Puzzling why the most significant Essenes are not mentioned in the Bible

Damien F. Mackey Why are not the Essenes, a most prominent religious group in Palestine, ever referred to in the Bible, at least under the name of Essenes? This is a question repeatedly asked by Marvin Vining,an Anabaptist-Methodist, in his book, Jesus the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essene Schism (Rochester, Vermont: Bear and Company, 2008). Who were the Essenes? And what were their origins? Some have argued that the Essenes were the strict warrior-group, the Hasideans, in the Maccabean times. W.F. Albright, for his part, had stated emphatically that they were the early Christians. Somewhat similarly, Ahmed Osman attempts to connect Jesus and his followers to the Essenes (Out of Egypt). Whilst Vining will cearly show that a lot of Jesus's teaching, and anger, were directed against the extreme doctrines of the Essenes - who could not therefore have been Jesus's early followers - a Hasidean origin does not seem to me to be too far-fetched, especially given my view that the Maccabean times overlap with the life of Jesus Christ. That Judas the Galilean, at the time of the census, was none other than Judas Maccabeus. Vining, however, not only asks the most relevant question, but also seeks to answer it. I must admit that I did not have great confidence that Vining would arrive at the correct answer, given some of his other identifications. He, for instance, thinks that the angel Gabriel, who announces the birth of John the Baptist to his father, Zechariah, was the Jewish High Priest. However, Vining has, to my satisfaction at least, worked out what so may others before him have been unable to do. To identify precisely who were the Essenes, a group un-mentioned in the Bible under that name. We read for instance in this post about Vining's conclusion: Book Write-Up: Jesus the Wicked Priest Posted on November 4, 2013by jamesbradfordpate https://jamesbradfordpate.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/book-write-up-jesus-the-wicked-priest/ "Vining argues that the Essenes had the power to contribute to Jesus’ death because they had clout with Herod, according to Josephus, plus they had influence on Jewish halakah, for Vining contends that the Essenes were the scribes in the Gospels, the ones whom Jesus said sat in Moses’ seat in Matthew 23. (After all, Vining argues, did not the Essenes engage in a lot of scribal activity, since they produced the Dead Sea Scrolls?) Vining also notes that, while the Mishnah does not prescribe crucifixion, the Dead Sea Scrolls did, and so Jesus’ crucifixion was probably due to Essene influence". {End of quote] "... the Essenes were the scribes in the Gospels ...", a hugely significant group. I do not think that I would ever have been able to reach this conclusion, which seems so obvious once it has been properly explained, as Vining manages to do. This does not mean that I can agree with various other of the book's major conclusions - though finding it all highly informative. Unfortunately, there are some wild conclusions (so I think) also reached in the book. For example, that Gabriel who announced the birth of John the Baptist to his father, Zechariah, was the High Priest. I also very much date one of his main lines of arguments, that Jesus was originally an Essene, but split and caused a schism. I was happily surprised to find the author so convincingly identify the group that has been such a conundrum to scholars for so long: the Essenes.