The Sunday Mail
From the Second Temple period (530 BCE-70 CE) in Hebrew history, there were three groupings –Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes.
The Essenes were a strictly observant monastic Hebrew community and within them, one wound find the Zealots, i.e. those who were militant and nationalistic.
Pharisees insisted on scrupulous and unyielding observance or mechanistic application of the Written Law and the minute interpretation leading to a separatist attitude towards life.
The name “Essenes” is Greek and comes from the word ‘Essenoi’ or ‘Essaioi’.
According to ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception’ by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, Essene is derived from ‘Osei ha-Torah’, translated as the ‘Doers of the Law’ because they referred themselves as ‘the Keepers of the Covenant/Law’. This was in reference to being “Keepers or Preservers … those who maintained the true teaching and tradition, or who cherished certain secrets which they did not divulge to others…”
The collective form of ‘Osei ha-Torah’ is ‘Osim’, pronounced as ‘Oseem’. An early Christian writer, Epiphanius, called the Qumran community the ‘Ossenes’.
‘The Keepers of the Covenant/Law’ were called in ‘Nozrei ha-Brit’ an early Hebrew designation for the secluded grouping. The title ‘Nozrim’ comes from this designation and it is the source of the word ‘Nazorean’ or ‘Nazarene.’
Yahoshua or any of his disciples and followers never called themselves “Christians” but “Nazarenes.”Yahoshua was religiously brought up and educated as a Nazarene and Nazarenes were an offshoot of the Essenes (from ‘Ossim’, meaning “Doers of Torah”), based in the Dead Sea area.
‘Nazarene’ or ‘Nazorean’ was originally the name of the Essenes. They had no particular relation to a city of Nazareth because it is a recent geographical place. The root of their name is ‘Truth’ or it may have been the Hebrew noun ‘netser’ (‘natzar’), meaning ‘branch’ or ‘flower.’ It also means, “consecrated” or “set apart.”
Nazarene comes from “Natzoriya,” the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew word “Notzri” or “Netzer,” drawn from the Nazarene Prophecy in Isaiah 11:1-5. Therefore, the Nazarenes saw themselves as a “branch from the stem of Jesse” (King David’s father). This makes “Netzer” a branch of King David’s family. “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene.”- Matthew 2:23.
From the scriptural quote, “Netzer” means “a shoot, sprout or branch” or ‘The Way.’ Read “Nazarenes and Ebionites – An Introduction” (1998).
The consonantal letters of Netzer in Hebrew are “NZR.” It is synonymous with ‘natsar’ which means ‘to watch’ and correspond with the area of the district that was on high ground and provided a panoramic view of the surroundings.
The plural of ‘Natzar’ is ‘Natzoreem/Notstrim.’ The “Nazorim” emerged towards the end of the 1st century CE, after a curse had been placed on “heretics” in Hebrew daily prayer. ‘Three times a day they say: May (the Divine) curse the Nazarenes’ Epiphanius (Panarion 29.9.2).
Panarion is also known as Adversus Haereses (“Against Heresies”), is the most important of the works of Epiphanius of Salamis (d. 403), was bishop of Salami and metropolitan of Cyprus at the end of the 4th century CE. He is considered a Church Father. He gained the reputation of a strong defender of religious literalism and conservatism.
For more details, read www.thenazareneway.com/what_is_a_nazarene.htm <http://www.thenazareneway.com/what_is_a_nazarene.htm>
The early followers of Rabbi Yahoshua the Nazarene were called “the Sons of the Light” (John 12:35-36), while Yahoshua spoke of “the sons of light” in the parable of the unjust steward.
The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas #50, Yahoshua said, “If they say to you, ‘Where did you come from?’, say to them, ‘We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.’ If they say to you, ‘Is it you?’, say, ‘We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.’ If they ask you, ‘What is the sign of your father in you?’, say to them, ‘It is movement and repose.’”
The Essene grouping was called the “School of Prophets” by Hebrews and they referred to themselves as “Children of the Light.” They were an esoteric or gnostic order founded in 300 BCE in Alexandria, Egypt where Hebrews were highly Hellenised. They “later extended throughout the whole eastern Mediterranean area.”
The Essenes were communities that dwelt on the shores of the Dead Sea. Their chief characteristic was the three doctrines of love — love of Yahovah; love of truth, honour and virtue; and love of humanity.
Some authorities trace the Essenes back to the schools of Samuel the Prophet, but most agree on either an ancient Egyptian or Oriental origin. Their methods of fellowship, meditation or contemplation, and fasting were like those of the Far East.
Membership in the Essene Order was possible only after at least a year of probation. They had knowledge structured in three levels, and only meritable candidates passed successfully through all. The symbols of the Essenes include a number of builders’ tools, and they were secretly engaged in the erection of a philosophical temple to serve as a dwelling place for the living Yahovah.
Next week, we examine Yahoshua the Nazarene as a Rabbi with s’mikah (authority).
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