Why did the Sages change חֲמוֹר to chamud, in the Septuagint?

Summary: My thoughts, that it is of course a scribal error, and the braysa which says otherwise is making a nice derasha based on existing facts. The Chasam Sofer has a detailed explanation, based on whether Moshe Rabbenu was entitled to a share in the spoils, and if not, at least a donkey to help carry the bones of Yosef.


Post: Also see this post, this post, and this post.

Consider Shemot 16:15:

טו  וַיִּחַר לְמֹשֶׁה, מְאֹד, וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-יְהוָה, אַל-תֵּפֶן אֶל-מִנְחָתָם; לֹא חֲמוֹר אֶחָד מֵהֶם, נָשָׂאתִי, וְלֹא הֲרֵעֹתִי, אֶת-אַחַד מֵהֶם.

15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD: 'Respect not Thou their offering; I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.'

In the Septuagint {=Targum Hashivim}, instead of Moshe indignantly saying that he has not taken anyone's chamor, they have:
15 καὶ ἐβαρυθύμησε Μωυσῆς σφόδρα καὶ εἶπε πρὸς Κύριον· μὴ πρόσχῃς εἰς τὴν θυσίαν αὐτῶν· οὐκ ἐπιθύμημα οὐδενὸς αὐτῶν εἴληφα, οὐδὲ ἐκάκωσα οὐδένα αὐτῶν.
15 And Moses was exceeding indignant, and said to the Lord, Do thou take no heed to their sacrifice: I have not taken away the desire of any one of them, neither have I hurt any one of them.

and the Samaritans have an identical error, swapping the daled for a resh, with the Samaritan text on the left side.


This is a clear error, and we have confirmation when Shmuel echoes Moshe, in I Shmuel 12:3:

ג  הִנְנִי עֲנוּ בִי נֶגֶד ה וְנֶגֶד מְשִׁיחוֹ, אֶת-שׁוֹר מִי לָקַחְתִּי וַחֲמוֹר מִי לָקַחְתִּי וְאֶת-מִי עָשַׁקְתִּי אֶת-מִי רַצּוֹתִי, וּמִיַּד-מִי לָקַחְתִּי כֹפֶר, וְאַעְלִים עֵינַי בּוֹ; וְאָשִׁיב, לָכֶם.

3 Here I am; witness against me before the LORD, and before His anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? or whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.'

Note shor set opposite chamor.

While this seems to be a mere textual error, Megillah 9a-b sets it up as a deliberate change:

ותניא א"ר יהודה אף כשהתירו רבותינו יונית לא התירו אלא בספר תורה ומשום מעשה דתלמי המלך דתניא מעשה בתלמי המלך שכינס שבעים ושנים זקנים והכניסן בשבעים ושנים בתים ולא גילה להם על מה כינסן ונכנס אצל כל אחד ואחד ואמר להם כתבו לי תורת משה רבכם נתן הקב"ה בלב כל אחד ואחד עצה והסכימו כולן לדעת אחת וכתבו לו (בראשית א, כז) אלהים ברא בראשית (בראשית א, א) אעשה אדם בצלם ובדמות (בראשית א, כו) ויכל ביום הששי וישבות ביום השביעי (בראשית ה, ב) זכר ונקבה בראו ולא כתבו בראם (בראשית יא, ז) הבה ארדה ואבלה שם שפתם (בראשית יח, יב) ותצחק שרה בקרוביה (בראשית מט, ו) כי באפם הרגו שור וברצונם עקרו אבוס (שמות ד, כ) ויקח משה את אשתו ואת בניו וירכיבם על נושא בני אדם (שמות יב, מ)ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים ובשאר ארצות ארבע מאות שנה (שמות כד, ה) וישלח את זאטוטי בני ישראל (שמות כד, יא) ואל זאטוטי בני ישראל לא שלח ידו  (במדבר טז, טו) לא חמד אחד מהם נשאתי (דברים ד, יט) אשר חלק ה' אלהיך אתם להאיר לכל העמים (דברים יז, ג) וילך ויעבוד אלהים אחרים אשר לא צויתי לעובדם וכתבו לו את צעירת הרגלים ולא כתבו לו (ויקרא יא, ו) את הארנבת מפני שאשתו של תלמי ארנבת שמה שלא יאמר שחקו בי היהודים והטילו שם אשתי בתורה:

Or, in English:

"And it goes on to state, ‘R. Judah said: When our teachers permitted Greek, they permitted it only for a scroll of the Torah’.14 This was on account of the incident related in connection with King Ptolemy, 15 as it has been taught: ‘It is related of King Ptolemy that he brought together seventy-two elders and placed  them in seventy-two [separate] rooms, without telling them why he had brought them together, and he went in to each one of them and said to him, Translate16  for me the Torah of Moses your master.17 God then prompted each one of them and they all conceived the same idea and wrote for him, God created in the beginning,18 I shall make man in image and likeness,19 And he finished on the sixth day, and rested on the seventh day,20 Male and female he created him21 [but they did not write ‘created them’],22 Come let me descend and confound their tongues,23 And Sarah laughed among her relatives;24 For in their anger they slew an ox and in their wrath they digged up a stall;25 And Moses took his wife and his children, and made them ride on a carrier of men; 26 And the abode of the children of Israel which they stayed in Egypt and in other lands was four hundred years, 27 And he sent the elect of the children of Israel; 28 And against the elect of the children of Israel he put not forth his hand;29 I have taken not one valuable of theirs;1 Which the Lord thy God distributed to give light to all the peoples;2 And he went and served other gods which I commanded should not be served.3 They also wrote for him ‘the beast with small legs’ and they did not write ‘the hare’,4 because the name of Ptolemy's wife was hare,5 lest he should say, The Jews have jibed at me and put the name of my wife in the Torah."

If I recall correctly, very few of the changes listed here do we find in the Septuagint, but this is one of them. Despite this testimony, I am not convinced that this was not a mere scribal error, with the braysa speaking on a homiletic level. After all, it seems unlikely that the deliberate change, when translating into Greek, would also reflect a single change in letter, between ר and ד, which look extremely alike, and which the Samaritans indeed in their corrupted Hebrew text.

The Chasam Sofer writes about this topic as follows:

Chasam Sofer

"I have not taken away the ass of any one of them -- they changed it for Talmay the king into חמד (Megillah 9b). There is to say that חמור is not to be understood in its simple sense, but rather as Chazal said (in Pesachim? Bechorot 5b)

Moreover, they [the asses] helped the Israelites when they departed from Egypt, for there was not an Israelite who did not possess ninety Libyan asses laden with the silver and gold of Egypt.

And Moshe Rabbenu turned away to fulfill the oath to Yosef, and did not take anything. And so he rightfully could have requested from them the carrying of a single donkey, at least, for behold the oath was upon them, for 'he had certainly imposed the oath upon the Bnei Yisrael' {Shemot 13:19} upon all of them. And Chazal said (Sotah 9b) in our Mishnah at the end of the first perek, that upon the Gadol it was fitting to engage with Yosef. 

{Thus:
  WHOM HAVE WE GREATER THAN JOSEPH SINCE NONE OTHER THAN MOSES OCCUPIED HIMSELF WITH HIS BURIAL? MOSES EARNED MERIT THROUGH THE BONES OF JOSEPH AND THERE WAS NONE IN ISRAEL GREATER THAN HE, AS IT IS SAID, AND MOSES TOOK THE BONES OF JOSEPH WITH HIM.¹⁶  WHOM HAVE WE GREATER THAN MOSES SINCE NONE OTHER THAN THE OMNIPRESENT OCCUPIED HIMSELF [WITH HIS BURIAL], AS IT IS SAID, AND HE BURIED HIM IN THE VALLEY?¹⁷  NOT ONLY CONCERNING MOSES DID THEY SAY THIS, BUT CONCERNING ALL THE RIGHTEOUS, AS IT IS SAID, AND THY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL GO BEFORE THEE, THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL BE THY REARWARD.¹⁸

}

Upon this he said {in the continuation of the pasuk}  וְלֹא הֲרֵעֹתִי, אֶת-אַחַד מֵהֶם, 'neither have I hurt one of them'. Meaning, was there any of them who wished to engage, and I wronged him, saying 'you are not fit, and only I am fit'? And this was not so, but rather he was like a meis mitzvah, where there were none engaged with him, and I engaged with him. If so, by all rights, I should have borrowed from you a single donkey, and I did not take this from you. This, it appears to me, is the explanation of the verse.


However, it is known that the residents of Alexandria, of Egypt, complained about Israel before Alexander the Macedonian, and requested that Israel return to them the spoils of Egypt. And they {=the Israelites} answered that they owe them the wages of 600,000 for 400 years, see there, in perek Chelek {in Sanhedrin 91a}. 


{Thus:
On another occasion the Egyptians came in a lawsuit against the Jews before Alexander of Macedon. They pleaded thus: 'Is it not written, And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and they lent them [gold and precious stones, etc.]²⁰  Then return us the gold and silver which ye took!' Thereupon Gebiha b. Pesisa said to the Sages, 'Give me permission to go and plead against them before Alexander of Macedon: should they defeat me, then say, "Ye have merely defeated an ignorant man amongst us;" whilst if I defeat them then say, "The Law of Moses has defeated you."' So they gave him permission, and he went and pleaded against them. 'Whence do ye adduce your proof?' asked he, 'From the Torah,' they replied. 'Then I too,' said he, 'will bring you proof only from the Torah, for it is written, Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.²¹  Pay us for the toil of six hundred thousand men whom ye enslaved for four hundred thirty years.' Then King Alexander said to them, 'Answer him!' 'Give us three days' time,' they begged. So he gave them a respite; they sought but found no answer. Straightway they fled, leaving behind their sown fields and planted vineyards. And that year was a Sabbatical year.²²
}


It comes out, according to this, that the aforementioned is not so, for behold, Moshe was not in the work of Mitzrayim, such that not a peruta of the spoils was due to him. And since he could not rightly ask for silver and gold vessels, he went and engaged in the bones of Yosef. And so it was like a case of this one benefits and this one does not lose out.


However, it is known that this answer was only to push off the Egyptians with straw. For the spoils were not the wages of the work. And furthermore, they did not work for 400 years {but rather only were in Egypt for 210}. And if was only the spoils of war, such that it was for Moshe to take a portion at the head. (Like a king he takes a portion at the head of the spoils and conquered items.) And well did he say לֹא חֲמוֹר אֶחָד מֵהֶם. And yet, before Talmay king of Egypt, they were not able to reveal this secret, for then he would say, 'if it was not the wages of work, then I require it of you that you return to me those spoils, for behold he was the king of Egypt. Therefore, they changed it for him into 'not a single חמד did I take from them'. (One needs to say, as above, that a single chamor from them means that he did not take from those chamorim which they took out of Egypt laden with spoils.)"


I never had understood the claim in the gemara in Sanhedrin that it was wages for work. Rather, that it was a counterclaim, and that if the Egyptians would open up with this complaint, the Jews could respond and be owed much more money. Nevertheless, this is a very nice construction and interplay between sugyos.