From a Movement of Dissent to a Distinct Form of Judaismtributed no evil to God (Quod omnis probus liber sir 84), thus emphasizing
the primacy — as in Jubilees' intellectual discourse — of the ideology of
Enoch, which is so distinctively marked by the contemporaneous stress on
human responsibility and victimization. But even more significantly,
Josephus adds that the Essenes were the only group to have "books of their
own" [Jewish War 2.142), thus giving evidence to their synthesis of written
traditions — a claim that in second temple literature is for the first time ex
plicitly stated by Jubilees (and only later in 4 Ezra 14:45-48).
6. Conclusion
A new scenario is before us. Far from being a group of nostalgic Zadokites,^54
the Essenes were a group of priests that like the earlier Enochians had no ap
preciation whatsoever for the role of the House of Zadok in the early second
temple period and no regret for their demise, but being faithful to the Torah,
they did not want to give up the uniqueness and effectiveness of the Mosaic
covenant with Israel and leave evil the full control of this world. At the center
of their revolution was the concept of the heavenly tablets, which allowed
them to take what they deemed was the best of both Moses and Enoch. By
making the covenant part of God's eternal order, they gave Israel a sacred ha
ven surrounded by strong protective walls, a niche of safety as long as they
would keep themselves separated from the rest of the evil world. Unlike the
Enochians, they believed the Israelites were given rules to follow that could
effectively protect them from impurity and evil, as long as they would keep
them. Unlike the Zadokites, they did not have to maintain against all evi
dence that this world was God's perfect world.
The book of Jubilees was their creed and public manifesto, their reli
gious and political platform. In the aftermath of the Maccabean revolt, they
hoped to become the new leadership in the temple and in the Judean society.
They did not succeed, but they did not give up either. As Essenes they would
soon learn how to live separated from the rest of the people, as a minority,
self-proclaimed party of "chosen among the chosen," if not as the sect of the
only "children of light." Like in a besieged city surrounded by multiple walls
against powerful demonic enemies, they retreated to the citadel when they
saw the outer wall breached or on the verge of collapse (a group of them
- Pace H. Lignee, "La place dii livre des Jubiles et du Rouleau du Temple dans
l'histoire du mouvement essenien," RevQ 13 (1988): 331-45.