The Essene Teacher of Righteousness is a controversial figure.  Who was he?  When did he live?  Was Jesus the Teacher of Righteousness?  
    The written references to him give no name and the title may refer not to one person, but to an office held by several people over time.  The earliest recorded reference to the Teacher of Righteousness is from 386 B.C., when he led the Essene community out to the desert to the area called Qumran.  Over the next three centuries, the authorities put several Essene high priests to death and they were probably Teachers of Righteousness as well.  Jesus also was clearly a Teacher of Righteousness as well as Messiah.  He fit the Essene description of the Messiah as a humble man of peace and love who would lead by teaching, so they accepted Jesus as Messiah while most other Jews rejected him.  So there really is no disagreement between those who think Jesus was the Teacher of Righteousness and those who say the Teacher lived centuries before Jesus was born so it must be someone else.  They are both correct because there was more than one teacher.  And the Essene prophecies predict the coming of a final Teacher of Righteousness in the End Times to prepare the way for the new world of Light.