מלך אשור או מלך פרס?

מאת: אבנר רמו

The Book of Ezra begins by telling the reader that “YHWH stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom” saying:

כל ממלכות הארץ נתן לי יהוה אלהי השמים; והוא-פקד עלי לבנות-לו בית בירושלם אשר ביהודה. “

All the kingdoms of the earth had YHWH, the God of heaven, given me; and He had charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (Ezr 1:2).

מי-בכם מכל-עמו, יהי אלהיו עמו, ויעל לירושלם אשר ביהודה; ויבן את-בית יהוה אלהי ישראל--הוא האלהים, אשר בירושלם.

“Whosoever there is among you of all His people--his God be with him--let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of YHWH, the God of Israel, He is the God who is in Jerusalem” (Ezr 1:3). Yet five chapters later we find:

ויעשו בני-הגולה את-הפסח--בארבעה עשר, לחדש הראשון. כי הטהרו הכהנים והלוים כאחד--כלם טהורים; וישחטו הפסח לכל-בני הגולה, ולאחיהם הכהנים ולהם. ויאכלו בני-ישראל השבים מהגולה, וכל הנבדל מטמאת גוי-הארץ אלהם--לדרש ליהוה אלהי ישראל. ויעשו חג-מצות שבעת ימים בשמחה: כי שמחם יהוה, והסב לב מלך-אשור עליהם--לחזק ידיהם במלאכת בית-האלהים אלהי ישראל.

“And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure; and they killed the passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel, that were come back out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek YHWH, the God of Israel, did eat; And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for YHWH had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel” (Ezr 6:19-22).

Although generally the Greeks translated the Hebrew word אשור (Ashur) as “Assyria” they wrote here “the king of Assour.” It is likely that the Greek translator realized that a Hebrew scribe erred here by referring to an Assyrian king rather than to the king of Persia, and to “ameliorate” the problem he wrote the enigmatic name “Assour.”