About 626 BCE, God began to speak to the rulers and people of Judah through the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah.

    He warned them not to continue their sinful ways and live according to His laws. Failure to do so would result in His punishing them.

    His warnings were ignored for some 25 years and, as a result of their continued disobedience, He declared He was going to punish them by having the Chaldeans invade and occupy their country. However, if they did not resist His punishment, He would restore their land in a short time.

    Once again, His wishes were ignored and they tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent the Chaldean invasion (ca 597 BCE). As a result, not only was their land occupied, but for, once again, disregarding God's orders, all the leading citizens were taken captive to Babylon.

    Again He warned the people not to oppose those He had set in authority over them and once again the people disobeyed Him and rose in a rebellion that was quickly crushed (586 BCE). For ignoring His orders for the third time, God's punishment was severe. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and all but the very poorest of the people were taken into exile in Babylon.

    It was 48 years before God took pity on them and raised up Cyrus, king of the Chaldeans (referred to in the Damascus Scroll as "Prince of the Congregation"), who freed the exiles and once again gave them sovereignty in their homeland.

    It was these experiences that led to the Essene philosophy that "fate (God) governs all things and nothing befalls man, but is in accordance with its (His) determination."

    Thus invasions and occupations were by the will of God to punish the people for disobeying His laws. Any attempt to oppose them would only result in harsher punishment.

    No Essene either of the sect or an adherent would oppose an invasion or engage in efforts to determine who would be in authority over them.

Personal Conduct

Sect Members

    On becoming a member of the Sect, a member had to swear tremendous oaths, among which were:

a) He would do no harm to anyone, either of his own accord, or by the command of others.

This meant he was forbidden to engage in any conflicts. As Josephus said, "He was a man of peace." The only time this prohibition would be lifted was during the final battle between good and evil at Armageddon, when all Jews. except the priests, were required to participate.

The exemption for the priests probably dates back to David's time, who was not permitted to build a temple "because he had shed much blood".

b) He would show fidelity to all men, especially those in authority, which required him to obey those in authority from his immediate superiors up to the ruler of the country.

It was only permissible to break this oath if compliance with an order would contravene Essene religious beliefs, in which case he could refuse to obey and resign himself to the consequences.

The Adherents

    Any adherents who opposed a ruler's actions or edicts were free to protest either as individuals or as members of an organized group.

    They could, and indeed were expected to, serve in the army if called upon.

    In short, an adherent had the same freedoms, was subject to the same restrictions and faced the same penalties for breaking or refusing to obey the laws as did non-Essenes, except for three instances:

If the adherent acted contrary to the basic Essene philosophy and joined in attempts to repel an invader, expel an army of occupation (except in the final battle at Armageddon) or overthrow a ruler, he incurred the penalty of ex-communication.

According to Josephus, this penalty was severe, "for as he is bound by oath and by customs he has been engaged in, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that he meets with elsewhere and is forced to eat grass, and to famish his body with hunger 'til he perish. For which reason they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp our of compassion for them."