Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 10:1/אבן עזרא על דברים י׳:א׳
אבעת ההיא. בארבעים היום הנזכרים:
1AT THAT TIME. During the forty days that are mentioned.1
בארון עץ. אמרו המעתיקים ז״ל כי ארון אחר עשה משה בתחלה והעד ואעש ארון ואח״כ אמר ואפסול ואמר ואשים את הלוחות בארון אשר עשיתי ודעתם רחבה מדעתנו כי היה נראה לנו כי וישכון כבוד ה' דבק עם הכבוד שראו הזקנים ולא נדע מתי עלה משה כי היה נראה בדרך הפשט כי משה לא נתענה כי אם שמונים יום כי פי' אנכי עמדתי בהר כימים הראשונים הוא שנוי והטעם כאשר עמדתי בהר אותם הארבעים יום שמע ה' אלי ואמר לך למסע וזהו לך נחה את העם והנה יהי' ארון עץ בצווי והוא הארון שעשה בצלאל:
2AN ARK OF WOOD. The transmitters of tradition,2 of blessed memory, said that Moses first3, Ex. 1:10, and Rashi. made another ark.4 Proof of the latter is, So I made an ark (v. 3), which is followed by and hewed two tables of stone (v. 3) and put the tables in the ark which I had made (v. 5). Now their minds are superior to our minds, for it appears to us5 that And the glory of the Lord abode (Ex. 24:16) is connected with the glory which the elders saw (Ex. 24:10).6 cloud…And Moses entered in the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. According to the rabbis this verse relates to the giving of Torah (see Rashi on Ex. 24:16). Also, according to the rabbis, the forty days which this verse states Moses spent on the mountain starts with the seventh of Sivan. There are 120 days between that day and Yom Kippur when, according to Rabbinic tradition, Moses descended with the second pair of tablets. Moses thus spent 120 days on Mount Sinai. See Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 46. I.E. disagrees. He believes that the plain meaning of the text does not allow one to conclude that Moses spent 120 days on Mount Sinai. The text merely says that the elders of Israel ascended Mount Sinai and had a vision of God (Ex. 24:1-12). It does not say which day they descended. Following this vision the cloud covered the mountain for seven days, after which God called Moses to ascend the mountain for 40 days. We thus do no know what day Moses ascended the mountain, and therefore, cannot calculate 120 days between revelation and Yom Kippur. Thus Moses did not necessarily spend 120 days on Mount Sinai. We do not know when Moses ascended,7 for according to the plain meaning of the text it appears that Moses fasted for only eighty days,8 is not a repetition of Deut. 9:25 but speaks of an additional 40 days. Furthermore, as the first time forty days and forty nights indicates that as he fasted the first time, so did he now. for the meaning of Now I stayed in the mount (v. 10) repeats what was said earlier.9 It means when I stayed on the mountain during those forty days10 God listened to me and said, Arise, go before the people (v. 11), the reference being to And now go, lead the people (Ex. 32:34). The making of the ark of wood (v. 3) was thus by command.11 is to be interpreted, I commanded that an ark of wood be made. It refers to the ark made by Bezalel.12