Ἀγαπάω come rilettura dei LXX di “šaʿăšûʿîm” (Is 5,7) e “šāʿaʿ” (Sal 94[93],19)

Among numerous words that the LXX translate with ἀγαπάω, there are also the substantive “šaʿăšûʿîm” (Isa 5:7) and the verb “šāʿaʿ” (Ps 94[93]:19). It is obvious that Greek translators have extended the semantic area of these 2 words until to express the meaning of "love," probably to underline the election of Israel and the consolation that YHWH assures to his followers. So ἀγαπάω, from a primary and undifferentiated meaning of "to welcome with benevolence," takes on various nuances, until to the one of "to love". The LXX re-moulded ἀγαπάω semantically perhaps by assonance with the Hebrew "ʾāhab", to express spiritual relationship between God and man. In both passages, this translation of “šaʿăšûʿîm” and “šāʿaʿ” seems suggested to the LXX by the motif of YHWH's justice toward the just man: it is a justice that manifests love, and identifies oneself with it. Therefore, a solution to the semantic problem comes from a double attention: 1) the contextualised reading of the 2 passages; 2) the operative conception of love, typical of Israel. So the free interpretation by the LXX (God is just because He loves) appears faithful to the pregnant sense of the original text.