In
'97 a
Qumran text was
published that is relevant
to the ungoing discussions:
according to the publishers, this text,
which was composed in Jericho in the first half of the first century C.E.,
records the declaration of one Honi ben Elazar that he is contributing to the Qumran community
[the Yahad] his property, including a house in Holon, fig & olive trees, & his servant named Hisdai.
This appears to be the contribution of the initiate to the sect, 'anyone from Israel who freely volunteers'
in the idiom of the scrolls, following a first probationary year. At the end of his second probationary year, his property will be sold & the proceedings channelled to the common fund of the community, thus marking the initiate's acceptance into the sect and elevation to status of member.
This newly discovered text provided external proof for the basic historical reliability of the initiation process to another Second Temple Jewish sect, namely the description found in Acts 4:34:
KIE LO-HAYAH VAHEM CHASAR DAVAR KIE CHAL-BA'ALEI SADOT OEVATIEM MACHROE OTAM WAYAVIEYOE ETKESEF MECHIERAM; WAYESIEMOEHOE LERAGLEI HASJLIECHIEM WAYOETAN LECHAL-IESJ WAIESJ DEI MACHSORO:
[32-37] De groep mensen die het geloof had aanvaard, leefde eendrachtig samen.
Geen van hen beschouwde zijn bezittingen als zijn persoonlijk eigen-dom, want ze hadden alles gemeenschappelijk. De apostelen bleven met grote kracht getuigen van de opstanding v/d Heer Yehosjoea, & G d begunstigde allen rijkelijk.
NIEMAND ONDER HEN LEED ENIG GEBREK: WIE EEN STUK GROND OF EEN HUIS BEZAT, VERKOCHT HET, BRACHT DE OPBRENGST NAAR DE A-POSTELEN EN LEGDE DIE AAN HUN VOETEN NEER, WAARNA HET GELD NAAR BEHOEFTE ONDER DE GELOVIGEN WERD VERDEELD!
Een van hen was Yoseef, een Leviet uit Cyprus {Kittim}, die van de apostelen de bij-naam Bar-Naba had gekregen, wat in onze taal 'zoon v/d vertroosting' betekent. Hij bezat een akker, die hij verkocht, waarna hij het geld naar de apostelen bracht!
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them & brought the proceeds of what was sold!
It thus should be noted that the practice of shared property [probably] was an innovation found among Yeshua's disciples in the church of Yerushalayim. According to the gospels neither a community that formed around Yehoshua during his lifetime, nor the followers of Yochanan the Baptist, [yet]
had adopted the principle of shared property ~ contrary to the contemporary practice at Qumran.
This appears, then, to be a case of [ii]Essene influence
on the followers of Yeshu,
an influence that became
evident only after
his death
...