Horayot 10B

עבדות אני נותן לכם, שנאמר: ״וידברו אליו לאמר אם היום תהיה עבד לעם הזה״.

I am granting you servitude, as it is stated: “And they spoke to him saying: If you will be a servant to this people today” (I Kings 12:7). This explains the phrase “in an independent house.”

תנו רבנן: ״אשר נשיא יחטא״, אמר רבי יוחנן בן זכאי: אשרי הדור שהנשיא שלו מביא קרבן על שגגתו. אם נשיא שלו מביא קרבן, צריך אתה לומר מהו הדיוט! ואם על שגגתו מביא קרבן, צריך אתה לומר מהו זדונו!

§ A baraita states: The verse states concerning a king: “When [asher] a king sins” (Leviticus 4:22). R' Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said: Happy [ashrei] is the generation whose king feels the need to bring an offering for his unwitting transgression. If the generation’s king brings an offering, you must say all the more so what a commoner will do to atone for his sin, i.e., he will certainly bring an offering. And if the king brings an offering for his unwitting transgression, you must say all the more so what he will do to atone for his intentional transgression, i.e., he will certainly repent.

מתקיף לה רבא בריה דרבה: אלא מעתה, דכתיב: ״ואת אשר חטא מן הקדש ישלם״, ובירבעם בן נבט, דכתיב ביה: ״אשר חטא ואשר החטיא״, הכי נמי דאשרי הדור הוא! שאני הכא, דשני קרא בדבוריה.

Rava, son of Rabba, objects to this: If that is so, and the term asher is interpreted in that manner, then concerning that which is written: “And he should pay for that which [asher] he has sinned from the sacred item” (Leviticus 5:16), and with regard to Jeroboam, son of Nevat, about whom it is written: “Who [asher] sinned and caused others to sin” (I Kings 14:16), so too is the interpretation that this generation is happy? The Talmud answers: Here, in the case of a king who brings an offering, it is different, as the verse altered its formulation; in parallel verses, the term “if” is utilized, e.g., in the verse: “If the anointed priest should sin” (Leviticus 4:3). In the other instances, asher is the standard formulation.