⁶⁸ For the understanding of these texts as implying a binding precept, see Billerbeck (1922–8), 2. 372–3. Josephus (JW 18. 21), Philo (Apol. 14), and Pliny (NH 2. 276) are not correct in imputing celibacy to the Essenes. According to H. Stegemann (1994), 267–74, all Essenes married very young women, who were expected to give birth to a child every year. Most of these women did not live beyond their early twenties. The vast majority of the Essenes, therefore, were single men who by rule had married later than other Jews, and who as widowers could not remarry. The unusual proportion of single men gave the impression that they had chosen celibacy as a matter of principle, whereas in fact they obeyed a rigorous interpretation of Gen. 1: 28.