Jewjitzu
Well-known member
She's quoting the article.Your quote is not accurate because right off the bat, the Essenes did not sacrifice animals in the Temple. But more importantly, they allegorized the scriptures UNLIKE the Pharisees who literalized them. It is how Paul could say in one breath, "The Law is Holy", and in the other breath, "the Law is obsolete" because, just like the Essenes, Paul perceived its allegorical meaning as holy, and its letter as death. Pharisees followed the letter and the Essenes/Christians followed the Spirit of the Law. Which is why they could abrogate animal sacrifice, yet still promote the Law for its symbolic value.
The two cardinal rules of the Essenes were Sabbath observance and Circumcision which they claimed was practiced by the angels in heaven as an eternal ordinance. Taken literally (as the Pharisees would do) that is absurd (spirits do not have a penis to circumcise) but figuratively it makes sense for these eternal ordinances are two sides of the same coin from a heavenly perspective. It is seven days until the Holy Spirit has formed spiritual Israel or Jacob who is intimately connected to the Sabbath when the the heavenly host are gathered in, presumably to live in heaven. On the flip side, if the flesh is not removed on the eighth day then the male is "cut-off" from his God. Two sides of the same coin supporting an eternal truth practiced by the angels in heaven and SYMBOLIZED by the Mosaic Law. The circumcised flesh is also associated with the carnal nature (ie inordinate desire, passions, impulses, etc.) which is likely the true circumcision--the circumcision practiced by angels in heaven (and on earth).
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