ḤĀSÎD: GUNSTGENOOT

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SUMMARY

A survey of modern Hebrew dictionaries, commentaries on Psalms and Bible translations shows that the word ḥāsîd is generally interpreted as having an active sense: loyal, pious. Only some very few exceptions could be found in which the possibility of a passive understanding (beloved, chosen) for one or other Scripture text is admitted. The active interpretation is supported by the old versions of the Septuaginta, the Targum and the Vulgate. The Dutch Staten Version stands alone among all translations. Here the passive interpretation, represented in the characteristic word „gunstgenoot”, prevails: 22 times on a total amount of 30 occurrences in which ḥāsîd refers to man.

It is demonstrated in the body of the article that this passive interpretation ought to be preferred for the following texts: I. hâsîd in the singular: Ps. 4,4; 16,10; 32,6; 86,2; II. ḥāsîd in the plural: Ps. 30,5; 52,11; 79,2; 85,9; 89,20; 116,15; 145,10; 148,14.—The arguments, adduced in support, all rest on the tenor and the intrinsic coherence of the psalms in question or on the immediate context in which the word occurs. In the latter case, the conclusion was reached by way of style criticism, especially by observing what parallelism works out.

Finally, the passive sense of ḥāsîd is explained as being a later development, the realisation of a semantic possibility that is offered by the morphologic shape of the word. The sense of „beloved” occurs mainly in psalms which seem to originate in the times of the exile or later. Its rise might have to do with the shift of meaning of the noun from which it is derived: ḥesed. Originally, this word signified the mutual loyalty of God and Israel or man within the covenant. Later on, what came to prevail was the onesided loyalty of God towards Israel, as his fidelity was persevering in spite of men's faithlessness. The word chosen by the Greek translators, ἔλεoς, mercy, deposes to this new meaning aspect of ḥesed, which acted upon the sense of ḥāsîd Israel, living under the covenant, knew itself to be more God's beloved one than his loyal or pious partner.