Over many months, as I dive deeper and deeper into the Dead Sea Scrolls, the links and marks of the Qumran community, the Zadokites, and the Essenes grows ever stronger. In this short paper, I will share with you a link between the Zadokites, Essenes, John the Baptist, and Jesus through two distinct texts.
The second example is the so-called Resurrection fragment (4Q521, cf. below, pp. 412-3). In this poem, the Age of the eschatological kingdom is characterized, with the help of Psalm cxlvi, 7-8 and Isaiah lxi, 1, by the [1] liberation of captives, [2] the curing of the blind, [3] the straightening of the bent, [4] the healing of the wounded, [5] the raising of the dead and [6] the proclamation of the good news to the poor.
Likewise, in the Gospels, victory over disease and the devil is viewed as the sure sign of the initial manifestation of God’s reign. Jesus is reported to have announced:
If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
(Lk. xi, 20)
Similarly, to John the Baptist’s inquiry whether Jesus was the final Messenger the following reply is sent:
Go and tell John what you hear and see: [2] the blind receive their sight, and [3] the lame walk, [4] lepers are cleansed and [4] the deaf hear, and [5] the dead are raised up, and [6] the poor have good news preached to them.
(Matth. xi, 4-5)
Note furthermore that Community Rule 4:6 lists healing as the chief eschatological reward and that according to the Palestinian Aramaic paraphrases of Genesis iii, the days of the Messiah will bring an ultimate cure to the children of Eve wounded by the serpent in the garden of Eden.
The linkage between the response of Jesus to John and the Resurrection fragment (4Q521) is unmistakable. The fact that points [1] through [6] are all included, and laid out in the same order clearly indicates that Jesus is quoting the Resurrection fragment as a prooftext back to John. Conversely, John will only recognize the significance of the answer if he is a well-studied Zadokite Essene Master and (now) ex-High Priest (having transferred this to Jesus at the Jordan).
He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the b[ent] (Ps. cxlvi, 7-8).
And f[or] ever I will clea[ve to the h]opeful and in His mercy ...
And the fr[uit ... ] will not be delayed for anyone
And the Lord will accomplish glorious things which have never been
as [He ... ]
For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring good news to the poor (Isa. lxi, 1).
One might in fact claim that Jesus is merely quoting from the Resurrection fragment is quoting from: Psalm cxlvi (146): 7-8 and Isaiah lxi (61):1. Yet, the fact that the writer of the fragment has linked these together already, coupled with John's knowledge, and Jesus capitalizing on John's knowledge to answer John's specific inquiry makes the use of the Resurrection document, fragment #2 a fair "lock" in terms of what Jesus is quoting from and why, given the circumstances and people involved.
Note as well, the unnamed participants in this Q&A drama going on between John and Jesus—namely—the disciples of John, who are at least Essenes, and possibly Zadokite's themselves. As such, they are doubtless studied as well, both of the Tanakh, and the other Essene documents and texts. We might then surmise that they would have clearly understood both the question of John and the answer of Jesus, and where Jesus was pointing for the answer.
In conclusion, it is pertinent to acknowledge the scholarly contributions of Geza Vermes, renowned for his work "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English," which serves as a cornerstone for a profound insight. Specifically, Vermes meticulously establishes a connection between the Resurrection fragments, the Gospel of John, and the figure of Jesus, where the connection exists from the early 1990s to the most recent edition in 2004. This noteworthy detail underscores the prolonged existence of such knowledge within the confines of academic circles, while the broader Christian community, including pastors and lay people, has only recently begun to have access in order to engage the same valuable information, observations, and make conclusions.
What are we to conclude from such things? I think the basic conclusions ought to be Zadokite Essenes, both at Qumran, and the 4,000 or so Essenes in various northern Judean "camps" (towns), had a tremendous impact on the New Testament scriptures, even showing up in the ministry Jesus is astonishingly clear.
The profound intersection of doctrinal concepts originating from the Essene community and their subsequent incorporation into the New Testament canon is a remarkable and enlightening phenomenon. This phenomenon underscores the ongoing quest to unearth hidden treasures within the sacred texts. However, this pursuit must be driven by a higher purpose beyond mere intellectual curiosity. The paramount objective remains the dissemination of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the global community, with a steadfast commitment to aligning our efforts with the mission of Christ through obedient submission to the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit within the realm of textual analysis.