Members of the Qumran community, understood by most scholars to be Essenes, were first and foremost Jews. They based their beliefs and practices on the Bible and other sacred books and thus they worshipped in ways similar to other Jews during this period. They believed themselves to be the only true covenant Israel, that they alone had access to the mind and the will of God, and that they had been called out of the world to prepare themselves to be ready for the end of time when they would be instruments in the hand of the Lord for the deliverance of the Sons of Light and the destruction of the Sons of Darkness.

Qumran Cave 4 located near the ruins of Qumran, is where the remains of hundreds of biblical and other documents were found. (Photograph courtesy John W. Welch)

From a historical perspective the Essenes are considered one of the several sects of Judaism, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, that flourished at the end of the pre-Christian era. From a Latter-day Saint perspective, the Essenes were a group groping for light and truth during one of the most challenging periods of Israel’s history. Although it was a time of apostasy, and darkness surrounded them, they continued to worship the Lord to the best of their ability and understanding. When Jesus the Messiah came in his mortal ministry, the Essenes as a group did not accept him. In a.d. 68 they were still at Qumran awaiting divine intervention on their behalf when their community was destroyed by the Romans.

We are fortunate to have discovered in Qumran the many texts that preserve remnants of Essene religious beliefs and practices. On the one hand, certain aspects of their worship are similar to that of the other sects of Judaism, since much of it is derived directly from the Old Testament. On the other hand, some of their beliefs and religious practices are unique to their community. We can survey their worship by examining each of the seven elements of worship identified in the Pearl of Great Price and the Bible: prayer, obedience, sacrifice, ordinances, repentance, study, and blessing the name of the Lord. For each of the seven elements I have chosen one or more representative passages from some of the important texts at Qumran to illustrate the Qumranites’ understanding of each principle of worship.2

Like all forms of Judaism based on the Bible, prayer was a very important element of the worship at Qumran. Many of the more than 800 texts found at Qumran contain prayers. The most widely attested text at Qumran is the book of Psalms, which contains examples of many prayers. There were fragments of 36 different copies of the Psalms found at Qumran, 29 copies of Deuteronomy, 21 copies of Isaiah, and 17 copies of Exodus.3 We now have numerous texts containing the prayers used at Qumran as well as a wealth of information about the practice of prayer. Unfortunately, many of these texts are very fragmentary. Most of the 575 texts from Cave 4 consisted of many small fragments when the Bedouin first brought them to scholars, but scholars through the years have sorted these fragments and assembled them on plates preserving, albeit in fragmentary form, hundreds of texts from Cave 4 that are useful for the study of prayer at Qumran.4

Qumrun Cave 11, looking out toward the Dead Sea. The Temple Scroll and Psalms Scroll were discovered here. (Photograph courtesy Steven W. Booras)

The ancient historian Flavius Josephus describes for us how the Essenes prayed:

Before the sun is up they utter no word on mundane matters, but offer to him [the Lord] certain prayers, which have been handed down from their forefathers, as though entreating him to rise. They are then dismissed by their superiors to the various crafts in which they are severally proficient and are strenuously employed until the fifth hour, when they again assemble in one place and, after girding their loins with linen cloths, bathe their bodies in cold water. . . . Pure now themselves, they repair to the refectory as to some sacred shrine. . . . Before meat the priest says a grace, and none may partake until after the prayer.5

When I stretch out hand and foot I will praise his name. When I go out and come in, sit and rise, and when laid on my couch, I will cry for joy to him. I will praise him with the offering of the utterance of my lips in the row of men, and before I lift my hand to enjoy the delights of the world’s produce. In the beginning of terror and dread, and in the abode of affliction and distress I will bless him for (his) exceedingly woundrous activity. I will meditate upon his power, and upon his mercies I will lean all day.6

In short, the Essenes believed in the need to pray regularly and constantly. Prayer could be offered at any time, in any place, in any circumstance, and at Qumran there were also set times for regular prayer in the morning and in the evening. The Rule of the Community specifies prayer when the light of day first appears in the morning and when it disappears in the evening (See 1QS IX 26–X 3). A series of texts from Cave 4 appears to preserve specific examples of these daily prayers for each day of a month (see 4Q503). Many scholars believe that the morning and evening prayers of the Essenes were offered, as in other sects of Judaism, at the same times as the daily sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem.7

Most of the prayers in the Bible appear to be spontaneous prayers directly addressing God in light of various circumstances. In the later rabbinic traditions rabbis warned against routine and unthoughtful prayer. According to the Mishnah (compiled ca. a.d. 200) Rabbi Simeon ben Nethanel said, "And when thou prayest make not thy prayer a fixed form, but [a plea for] mercies and supplications before God" (Avot 2:13). In rabbinic Judaism there is evidence that the writing down of prayers was not permitted during the centuries that the Essenes flourished. One of the sages stated that "those who commit blessings to writing are like those who burn Torah" (T Shabbat 13:4). Nevertheless, through the centuries a book of fixed prayers emerged in rabbinic Judaism.8 Thus the Qumran prayers are important evidence for the development of prayer between the biblical period and the texts of rabbinic Judaism, which began to be written in the third century a.d. Several of the Qumran texts preserve remnants of prayers known from the rabbinic prayer book—often with the exact phrases intact—indicating that originally these prayers were known within Judaism outside of the Pharisaical circles.9

In Cave 11 a scroll was discovered called the Psalms Scroll, which contains a collection of forty-one biblical Psalms and seven non-canonical psalms, some of which are known from the Apocrypha, interspersed. Many scholars believe this scroll was a liturgical collection, meaning they were psalms used in the worship of the community.10 At the end of this scroll was a notation of the number of hymns that David wrote:

David son of Jesse was wise and brilliant like the light of the sun; (he was) a scribe, intelligent and perfect in all his ways before God and men.

YHWH gave him an intelligent and brilliant spirit, and he wrote 3,600 psalms and 364 songs to sing before the altar for the daily perpetual sacrifice, for all the days of the year; and 52 songs for the Sabbath offerings; and 30 songs for the New Moons, for Feast days and for the Day of Atonement.

In all, the songs which he uttered were 446, and 4 songs to make music on behalf of those stricken (by evil spirits).

In all, they were 4,050.

All these he uttered through prophecy which was given him from before the Most High.11

As a symbol of their obedience, the Essenes had apparently adopted, as had other Jews, the use of the tefillin and mezuzoth as part of their worship. In Deuteronomy, in a passage Jews call the Shema>, which means "hear" or "hearken," the Lord commanded Israel:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them [the words of the Lord] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4–9)

The most prominent symbols connected to the law of Moses are a series of divinely ordained sacrifices. At the time of the Essenes most Jews believed, based on Deuteronomy 12, that sacrifices could only be made at the temple in Jerusalem. However, the Essenes believed that the temple in Jerusalem was being run by a corrupt and illegitimate priesthood, and therefore they apparently did not offer sacrifice there. They understood their community to be the temple of the Lord until the temple in Jerusalem could be purified and rebuilt, and they looked to the future when such a temple would be built, as described in their Temple Scroll. The famous Temple Scroll found in Cave 11 contains specific instructions for sacrifices and other temple rituals.12

For the Qumran community, prayer was an act that could have the same effect as sacrifice until the temple was built. The Rule of the Community recognizes prayer as a form of worship comparable to sacrifice: "and prayer rightly offered shall be as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness, and perfection of way as a delectable free-will offering" (1QS IX 4–5). The morning and evening prayers at Qumran were likely offered at precisely the same time as the daily sacrifices at the Jerusalem Temple.

Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Conclusion and Notes