Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 33:8/אבן עזרא על דברים ל״ג:ח׳
אוללוי אמר. בעבור לוי אמר לשם כמו אמרי לי אחי הוא:
1AND OF LEVI. U-le-levi amar (and of Levi he said) is to be interpreted, And of Levi93 is to be rendered, and of Levi, not and to Levi. he said to God.94, which is all the text provides, is short for he said to God. Compare, say of me (li):95 is to be rendered of me, not to me. See I.E. on Gen. 20:13 (Vol. 1, p. 213). He is my brother (Gen. 20:13).
בלאיש חסידך. לאיש שהוא חסידך:
2WITH THY HOLY ONE. Le-ish chasidekha (with Thy holy one) means to the man who is Your holy one.96 (with Thy holy one) literally means to the man Your holy one. Hence I.E.’s comment.
גאשר נסיתו במסה. שם כמו בנסיון והטעם שהיה חסיד ולא נמצא בו דופי חוץ מדבר מריבה שכבר הענשתו עליו גם זה יחזיק פירושי בדבר העגל כי לכבוד השם עשהו:
3WHOM THOU DIDST PROVE AT MASSAH. Massah is a noun. It means a test.97 The meaning of our clause is: Aaron was pious. Aside from the incident at Meribah,98 for which You already punished him,99. no unseemly thing was found in him.100 Also, this verse101 supports my interpretation regarding the incident of the calf, that is, that Aaron made the calf for God’s glory.102. See I.E. on Ex. 31:18 (Vol. 2, pp. 653-663).
דוטעם תומיך ואוריך. שיהיו תמיד לו ולזרעו:
4[THY THUMMIM AND THY URIM.]103. This means may Thy Thummim and Thy Urim always be his104 and his seed’s.105