18 Jesus, Prophet ofIslamteaching indicated. Thus their fighting couId only be in the service
of God and not to gain power or for any personal consideration.
The members of this fighting force were called 'Zealots' by the
enemy. They were organised under one flag, and each tribe had its
own banner. The Zealots were divided into four divisions, and at
the head of each stood a chief. Each division was composed of peo
ple from three of the tribes of Israel. In this way, all the twelve
[ewish tribes were organised under one flag. The chief had to be a
Levite. He was not only a military commander, but also a teacher
of the Law. Each division had its own Midrash (schoo1), and the
Levite, apart from performing the duties of a military commander,
had to give regular darsh (1essons) in the school.
Thus, living in the wilderness in these caves, the Essenes
shunned pleasure-seeking, scorned wedlock and were contemp
tuous of wealth. They formed a secret society and their secrets were
never divulged to a non-member, The Romans knew about their
existence, but couId not penetrate the mask of secrecy surround
ing them. The dream of every adventurous [ew was to become a
rnernber of this society, for this wastheonlypracticalmethodavail
able to him of fighting the foreign invaders,
The Essenes, as we alreadyknowfrom Pliny' s record, disdained
marriage, but instead adopted other men's children, while they
were still pliable and docile, accepting them as their kin and mould
ing them according to their way of life.Thus, for centuries, incred
ible though it may seem, the Essene society had perpetuated itself,
although no one was ever born into il.
And when Elizabeth, the wife of Zachariah - the High Priest in
the Temple of Solomon who had looked after Mary, the mother of
Jesus, when she was a child -had a son in her old age, Zachariah
sent him to the Essenes in the wilderness, where the child was
brought up. He is known to history as John the Baptist.
Now that we know that the Essene community did exist in the
wildemess,Zachariah's action isunderstandable.He wasnotsend
ing his cherished son alone into the desert, but was entrusting him
to the most reliable of communities, a community which sought to
live in a manner pleasing to [ehovah,
Mary, who was either the cousin or the niece of Zachariah's wife,
Elizabeth, was brought up by Zachariah because she had been
.handed over to the Temple in accordance with a vow taken by her
mother, who was called Hannah.
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