An Ancient Hebrew Prophet of about 5 or 6 hundred years before the Essenes and Jesus Christ wrote a book or scroll in which, among other prophecies, he prophesied that one day in the future the Dead Sea would contain a multitude of FISHES.

 

Ezekiel 47:1-10 "Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.     Then brought me out....there ran out waters on the right side............................. And then the man that had the line in his hand ..brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles, --- ..Again he measured a thousand ................... the waters were to the knees --- Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins --- Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over .. [skipping now to verse 9]      9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live, AND THERE SHALL BE A VERY GREAT MULTITUDE OF FISH, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed: and every thing SHALL LIVE whither the river cometh.     10 And it shall come to pass, that THE FISHERS shall stand upon it from  En-gedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to SPREAD FORTH NETS; their FISH shall be according to their kinds, as the FISH OF THE GREAT SEA, exceedingly many."      There were some at Qumran and nearby that saw great possibilities in this prophecy of Ezekiel's, particularly so since people from all over the Roman Empire were coming to see the wonder of this great body of water so far below sea level that had water so full of minerals that no one could sink in the water, even with clothing or armor on, and in which nothing could live, even fish . .Some of these begged to be baptized by the Holy Essenes, who decided to allow Simon Magus, a Samaritan Essene of questionable character and ethics, to baptize thyese Gentiles --- and thereby fulfill Ezekiel's prophecy---     These were indeed "FISH" from the Mediterranean Sea, Greece and Rome and Asia Minor, and Simon was quick to promise them, not only "life" as Ezekiel had said, but "Ethernal Life" like the gods of Greece and Rome, and the half-human, half-god children of these dieties--    One of Simon Magus's many names in the Gospels is Zebedee, and one of his paid fishermen was also named Simon, Simon Peter!      And since the Essenes were great at renaming everything with more "appropriate" names, the Dead Sea became the "Sea of Galilee"!

Kherbit Mazin, Essene Synagogue, where two Simons, Andrew, James and John "fished" Gentiles out of the Sea of Death, in their fishing nets, and promised  them life eternal...These tourists paid them well, and some of them may have believed what they were told.

What's more, some of them with skin rashes and aches in their joints returned home healed of these maladies, for a while at least!     I visited Mazin in 1992 and 1993, and sketched this picture of what the now ruined building, and the waterway which led to its sea-gate [wood] probably looked like.     The row of small houses on our left probably housed married Essenes and their families, such as Peter and Andrew .. Perhaps that is Peter putting out his NET to dry on the far right, his boat not very far away ... The walkway in the middle of the waterway allowed a priestly Essene [such as Jesus] to bless the newly baptized "FISHES" without getting his priestly garments all wet! .....................    Excavators of the early 50's recognized this building to be Herodian because of the way the rocks were cut, and know about the wooden sea door because they found lots of ancient nails that used to hold the door together ---     The rock-work of the canal or waterway still reaches from the building to the ancient shoreline of the Dead Sea, now much lower, 2000 years later! This was the Capernaum of the Gospels...One of the Jerusalems of the Gospels was only 6 Km to the north -- Kherbit Qumran!

Essene off-shoots of the Age of Pisces! Next: Jacob's Well