Fifty years of scholarship concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls have brought clearer understanding concerning a fascinating stream of Jewish piety which existed during the final days of the Second Temple.

In past articles I have tried to demonstrate that at points the writings of the Qumran library are important for recognizing the Hebraic linguistic milieu for the vocabulary of the New Testament. Beyond these linguistic parallels, however, modern scholarship has attempted to identify whether there existed direct contact between the Essene Congregation and figures in the New Testament. In particular, similarities between John the Baptist and the Qumran Congregation regarding their baptisms, their self-identification with Isaiah 40:3 and their apocalyptic rhetoric, have drawn some scholars to the conclusion that John may have at one time had direct contact with the Essenes.

While similarities between the Essenes and John do exist, the parallels with Jesus are by contrast lacking. In the words of Professor David Flusser, “Jesus and his followers were nearer to Pharisaic Judaism than to the Qumran Sect.” In spite of his and other reservations by Dead Sea Scrolls scholars, there continue to be unfounded theories which seek to establish a direct link between Jesus and the Essenes. One of the more distressing theories is that Jesus abandoned the traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover and embraced the Essene solar calendar to observe the feast two days early.

This novel idea was first suggested b