of people living together. That can refer to a built up area like Qumran, but it doubtless means that others existed. In any case the essential point is that they lived away from the rest of the Palestinian population, “for they know,” Philo tells us, “that their contact would have a deadly effect upon their own souls” (Quid Probus, 75).36 Now, this exactly corresponds to one of the essential themes of the Qumran manuscripts, radical separation of the community from the rest of the people of Israel, considered to be contaminated (Manual of Discipline, V, 10, 13–20).
What follows concerns the Essene way of life. Some worked the land or as artisans. They did not seek wealth and lived modestly. They did not make arms or trade. They had no slaves (Quod Probus, 76–79). In Philo’s eyes, it will be observed, this life of work distinguishes the Palestinian Essenes from the Therapeutae of Egypt. Now this is just what the Qumran documents show us. There is mention of work in the fields and care for flocks (Damascus Document, X, 20; XI, 6–7). The document condemns manufacture and commerce (Damascus Document, XII, 7–12). By contrast, slaves are explicitly mentioned at least in the Damascus Document (XI, 12; XII, 10).
Concerning Essene doctrine, Philo observes: “as for philosophy they abandon the logical part” except in “that which treats philosophically of God and the creation of the universe.” By contrast, “the ethical part they study very industriously” (Quod Probus, 80).37 This text is valuable to inform us about what Philo knew of Essene doctrines. On the one hand, he was struck by the interest in moral problems. That completely coincides with the Manual of Discipline and the Damascus documents. But the other expression is more odd. The issue is what concerns “the origin of the universe.” That seems to me to allude to Greek speculation about the opening of Genesis that would certainly appear to have existed in Judea and may have especially flourished among the Essenes. Further on, we will see that Philo seems to have inherited certain elements of Essene Gnosticism. By contrast, he says nothing about the Messianism and eschatology that have such a large place in the Qumran documents.
Liturgical gatherings take place mainly on the Sabbath, but Bible study is daily. This corresponds to the Qumran regulations. Everywhere that there are ten members, there will be one who studies the law continually.” (Manual of Discipline, VI, 6–7). Philo notes that there is an order of precedence in liturgical gatherings and rules setting down the comportment to be followed (Quod Probus, 81). That is one of the points upon which the Manual of Discipline insists most. (Manual of Discipline, VI, 9–13). A considerable number of rules concern the behavior to be followed during meetings: not interrupt, nor fall asleep, nor spit, nor laugh, nor leave (Manual of Discipline, VII, 9–14). Philo’s expression seems to sum up this whole part of the legislation.
The program of Essene moral teaching that Philo presents includes “piety, holiness, justice, domestic (οἰκονομία) and civic (πολιτεία) conduct, knowledge of what is truly good, or evil, or indifferent, and how to choose what they should and avoid the opposite, taking for their defining standards these three, love of God, love of virtue, love of men” (Quod Probus, 83).38 This greatly resembles the program proposed at the beginning of the Manual of Discipline. One must “practice truth, justice, and law” (I, 5). Good actions and bad actions are described (I, 3). One must withdraw from all evil and adhere to every good work (I, 4–5). The program consists of seeking God (I, 1), practicing the precepts (I, 7), and loving all the Sons of Light (I, 9). In both cases, we have seen this elementary catechesis based on the theme of the two ways and the two commandments that will persist in primitive Christian catechesis and that seems typically Essene.
The details of the precepts present striking points of contact: the state of purity in relation to other people is to be noted (Quod Probus, 84; Manual of Discipline, VI, 16), which is one of the clearest characteristics and emphasizes the separation from the world. The description of common life is especially important. No one has anything, house, storeroom, money, or clothing, which is not common (Quod Probus, 85–86), Now, that is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of Qumran and prevents us from finding, as del Medico does, a description of the Jewish community in general in the portrait of the Essenes (Manual of Discipline, VI, 19–20). The Manual of Discipline specifies that goods and wages are to be handed over to the treasurer (VI, 19–20). This is another of Philo’s reports in the Apology in the exact terms: “Each branch when it has received the wages of these so different occupations gives it to some person who has been appointed [ταμίᾳ]” (Pro Iudaeis, XI, 10).39
It will be noted that on this occasion Philo observes that the Essenes dwell together “in communities” (κατὰ θιάσους) (Quod Probus, 85).40 The word also appears in the Apology: “They live together formed into clubs, bands of comradeship with common meals [κατὰ θιάσους ἑταιρίας καὶ συσσίτια] (Pro Judaeis, XI, 5).41 The Qumran manuscripts again allude to these meals in common (Manual of Discipline, VI, 1–4). These communities are likewise designated by the term ὅμιλος (Apology XI, 1).42 Ralph Marcus shows that these terms, which neither Philo nor Josephus employ for other Jewish sects, seem to translate the Hebrew yahad, which frequently appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls to indicate the Qumran community.43 The terms seem to demonstrate that the Essenes had a completely special character, precisely this very close common life, which was that of the Qumran community.
Two frequently misunderstood expressions of Philo also seem to refer to this common life. Philo explains that the Essenes are taught civil life (πολιτεἰα) and economic life (οἰκονομία) (Quod Probus, 83). Lagrange translates this as “family life and civil life.”44 We cannot see what the first translation corresponds to, because Philo does not speak of marriage among the Essenes. In reality, these two phrases, which are part of a brief summary that Philo gives of the Manual of Discipline, seem to us to designate two of its parts. Πολίτεια is the totality of the rules concerning the relations of the members of the community among themselves, and οἰκονομία is the rules concerning the use of material goods. We could translate them by “rules of obedience and poverty.”
Philo’s report ends with a final detail whose exact equivalent is found again in the Manual. Philo notes the care that is taken with the sick and the aged who are under the community’s charge. Now, the Damascus Document contains identical prescriptions. A tax is deduced from salaries to be paid to the common fund (XIV, 13). The goal is to come to the assistance “of the poor and the indigent,” of the “elderly,” of those affected with leprosy, of “those who have been captives in a foreign land” (XIV, 14–16). Here too the specificity of the report in Philo is such that it practically excludes doubt. Again it emphasizes the group’s communal character described both by Philo and the manuscripts.
Such are the data in Quod Probus. They attest to Philo’s exact knowledge of the Qumran community. The information in the Apology for the Jews mostly repeats them, adding particular details like the distinction between winter and summer garments (XI, 12), or the indication of raising bees and tending flocks among practical trades (XI, 8). But on one point it adds a very important characteristic: the explicit affirmation that the Essenes do not marry (XI, 14). The fact that there are no children or adolescents among them can be linked to that. The point is quite unusual. Josephus and Pliny will both observe it. Now, according to the Damascus Document, the Zadokites have wives and children (V, 6–7; VII, 6–9). The Manual of Discipline says nothing about the matter. Investigations carried out at the Qumran cemetery certainly seem to show that women are buried there.
This leads us to observe that, besides indisputable overall similarities, there are notable differences in the description of the community between Philo and the Qumran manuscripts. They are of two kinds and come under two explanations. On the one hand, we have seen that Philo’s Quod Probus presents several characteristics that the manuscripts do not, ones that highlight the rigor of the communal regime: prohibition of all oaths (84) and prohibition of slaves. The Apology adds celibacy and exclusion of adolescents and children. Now these features contradict what the Damascus Document says permitting oaths (IX, 8–16; XVI, 6–12), mentioning slaves, talking about children,
