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Re: Josephus & DSS
Jim West wrote:
>
> > There may have been some
> >serious differences between the 200-300 "Qumranites" and the Essenes in the
> Jerusalem
> >Essene quarter that encouraged them to isolate themselves.
> >
> >Jack
> >
>
> Yes indeed, which makes it even more pressing that we someone come to terms
> with the varieties found within the sect itself.
This has been one of the things that has bothered me in the continuing
discourse re the Essenes. There seems to be a tendency to lump them all together
with "Josephus said this," "Philo said that" but the DSS says this. Certainly
we can discern some differences between the Egyptian Essenes (Therapeutae) and
what we know of the Palestinian group. If we ever absolutely determine that there
was a sectarian community of Essenes at the Qumran (Secacah?) site, it would
be helpful to know how they differed from the majority of Essenes. At this
point, I cannot be sure that the DSS caches were not deposited by the Jerusalem
Essenes.
Jack
Jack Kilmon
Houston, Texas
JPMan@accesscomm.net