Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 1:7/אבן עזרא על שמות א׳:ז׳
אובני ישראל פרו. הולידו כעץ יתן פריו:
1AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE FRUITFUL. They produced children as a tree produces fruit.57 means produced children.
בוישרצו. כמו ישרצו המים (ברא', א כ) רק הראשון מהפעלים העומדים בעצמם כמו הלך, ישב, עמד, שכב, והשני מהיוצאים תלוים בדבר אחר כמו אכל, שמר, שכר, אכל את הלחם, שמר את הדבר, שכר את החמור, אלו נקראים פועל יוצא, והנה ישרצו המים מהפעלים היוצאים, וזה השני וישרצו, מהפעלים העומדים, והנה זו הגזרה, כגזרת שב, פעם עומד, כמו "ושב וקבצך" (דבר' ל, ג) ופעם יוצא, כמו "ושב ד' אלהיך את שבותך" (שם שם), אולי מלת וישרצו רמז שילדו נשיהם תאומים ויותר ואני ראיתי ד' בנים שילדה אשה אחת, והרופאים נותנים טעם עד שבעה יגיעו בבטן אחת:
2AND INCREASED ABUNDANTLY. Va-yishretzu (and increased abundantly) is similar to the word yishretzu (swarm) in Let the waters swarm (yishretzu) (Gen. 1:20). However, in the first instance58 in our verse. the verb is independent.59 It is like the verbs went, sat, stood, and lay. In the second instance60 in Gen. 1:20. the verb is dependent upon something else. It is like the verbs ate, kept, and hired. We thus say, he ate the bread, he kept the thing, and he hired the donkey. The latter are called transitive verbs. Now yishretzu (swarm) in yishretzu ha-mayim (Let the waters swarm) is a transitive verb, while va-yishretzu (and increased abundantly) is an intransitive verb. Thus the root shin, resh, zadi is sometimes transitive and sometimes intransitive. It is like the root of the word shav61. which is at times intransitive as in and (God) will return (ve-shav) and gather (Deut. 30:3) and at times transitive, as in that then the Lord thy God will turn (ve-shav) thy captivity (Ibid.). It is possible that the word va-yishretzu alludes to the fact that the Israelite wives gave birth to twins and even more.62 is shin, resh, zadi our verse is to be rendered, the children of Israel swarmed (va-yishretzu); i.e., they multiplied like insects. See also Rashi, quoting Shemot Rabbah, that they bore six children at each birth. I myself have seen the quadruplets that a women gave birth to. Physicians tell us that a woman can have as many as seven fetuses in her womb at one time.
גוירבו. שלא היו מתים כדרך עם רב:
3AND MULTIPLIED. They did not die in proportion to that of a large nation.63
דויעצמו. שהיו בעלי עצם תקיפין, ומלת במאד מאד, שלא היו יכולין להיות יותר ובי"ת במאד מאד כמו בי"ת "ויסעו בראשונה" (במד' י יג) כי כתיב "ראשונה יסעו" (שם ב ט):
4AND WAXED EXCEEDINGLY MIGHTY. They had strong bones.64 (and waxed mighty) as, and they had (large) bones, for va-ya’atzmu comes from the root ayin, tzadi, mem meaning bone.
הותמלא הארץ. ארץ גושן היא:
5[EXCEEDINGLY.] The phrase bi-me’od me’od (exceedingly) indicates that there could not possibly have been any more of them.65 (exceedingly) is repeated. The bet of bi-me’od me’od is like the bet of ba-rishonah (first) in and they took their first journey (Num. 10:13), for we also encounter the term with out the bet in they shall set forth first (rishonah) (Num. 2:9).66 is superfluous. The text could have read, me’od me’od (exceedingly), and the meaning would have remained the same. See I.E.’s comments on Gen. 1:1 and the notes thereto.
ורַעְמְסֵס, בשו"א נח תחת העי"ן, כי הראשון שתחת העי"ן שהוא דבק עם הרי"ש יקרא נח, והשני תחת מ"ם יקרא נע, כי הוא כמו תחלת נע השפה:
6AND THE LAND WAS FILLED WITH THEM. The land of Goshen, also known as the land of Rameses.67 Rameses is sounded with a quiescent sheva beneath the ayin, for the first sheva in Rameses, the sheva beneath the ayin which is connected to the resh, is called a sheva nach. The second sheva, the one beneath the mem, is called a sheva na (mobile sheva)68. because the lips seem to begin to first move when it is uttered.69 means to move. A sheva na opens a syllable. The lips begin to move when a new syllable is pronounced.