Between the end of 2 Maccabees and the Four Gospels, roughly a century passed with little Biblical insight. Other sources fill in for this gap; take for example Flavius Iosephus and his Antiquities. The rebel turned Roman collaborator gave a still lengthy summary of the Septuagint, notably including so-called deutorocanonicals in his account of ancient Hebrew history. The more interesting portions come after his account of the War of the Maccabees. Take for example, this passage:
Now for the Pharisees, they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate. But the sect of the Essens affirms, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls men but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly.
Antiquities of the Jew
Too often, opposing groups within discussion circles throw petty ad hominems accusing of rigidity and Pharisaicism. Counter-arguments often try to address the abuse, never the abusers. Our Lord, when prophesying the Temple's destruction and Jerusalem's razing, knew that a Jewish rebel would escape his comrades' suicide in an isolated mountain fortress. Such destruction and death in the Holy Land was unfortunate, yet our Lord's infinite wisdom allowed great good to come out of this - reliable historical accounts of details glossed over in Scripture.
These sources give insight and context to the Good News, even though His Word ought to suffice. Nonetheless, Scripture took centuries for a canon to emerge. An authority in Earth, though not of it, set the canon in Carthage, after so many Saints had received their reward, around three centuries after the city's destruction by Rome. So did the city repay for its centuries of infantile sacrifice, but we digress. A careful student of History and Historiography would notice how our Lord's Hand guided events.
A random man on the internet is no reliable authority to interpret primary sources. Thus, we move to secondary ones to fill in the gaps. Quoting Max Dimond in Jews, God, and History:
The Pharisees represented the middle ground of Jewish religious thinking. They were exceedingly tolerant in their religious views, totally different from the New Testament picture of them as narrow-minded bigots. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead, in the coming of a messiah, and in the immortality of the soul. Whenever two interpretations of the Torah—the Law---were possible, they always chose the more lenient view. They developed the tradition of Oral Law, a sort of portable ``do-it-yourself'' jurisprudence kit to keep up with the changing times.
Chapter 7
One could see how this passage could bring the much used phrase "weaponized ambiguity" to mind. We forego discussing such interpretations for now.
The Sadducees could also use more context. Quoting from chapter 6:
The Sadducees represented the liberal, enlightened political viewpoint. They felt that neither their country nor Judaism would be jeopardized by a reasonable amount of Hellenic cultural influence... When Jesus preached in Galilee and Jerusalem, the Sadducees did not regard him as a radical, but as a zealot—in other words, as a Pharisee.
Chapter 6
Already, we see how our Lord tangled with progressive-minded folk. The Sadducees today would use cherry-picked verses such as "judge not" or "love thy neighbor" while doing them all the same.
However, one still needs to know what the Essenes were. We turn to Josephus again for answers.
The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among any other men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long while among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all. There are about four thousand men that live in this way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint certain stewards to receive the incomes of their revenues, and of the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, who are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none of them differ from others of the Essens in their way of living, but do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae.
Antiquities of the Jews
One would see how the Essenes prefigure the type of devoutness so scourged today. In fact, Max Dimond writes that the Pharisees saw them as rigid zealots and extremist faithful. One may be naturally tempted to associate them with Traditionalists today. However, one must face reality. The Essenes' peacefulness and harmony completely fails to appear when one looks at Traditionalists from afar. Only discord, conflict, and insults show up. In fact, one could find many parallels with the original Zealots in The Jewish War, they who rebelled against Roman rule so many times:
And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious. When, therefore, John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing his darts upon those citizens that came up against him, from the cloisters he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from the temple by his engines of war. And if at any time he was freed from those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all other provisions. The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the other's retreat, he attacked the city also; as if they had, on purpose, done it to serve the Romans, by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the places that were about the temple were burnt down, and were become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides of it; and that almost all that corn was burnt, which would have been sufficient for a siege of many years. So they were taken by the means of the famine, which it was impossible they should have been, unless they had thus prepared the way for it by this procedure.
The Jewish War
After the Abomination of Desolation entered the Temple, the Zealots came in and imprudently destroyed the whole courtyard instead of just the offending image. The Faithful risk doing the same today without careful study and practice. The Zealots themselves would see some of their members morph into a twisted group, the Sicarii:
When the country was purged of these, there sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii, who slew men in the day time, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly at the festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when any fell down dead, the murderers became a part of those that had indignation against them; by which means they appeared persons of such reputation, that they could by no means be discovered. The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity itself; and while every body expected death every hour, as men do in war, so men were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was the celerity of the plotters against them, and so cunning was their contrivance.
The Jewish War
Just as the Sicarii had no shame in murdering their high priest, so too do Sedevacantists have no fear in maligning his Holiness and the hierarchy. In the end, the Sicarii faced retribution in Masada fortress, famous for the last stand and final suicide of its defenders. Time will tell whether something similar shall happen again.
Christ tells us to be in the world, not of it. Much has been said how the Benedict Option is a book-sized practical joke, that its proposal is basic Christian living in the world promoted by a baiting premise. However, one may still find comfort in nearby family and friends, despite still being in the world. Private revelation claims that Saints Joachim and Anne were Essenes. Such a claim holds great merit, for as Max Dimond writes:
The Essenes, who had started their withdrawal from political life as early as the beginning of the Hasmonean dynasty, continued that withdrawal under Roman occupation. By the time the war against Rome broke out, they already had separated themselves into their own communities on the periphery of the smaller cities... Like the Pharisees, the Essenes believed in the immortality of the soul, in resurrection, and in the concept of a messiah. They also believed in the punishment of the wicked in an everlasting hell, and reward for the good in heaven. They developed elaborate purification rites, one of which was baptism, that is, immersion in water for remission of sins, or a rebirth into a new life. The Essenes preferred celibacy, and in the words of the historian Josephus, “they reject pleasure as an evil, but esteem continence and the conquest of our passions to be virtue.” In order to preserve their numbers, they held, like the Apostle Paul in later years, that it was “better to marry than to burn,” and therefore permitted occasional marriages. Most new members, however, came through the adoption of children from other sects who then were trained in the ascetic ways of the Essenes.
It is no wonder then, that the Essenes had disappeared by the first century's turn. They had all converted to Christianity, having their hopes and prayers fulfilled in the living Word.