I thought these little items would be of help to some. They will provide important background material for continued discussion of the roots of the Essenes and the Enochian community too I believe.
#################### BOOK: JAMES THE BROTHER OF JESUS Page 302 "We have already seen how Jeremiah emphasized in his panegyric to Jonadab's descendants both the themes 'keeping' and 'doing', that is, they 'KEPT the Commandment their ancestor gave them' or 'observed all his rules and DID all that he commanded'. The 'Rechabites', therefore, are one of the first groups of so-called 'Keepers', the basis of the definition of 'the Sons of Zadok' in the Community Rule at Qumran." Page 305 "Epiphanius thinks that the word [Essenes] actually denotes 'Jesus' or his father 'Jesse', that is, 'Jesusians' or 'Jessaeans'. But this, too, while perhaps the reality, is laboured. ' 'Osei ha-Torah' or 'Osaeans' (in Epiphanius, 'Ossaeans' or 'Ossenes') works best, and has the additional benefit of not only being Hebrew, but an actual term used in the Qumran documents. If this is true and the basis of 'Essenes' is the word 'Doers' in Hebrew, then we have another additional parallel here not only to Nazirites, but Nazaoraeans, Rechabites, and Sons of Zadok as well." Page 309 "In Nehemiah 2:31, this Malchijah is actually also called 'the metalsmith's son'... This brings us back to Rabbinic literature once again and not only reinforces these notices about the Rechabite life-style, but once again connects them, however tenuously, to the High Priesthood and "doing service at the altar". Let us assume that these wilderness 'sojourners' or 'Potters' - - people, who with an eye towards extreme purity regulations and avoiding human entanglements, purposefully pursued a life-style with no permanent abode and abstained from wine or even culti- vating vineyards - - did somehow become involved in a genealogical manner with the High Priesthood, as these Rabbinic notices attest. [He waits for the footnote to reference these "notices".] Then these notices give the impression not only that this did occur, but how it happened. In these Talmudic notices we hear in a *midrash* - - a folkloric expansion - - on this same jeremiah 36 passage about Rechabites, that 'the sons of Rechab were married to the daughters of the High Priests' and 'did service in the Temple' at least in the period just preceding the compilation of the materials in question. Another Talmudic tradition reverses this [and thus emphasizing, rather than contradicting!] claiming 'the daughters of the Rechabites married 'the sons of th High Priests'.... we have in these Rabbinic notices extremely important testimony to the fact of wilderness-dwelling types like such 'Rechabites' - whom in other descriptions might be called 'life-long Nazirites', or even *possibly* 'Nazoraeans' - doing service in the Temple. In fact, around 1165 CE, the Spanish traveller, Benjamin of Tudela, claims to have encountered large numbers of such Jewish 'Rechabites' in Arabia north of Yemen, who (James-like) also, 'ate no meat, abstained from wine', 'lived in caves', and continually fasted, being 'mourners for Jerusalem' and 'Zion'. FOOTNOTES referenced on p. 309 Located on page 1006 in the footnote section of the book Footnote 80: Judg. 1:16, 4:1, 1 Sam. 27:10, and 30:29. Note even the reference to Kenites in Balaam's Prophecy in Num 24:21-2.... 1 Chr 2:25 literally states, the Kenites were 'the ancestors of the House of Rechab'. This is picked up in San. 104a-106a and Sota 11a, which makes the same connection, while at the same time insisting 'they were privileged to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone' in the Temple - - seemingly as scribes. Footnote 81: Notice in 1 Chr 4:21, the Potter clans [guilds?] among the Tribe of Judah are associated with the linen-makers - for whatever it's worth. Footnote 83: See Yalqut Shim'oni [Midrash] on Jer. 35:12, Siphre Num 78 on Num. 10:29, and B.B. 91b on 'Potters' above. Also see Eisler, pp 234-45, for a full presentation of 'the Saleb'. [Eisler's discussion of the Solubbim or Saleb is really quite interesting!] Footnote 84: Benjamin of Tudela, _TRAVELS_. ########################### If we can get an exact translation of the rabbinic materials cited in Footnote 83, I'm sure it would be very helpful. Can anyone provide these? George Brooks Tampa, FL For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: "unsubscribe Orion." Archives are on the Orion Web site, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il. (PLEASE REMOVE THIS TRAILOR BEFORE REPLYING TO THE MESSAGE)
