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HASIDEANS

(Gk. Asidaíoi) (also HASIDIM)

A Jewish group in the 2nd century b.c.e. (1 Macc. 2:42; 7:13; 2 Macc. 14:6). Very little can be said with any certainty about the nature of this group and its role in the historical development of Judaism. The Greek term is a transliteration of Heb. ḥăsîḏîm, “Hasidim” or “pious.” While the name appears to derive from Heb. ḥasîḏ as used in the OT, there is no evidence to suggest that Ps. 149:1 or other references in the Psalms should be used as evidence of this group.

The Hasideans are included in the account of the growth of the forces which joined Mattathias the priest and his sons in the Maccabean revolt in 167 b.c.e. (1 Macc. 2:39-48). They are described in 1 Macc. 2:2 as ischyroí dynámei, usually translated “mighty warriors” but which could equally well refer to “mighty men,” a group of leading citizens of Judea. The members of this elite group “offered themselves willingly for the law,” pledging to violate the prohibition instituted by Antiochus IV against its observance (1 Macc. 1:41-50). Included among the prohibitions were sacrifices and offerings in the temple as well as the observance of sabbaths, festivals, and the rite of circumcision.

Some scholars attribute the origins of the Pharisees and the Essenes to the Hasideans. In 1 Maccabees Mattathias and his friends are provoked to revolt when the Seleucid king’s troops attack on the sabbath a group of Jews who had fled to the wilderness seeking righteousness and justice (1 Macc. 2:29-38). By relating these Jews who fled to the wilderness in 1 Macc. 2:29 to the Hasideans in v. 42, the latter are considered to be the foreparents of the two more broadly attested movements. The Essenes and the Pharisees then grow out of a split in the Hasidic movement. Other scholars have argued that apocalyptic literature such as the book of Daniel comes from this same group. All these claims can remain only hypothetical.

The leading role of the Hasideans is also described in 1 Macc. 7:12-18, where they are said to be “first among the Israelites” (v. 13), also referred to as a “company of scribes” (v. 12). Their political significance, however, is discounted by the pro-Hasmonean author of this dynastic history. The Hasideans are said to have trusted the “peaceable words” of Alcimus and Bacchides (1 Macc. 7:15), a confidence badly misplaced since it results in the murder of 60 members of their company in one day (v. 16). The use in 1 Macc. 7:17 of Ps. 79:2-3 as a proof-text explaining the fate of the Hasideans suggests that the author did regard them as legitimate but perhaps misguided martyrs on behalf of Israel. Some scholars have used this passage as evidence that they were a purely religious group uninterested in the politics of 2nd-century Judea.

In 2 Macc. 14:6 the impious high priest Alcimus names Judas Maccabeus as the leader of the Hasideans and accuses them of “keeping up war and stirring up sedition,” not permitting the kingdom to find stability. It appears that this author is using the prestige of the Hasideans to exalt the reputation of Judas Maccabeus, the hero of this history.

Rabbinic literature contains references to the “first Hasidim.” Their relationship to the group mentioned in Maccabees cannot be clearly established.

Bibliography. P. R. Davies, “µasidim in the Maccabean Period,” JJS 28 (1977): 127-40; M. Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism. 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1974); L. Jacobs, “The Concept of µasid in the Biblical and Rabbinic Literatures,” JJS 8 (1957): 143-54; J. Kampen, The Hasideans and the Origin of Pharisaism. SBLSCS 24 (Atlanta, 1988).

John Kampen

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HASIDEANS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)