Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 32:18/אבן עזרא על דברים ל״ב:י״ח
אצור ילדך תשי. דבר הנביא ותמה איך שכחת אשר ילדך ועבדת חדשים גם זה צור ילדך כמו הביטו אל צור חוצבתם כאילו ממנו היה כי הכל בגבורת השם כמו רוקע הארץ מאתי והתימ' מתועי לב בעבור אני היום ילדתיך ושכחו זה הכתוב:
1OF THE ROCK THAT BEGOT THEE THOU WAST UNMINDFUL. These are the words of the prophet.201 He wonders: How did you forget the One who begot you? You served new gods. Also, this clause,202 the rock that begot thee, is similar to Look unto the rock whence ye were hewn (Is. 51:1). Israel, as it were, came from God, for everything comes from God’s might.203 Compare, That spread the earth by Myself (Is. 44:24). One must be amazed by those who err in their hearts204 because Scripture states, This day have I begotten thee (Ps. 2:7).205 They have forgotten this verse.206
בתשי כמו לא תנשה והנח הנעלם אחר התי״ו תחת הדגש שהוא אלף הבלוע והיו״ד תחת ה״א וכן אל תמחי ובאו שניהם מלעיל להפריש בין זכר לנקבה בפעלים שהאות האחרון ה״א נח והנכון בעיני כי היו״ד נוסף והוא על משפט אל תט מאמרי פי:
2[THOU WAST UNMINDFUL.] The word teshi (thou wast unmindful) is related to the word tinnasheh (you will forget)207. in [the clause] you shall not forget.208. There is no such phrase in the Bible. The reference might be to Is. 44:21, which reads lo tinnasheni (do not forget me). The missing silent letter following the tav209 beneath the tav. I.E. refers to the segol as a missing silent letter because certain vowels are pronounced as if followed by an unsounded letter. Kal imperfect prefixes are usually vocalized with a chirik. Hence I.E.’s comment. is in place of the omitted dagesh which compensates for the first root letter, 210, for the root of teshi is nun, shin, heh. When the nun is dropped it is usually compensated for with a dagesh. However, the shin of teshi does not have a dagesh. Hence I.E. points out that the nun is compensated by the change in vowels. and the yod is in place of the heh. Compare the word temchi (blot out)211 is vocalized with a segol rather than with a chirik, and the yod is in place of a heh. However, it should be noted that in temchi the segol does not take the place of any missing letter. See Filwarg. in Neither blot out their sin (Jer. 18:23). Both words212 and temchi. are accented penultimately in order to show a difference between the masculine and the feminine in verbs whose last letter is a silent heh.213 and temchi can be either masculine or feminine depending on where the word is accented. If penultimately accented, it is masculine; if ultimately accented, it is feminine. However, it appears to me that the yod214 and temchi. is superfluous.215 and temch. It follows the same rule as tet (decline)216 comes from the root nun, tet, heh. Words ending in a heh come in a shortened form. Thus tet is short for titteh. Similarly, tesh is short for tisheh, and temch for timcheh. Teshi is a variant of tesh, and temchi a variant of temch. does in neither decline (Prov. 4:5).
גמחוללך. כמו ילדך והנה אל שהוא גבור ותקיף כמו צור ויתכן היות גזרת מחוללך מחיל כמו הרה תקריב ללדת תחיל:
3THAT BORE THEE. Mecholelekha means that bore thee. Observe, God who is powerful and mighty as a rock [gave birth to you]. It is possible that the word mecholelekha is related to the word chil (pain), as in Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, Is in pain (tachil) (Is. 26:17).