ASSIDEANS, a name which we meet with in Maccabees, as 1 Macc. ii. 42. vii. 13. There are disputes concerning the original of this term. Some think it comes from the Hebrew, Chasidim, merciful, pious, holy. The Author of Ecclesiasticus, in the encomium which he makes of the greatest Men of his Nation, calls them merciful Men; which is equivalent to the name of Assideans, taken in the sense which we have been speaking of. Others maintain1 ¹, that the Assideans are the same as the Essenians, whose way of living has been so much commended by Josephus, Philo, and even Pliny, and by many others after them. This opinion seems to be confirmed by the 4 Macc. vi.fourth Book of Maccabees, which calls the Essenians Asdanim. Others have thought the Assideans were afterwards divided, and produced the Sadducees and Pharisees. The name of Sadducees signifies just; and that of Pharisees, separated; to shew that they were distinguished from other Jews by their justice and good life.
Scaliger supposed the Assideans2 to be a confraternity of Jews, whose principal devotion consisted in keeping up the edifices belonging to the Temple; they were not content with paying the common tribute of half a shekel a head, which was appointed for the upholding of the Temple, but voluntarily imposed other Taxes upon themselves. They swore by the Temple; every day except the eleventh of the month Tizri, they offered a Lamb in sacrifice, which was called the Sin-offering of the Assideans. And from this sect the Pharisees sprung, who produced the Essenians. 1 Macc. ii. 42.Scripture represents the Assideans as a numerous sect distinguished for its valour, as well as zeal for the Law; A company of Assideans, who were mighty men of Israel, even all such as were voluntarily devoted unto the Law.
Read this article in its place on the printed pages
Footnotes
-
Ferrar. in 1 Macc. vii. 13. Grot. Tirin. Mari. Gorionid. alii. ↩
-
Translators’ note. The mem- bers of the Jewish Church, after the captivity, were divided into the Zadikim, or righteous, who observed only the written Law of Moses; and the Chasidim, or pious, who superadded the Constitutions and Traditions of the Elders. These Chasidim were the Assideans, or Chassideans, here mentioned, the Hebrew Chath answering our Ch, and is ex- pressed sometimes in Greek by an Aspirat, in Latin sometimes by an h, and sometimes is entirely omitted, as in Assideans. Prid. Connect. &c. Part II. Book III. ↩