{"id":74812,"date":"2020-05-17T21:47:40","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T18:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=74812"},"modified":"2020-05-17T21:47:40","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T18:47:40","slug":"the-mens-auxiliary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-mens-auxiliary\/","title":{"rendered":"The Men’s Auxiliary"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"74812","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"482","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Where one sort of help is necessary\r\n\r\n","content":"

Our chapter is divided into two parts. Vs. 1-19 forecast Egypt\u2019s doomsday, and 20-26, introduced by its own chronological information (\u201cIn the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month\u201d), narrow the focus to a contrast between Egypt\u2019s vulnerability and Babylon\u2019s invincibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arguably, v.8, \u201cWhen I set fire to Egypt and all who help her (`<\/em><\/span>ozreha<\/span><\/em>) are broken,\u201d captures the essence of the prophecy of doom. I would like to focus here on the helpers. The exegetes, medieval and modern, offer no identification of who they might be. Moshe Greenberg defined them as \u201callies\u201d and drew our attention to 1 Kings 20:16 (32 kings who were \u201chelpers\u201d of Ben Hadad) and Isaiah 31:3, which refers to Egypt itself as a \u201chelper\u201d (`<\/em><\/span>ozer<\/span><\/em>) (Anchor Bible: <\/span>Ezekiel<\/span><\/i>, 623).<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to offer an original suggestion that sharpens our understanding of the broad range of the notion of help. There are numerous appearances throughout Tanakh of forms of the noun `<\/em><\/span>ozer<\/span><\/em> in specifically military contexts. Furthermore, Ugaritic, a Northwest Semitic language kindred to Hebrew, has a noun <\/span>gh-z-r<\/span><\/i>, cognate with Hebrew\u2019s <\/span>`-z-r<\/span><\/i>, which translates as \u201chero\u201d (biblical <\/span>gibor<\/span><\/em>). (The same exchange of <\/span>ghayin<\/span><\/em> for `<\/em><\/span>ayin<\/span><\/em> occurs in Arabic, which accounts for the biblical Hebrew `Azah <\/em>appearing as Ghaza in Arabic.)<\/span><\/p>\n

I would suggest, then, that such appearances of \u201chelpers\u201d should be interpreted as military auxiliaries. The key verse, to my mind, is 1 Chronicles 12:1: \u201cThe following joined David at Ziklag while he was still in hiding from Saul son of Kish; these were the warriors (<\/span>giborim<\/span><\/em>) who gave support in battle (`<\/em><\/span>ozrei ha-milchama<\/span><\/em>).\u201d Other, similar, appearances include: \u201cThe Lord is with me to help me (<\/span>be`ozray<\/span><\/em>) and I will defeat my enemies\u201d (Ps. 118:7), and, in greater proximity to our own verse, \u201cFrom the depths of Sheol the mightiest of warriors (<\/span>giborim<\/span><\/em>) speak to him and his allies (`<\/em><\/span>ozrav<\/span><\/em>); the uncircumcised, the slain by the sword, have gone down and lie [there]\u201d (Ezekiel 32:21).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":74819,"id":74819,"title":"ez30-auxuliary","filename":"ez30-auxuliary.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez30-auxuliary.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-mens-auxiliary\/ez30-auxuliary\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez30-auxuliary","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":74812,"date":"2020-05-17 18:45:47","modified":"2020-05-17 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