Avoid Confusion

The story of the seventy-two wise men who translated the Torah into Greek in seventy-two homes by Ptolemy, is well known. It was a miracle that all of the translations came out identical.

There is an example of this from Parshat שופטים. The Torah warns us about the one who does evil in the eyes of G-d, to transgres His covenant. The Pasuk continues and says, “And they will go and worship the sun or the moon, or the hosts of heaven, that I did not command.”

The seventy-two wise men were concerned that this verse could be misinterpreted. They all added the word, לעבדם, to worship, at the end of the Pasuk. They were concerned that it might appear that Hashem was saying that He did not command that the sun, moon, and heavenly hosts be created. They were concerned that people might foolishly think that the sun and moon created themselves, because they were deities themselves, G-d forbid.

In order to eliminate such erroneous thinking, they added the word, לעבדם, to worship. This would make it clear that it was absolutely forbidden to worship the sun, moon, or stars.

The incident of these wise men, was an incredible miracle, indeed.