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Whenever as many as ten members of the Community gathered for a meal they took their seats in the order of their rank, and the Priest presided. No one could touch the bread or new wine until the Priest had blessed them and taken his. But in the Rule of the Congregation at a meeting of ten or more "Men of Renown" (Essene leaders - the Council of the Community) the Messiah is also present and takes bread and wine after the priest but before the others did, according to their seniority. Qumran scholars consider the sacred meal to anticipate the banquet in Heaven at the End of Days. They assume the participation of the Messiah to be symbolic - he was present only in spirit. But, from the description, It sounds as if the Messiah were really there. Maybe he was!
In the Qumran literature the Hebrew word Nasi, meaning "leader" or "prince" is used frequently to mean a messianic leader - not the Messiah as such but the "Prince of the Many". Did the Nasi play the role of the Messiah at the sacred meal of the Council of the Community? If so Nasi could be the real origin of the gospel term Nazarene. Nazarene certainly did not mean "of Nazareth" because Nazareth at the time was a milestone saying "Sepphoris 4 miles". Even if it existed it, and archeology shows it didn’t at this time, it was so insignificant that it could never have been used as a helpful description. People would have said: "Jesus of where?" Nazarene was obviously a word which people understood. The Nazarenes were those who followed Barabbas (a term for “son of God”), a messianic leader, the Nasi. The Semitic root NS relates to lifting or carrying and metaphorically translates as forgiving as in lifting and carrying away sins. Jesus was reputed to blaspheme by forgiving sins. It is possible that the Nasi had this power.
There are several other fascinating word links between the names of Jesus and his followers, and the Essenes. The Semitic root NSR means "protector" or "saviour". The Arabs still call Christians the Nasrani. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Joshua which means the Salvation of God. Hosea, meaning Salvation, is the original name of Joshua. It is properly written Osee. The Aramaic for "save us" is "osanna" the cry of the multitude when Jesus entered Jerusalem as a king. Epiphanius speaks of the Ossenes, a Jewish sect by the Dead Sea obviously identifiable with the Essenes. Essene is properly rendered Osim, the Saviours. Thus the Osim were also the followers of the Saviour, Jesus. The Koran's name for Jesus is Essa from the same word, Osee.
Epiphanius also tells us that besides Nazarenes the early Christians were known as Jessaeans. David, the great king of the Jews, the model of the warrior Messiah, was the son of Jesse. So it seems that the Jessaeans were simply followers of Jesus because he was the heir of David (before he became the son of a virgin!). The truth is slightly more extended. The identification Jessaeans comes from Isaiah which records:
(Isa 11:1 explained further in 10), a quotation much revered by the writers of the scrolls and by Christians - Isaiah also means the Salvation of God! The branch is an alternative name for the Messiah. The word NSR, vocalised as netzer, means a branch - it is equivalent to the word Nazarene. This is surely what was spoken by the prophets when we read in Matthew 2:23:
Matthew's reference to the prophets has puzzled scholars because there is no explicit mention of "a Nazarene" in the Old Testament. In the sense given it by Christians it would be surprising if there were since it is a moot point whether Nazareth existed even at the time of Jesus let alone in more ancient days. The Old Testament reference is to Isaiah's branch out of the roots of the rod of the stem of Jesse, which gives us both Nazarene and Jessaeans.
Baigent and Leigh tell us the Hebrew for "Keepers of the Covenant," one of the names the Essenes chose for themselves, is Nozrei haBrit, whence Nosrim - Nazarene! Finally we know from Luke that John the Baptist was a Nazirite, one who wore his hair uncut and did not drink wine, and so also was Jesus's brother, James, who became leader after the crucifixion. The Essenes also might have been Nazirites because the wine of the messianic meal seems to have been "new" wine or unfermented grape juice. Essene references to wine should be read as new wine and the same is probably true of the gospels. Jesus was not a wine bibber.
We have several words with relevant meanings all apparently serving as the origin of the word "Nazarene". Curious? Not at all. Jews at that time loved punning, and their language lent itself to it, especially in writing where vowels were not expressed. The Nazarenes and Essenes would have loved the multiple meanings God had associated with their name.