Everyone had his assigned duty (which always began before sunrise) within the variety of self-sustaining areas of community life, be it husbandry, agriculture, steward, priestly, or otherwise. Servants were not permitted, as to avoid the danger of becoming unjust toward another. Personal hygiene was expected within all areas of bodily needs, with a strong emphasis and practice upon the nature of personal. Ritual bathing was performed before each meal. Meals were ceremonial, and all participated, with a priest presiding, offering prayers before and after each.

Although highly articulate, silence and sobriety was practiced to the degree that, to a stranger, a mysterious aura surrounded them. Interruptions while another spoke was looked upon with great disdain and the source for undesired confusion and clamor. Lying was intolerable, with a sworn duty of each to expose one found guilty of such. Swearing was considered worse than perjury, holding to a view parallel to that of our Lord ( Mat.5:33-37; 23:16-22).

Discipline was severely enforced and accuracy in judgment was sought with extreme care. A quorum of one hundred was necessary before a case could be tried, and their decision was final. Next to God, Moses was considered to be their chief example of a legislator, and anyone found guilty of blaspheming his name was executed. Chronological age (elders) was held in high regard, with obedience to the older expected of the younger.

Having evolved from basically the same origins of the Pharisees (the Hasideans), their doctrines and beliefs ran within the same vein, with perhaps a stronger emphasis upon eschatology. They considered themselves the antithesis of the Sadducees and their doctrines, especially the idea and role of fate in one's life on earth. God was seen to be sovereign, and all that man did in the exercise of his own will occurred within the scope of God's overall will.

Perrin parallels the characteristics of this Jewish apocalyptic community at Qumran with the Jewish Christian sect that also developed out of Judaism in the first century, with one major difference: having separated from society, the Essenes of Qumran were highly monastic, contrasted to the Christians who continued in the mainstream of society, [and to fulfill the Great Commission - Mt.28:19-20] and became highly evangelistic in their faith (Perrin, p. 72). There were many other differences among these two groups that, to the serious student of Jewish and Christian history, they cannot be sufficiently seen as the same, although some do.

Among the Essenes is purported to have been men so well studied in scripture, and given to spiritual purity, they could foresee the future with uncanny predictions. Because of a personal experience with one particular Essene who had prophesied to a young Herod that he would ascend the throne of the Jews one day, this Herod would later remember his prophecy and hold the Essenes in high regard. This view, Josephus and Herod held in common. One can only wonder what contact Jesus had with such pious men and what of His evaluation of them. Some scholars who believe this was a Jewish Christian sect, identify Jesus as the Teacher of Righteous seen in their writings who appear at the end of the age, as they viewed theirs to be.

Since we have no record of the Essenes in our New Testament writings, one cannot say with certainty that they took no position on the life and ministry of our Lord and had no influence upon His death. However, because of their chosen cellular and monastic lifestyle giving little or no opportunity for contact or communication with Him, and because they were devout enemies with the Sadducees, who were in no small part responsible for Christ's death, we can say in all likelihood that there was no direct involvement.