ASIDEI. – “Pious” men of Judaism in the Maccabean and Hasmonean period. The Hebr. ḥāsidhim, “pious” (in the Septuagint 'Aou82[6]os), occurs frequently in the Old Testament (Ps. 4:4; 11:2 etc.; Prov. 2:8; Mich. 7:2, etc.); in the 2nd century B.C. it designates the adherents of a strong group formed by the best of the Jewish people, devoted to the strictest observance of the Mosaic law (I Mach. 2:42; 3:44; 7:13 ff.), for which they also suffered and fought with arms. Their origin is unknown. At the time of Mattathias (d. in 166 B.C.) they were already powerful and must have reacted against the advancing Hellenism. They perhaps belonged to those faithful men, one thousand of whom were massacred for refusing to fight on the Sabbath (I Mach. 2:29-38). Ready to respond to Mattathias’s call for revolt, they took part in the Maccabean wars against Antiochus IV Epiphanes (v.) and his successors (ibid. 2:42). Of profound but naïve faith, they fell into the trap laid by Demetrius I Soter (162-150), who, together with Bacchides’ army, had sent the intriguer Alcimus (v.) to Judaea, after making him high priest, to offer the Jews freedom deceitfully. The a., unable to doubt the sincerity of a descendant of Aaron, believed Alcimus and distrusted the cautious Judas Maccabaeus (165-161). And, thinking that the time had come to put their religious programme into effect, they laid down their arms and, together with the “assembly of the scribes,” came to ask for peace. But Alcimus (or Bacchides, according to Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Ind., XII, 10, 2), faithless, slaughtered sixty of them in a single day, thereby fulfilling Ps. 78:2-3 (I Mach. 7:12-17). Once they discovered the deception, they took up arms again with greater determination and brought Alcimus into dire straits. He confessed to Demetrius that the a. formed the principal strength of Judas Maccabaeus’s army, were rekindling the war, provoking rebellions and threatening the stability of the kingdom, and preventing him from exercising the high priesthood (II Mach. 14:6 ff.). From this moment all trace of them is lost.
Since in the time of Jonathan (161-143), Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Ind., XIII, 5, 9; cf. XII, 10, 1), while mentioning the Jewish sects for the first time (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes), does not name them, and since their Pharisees (v.), some maintain that the two parties were identical. The silence of Flavius Josephus concerning them is strange, given that he makes use of the books of the Maccabees. The Pharisees may be regarded as continuers of the a. party. According to some, the stricter current of the a. became merged with the Essenes, and the more moderate with the Pharisees. They may perhaps be traced in the “holy ones” (Gavoi) of the Psalms of Solomon (2:40; 3:10; 4:7, 9; etc.) and in the “holy people” of the Jubilees (33:20-31). In the apocryphal Enoch (whose primitive nucleus some attribute to an a.), 90:6-7, they would be represented by the lambs born of the white sheep, toward which the flock of the people of Israel would not have bleated.
According to W. Bousset, W. Baldensperger, A. Causse, and others, the a. gave rise in Israel to an important spiritual current (the “pious,” or “silent ones,” or “poor of Israel” [V. EBONITES], or “messianist-pietists”) which, far removed from political intrigues and trusting solely in God, regarded the official religion with distrust.
In the Talmud the ḥāsidhim are strict observers of the Law, with a tendency toward asceticism (Bērāhāth, 5, 1; Ḥaghighāh, 2, 7, etc.). Among them are distinguished the ḥāsidhim ḥā-ri'šōnim (the ancient ones), or 'anīē ma'āšeh (the men of the deed). Perhaps a Māghillath ḥāsidhim existed (v. HASSIDISMO).