How the Essenes Helped Us Find the Upper Room

A few people have asked me a question something like this: "How do we know exactly where the upper room (or room of the last supper) is located?" "How can we be sure?"

Well the simple answer is we can't. But what we can be sure of is the exact area in the city where the upper room is located. If you go to Jerusalem today and get a tour guide he or she will take you to a beautiful stone room (complete with stain glass windows and quotes from the Koran on the walls) and tell you this is the room of the last supper. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The room they show you is a crusader fortress that dates back to approximately 800 years after Jesus ascended into heaven. The one point I want to make is that this room is very, very close to the original location where the last supper was held. How do I know this? Well in order to know we must look to the nomadic sect known as "The Essenes" for answers.

The Essenes were a group of people who had broken off from the high priesthood b/c they felt it was filled with corruption. They decided to form a new priesthood, and wait for the coming of the Messiah. There are a number of similarities between the Essenes and John the Baptizer. Both the Essenes and John lived out in the desert, and both often quoted from the verse in Isaiah that begins, "A voice of one calling in the desert..." Some scholars even believe that John the Baptizer was an Essene. Anyway, a significant number of Essenes lived out in a desert community known as Qumran. This is where the most famous Archaeological discovery of this century occurred (in my humble opinion). The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered at Qumran. They contained large portions of the Old Testament and several other writings. This was the oldest copy of the Old Testament ever discovered, and it has since supported the accuracy of the Biblical text.

What does this have to do with the Last Supper? Everything. We know from the Dead Sea Scrools that the Essenes had a very strict interpretation of Torah. So strict in fact that they considered their priestly duties to extend almost everywhere. Women were not allowed to perform any priestly duties, and as such, you would often find men in the Essene camp doing tasks that women normally did. A cultural norm in Jesus day was that women always carried the water around town. But what do we find in Mark 14 and Luke 22? A man carrying water around town! So it is 99.9% certain that this man was an Essene and lived near a certain location we'll discuss in the next paragraph. This is the man the disciples are instructed to look for in order to obtain access to the upper room. But how do we know where this man was located?

We know the Essenes had a camp in Jerusalem, and we discovered the location of the camp in 1991. In 1991 the Essene gate was discovered just outside of the old city walls of Jerusalem. What was the Essene gate used for? You'll be sorry you asked (if you did). Once again the Essenes were very strict in their interpretation of Torah. So strict in fact, that they believed the Torah commanded them that they could not take a #2 in the city (gross, I know). Anyway, all this to say they built a gate so they could exit their part of Jerusalem and go down into the Valley of the Sons of Hinnoam to relieve themselves. The Essene gate was discovered in 1991 just above the Valley of the Sons of Hinnoam. With the discovery of the Essene gate, we now know where the man with the water jug would've been. So while the actual room is no longer in existence, the memorial is definitely within a few 100 feet as it is currently located near the remains of the Essene gate.

Hope you enjoyed that! Sorry if it was too long. I hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to send me an e-mail @ robkol2@gmail.com, I'd love to hear from you!

Rob Kol