00:00The Essenes
00:15Apparently, they separated from the Hasmoneans when their political interests diverged from their commitment to fidelity to the law.
00:26fundamental interest of the original group of hachidim, hashads or pious ones.
00:35Some of them lived in small communities or among the Jewish communities themselves.
00:41In contrast, another more radical group went to live in the desert in the western portion of the Dead Sea and established their monastery among the caves of Qumran.
00:54It is important to consider that for historians, the Essenes are a broader movement.
01:03and that Qumran is an Essene subgroup that abandoned social life and moved to the shores of the Dead Sea to live their life in community.
01:15So the terms Essene and Qumranite are not interchangeable all the time.
01:22Jesus speaks of the imminent and definitive arrival of the kingdom of God,
01:29thus assuming an eschatological perspective,
01:32But Jesus does not like to establish dates or resort to them as happens in Qumran for whom calculating dates of such events was fundamental.
01:45Jesus accepts that the Gentiles would have a place at the table of the ultimate kingdom.
01:53In contrast, Qumran states that all those who do not belong to his group will be excluded.
01:59The Essenes await two messiahs, a priest from the house of Aaron and a royal one who will lead Israel in the eschatological battle.
02:11in the end, they will emerge victorious and all their enemies will be defeated.
02:18Qumran believes that the true Israel consists of the members of its community.
02:25They are the true spiritual temple in which the true worship of the one true God is celebrated.
02:33This is because they consider the temple in Jerusalem impure.
02:39whose priests use an incorrect calendar.
02:42Jesus, on the other hand, is presented as a faithful Jew who attends the temple during the various pilgrimage festivals.
02:51and gives it the respect that every Jew gives to the greatest sacred symbol of Judaism along with the Torah.
03:00One of the key points about the Essene communities is the fact that they live with an almost excessive concern
03:10because of matters of purity and issues that, from Jesus' point of view, are minor details of Jewish law.
03:19So much so that Jesus shows little concern for matters of purity.
03:25so that he eats with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors.
03:31He dares to touch the lepers.
03:33It allows a woman suffering from bleeding to touch the hem of her cloak.
03:40If the Pharisees considered Jesus to be excessively soft,
03:44What could the Essenes, who in many respects were much more rigorous than the Pharisees, have thought of him?
03:53If the Gospels are silent about the Essenes, it is because for them Jesus is not someone they can concern themselves with.
04:02given his excessive liberality.
04:06For the Jews, the Samaritans are a group that wavers between Jews and pagans, according to the Deuteronomist author.
04:16This group was formed shortly after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, in 722 BC.
04:25This tradition has been adopted by most historians and Christian theologians.
04:32However, still in Josiah's time, shortly after the scroll of the law was found,
04:39Josiah attempted to unite a nation with all the Jews who worshipped the God of Israel,
04:47both from the southern and northern tribes.
04:50These narratives make no mention of possible Samaritans nor do they mention a cult on Mount Garicín.
05:00Moreover, the Samaritans included Deuteronomy among their sacred books,
05:07book discovered during the reign of Josiah.
05:10And in that book, although it mentions Mount Garicín, it is neither rejected nor condemned as an idolatrous cult.
05:19On the contrary, it is presented as a mountain from which blessings are bestowed.
05:25Likewise, the narratives of Ezra and Nehemiah about the group that returned from Babylon,
05:32when telling us about the difficulties that this group suffered,
05:36They don't clearly tell us that it's a religious group from Samaria,
05:41who celebrate their worship in Haricín and who are called Samaritans.
05:46We can only see the friction that occurs between the newcomers from Babylon,
05:52the residents of Judah and the leaders of Samaria.
05:56But there is no indication whatsoever that we can identify these political leaders of Samaria
06:03with the future Samaritans of the New Testament.
06:07Therefore, rather than speaking of a schism between Jews and Samaritans,
06:12It must be said that they appear to be two unique expressions of the ancient religion of Israel
06:20and their primitive worship of Yahweh, their one and only God.
06:24The Samaritans were expecting a prophet and teacher whom they called Tajev.
06:32The few details provided by the gospels indicate that Jesus did not share the Jewish worldview.
06:38who separated the Samaritans from religious communion,
06:43but Jesus treats them with kindness and mercy.
06:48For their part, Luke and John imply that Jesus had some sporadic encounters with specific Samaritans.
06:58In the end, no evangelist states that Jesus led a formal mission to the Samaritan community of his time.
07:07Brothers, with this we have reached the conclusion of our first module.
07:14But it remains pending, since at the start of the next one,
07:18We will focus on understanding the groups that are often the most misunderstood in the Gospel narratives.
07:26May the Lord continue to give you a hunger and thirst to know Him through His word.
07:47Blessings.
