they had no access to built toilet facilities. All of these sources and the toilet in Locus 51 reflect a concern that excrement be buried in a pit and that defecation be done in private, either in a roofed enclosed facility or by finding a secluded spot and wrapping a mantle around oneself. In contrast, toilet privacy was not a concern in the Roman world. Surely it is not a coincidence that the only doorway in the room with the toilet at Qumran opened onto a mikveh (L48/49) a ritual bath that purified.

These are just a few of the parallels between Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

More than 20 years ago, Todd Beall documented many of these parallels. His conclusion is even more valid today, with the full publication of the scrolls and additional archaeological information: “The sheer number of parallels is striking, and puts the burden of proof upon those who would insist that the Qumran community was not Essene.”⁶

In a recent issue of BAR, Steve Mason challenges the traditional “Essene hypothesis”—the belief that the Dead Sea scrolls and the archaeological site of Qumran are connected with the Essenes—based on the writings of Josephus. Accusing Scroll scholars of being “less sensitive to the nuances of Josephus’s historical narratives,” he argues that the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls remain a mystery. In this brief response, we will explain why, with the exception of the scrolls themselves, Josephus remains our best evidence in support of the “Essene hypothesis.” Both of Josephus’s two great works, The Antiquities of the Jews […]