Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 14:19/אבן עזרא על שמות י״ד:י״ט
אויסע מלאך האלהים. זה היה קודם דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו, והנה פי' וכבר נסע, וכבר הראיתיך רבים כזה, ובעבור שאלה הג' פסוקים דבוקים זה עם זה וכל אחד יש בו ע"ב אותיות, ע"כ מצאנו בספרים כתוב סימן סוד השם המפורש, ולפי דעתי בעבור כי מספר השם הנכבד יעלה לע"ב אותיות כאשר אפרש בפ' כי תשא על כן כתוב ככה, ובס' רזיאל הרוצה לעשות שאלת חלום, יקרא בתחלת הלילה פסוק, ויהי בשלשים שנה (יחז' א א), כי הוא ע"ב אותיות:
1AND THE ANGEL OF GOD. This took place before speak unto the children of Israel, that they should go forward (v. 15).70 (v. 20). It’s meaning thus is, and the angel of God had already removed.71 (removed) is a pluperfect, meaning had removed. I have already showed you many such instances.72 Now because these three verses73 are connected to each other and each one has seventy-two letters we find in them, as stated in the books,74 on Ex. 14; Responsa of R. Hai Gaon. Also see Ozer Ha-Geonim, Hagigah, p. 23. The Talmud speaks of the 72-letter name of God. See Sukkah 45a. Those who see the 72-letter name of God in these verses do so in one of the following two ways. They arrange the three verses on top of each other and arrive at God’s name by reading down, i.e., vav, vav, vav; yod, yod, yod; samekh, bet, tet, etc. Or they invert verse 20 and arrange the three verses as above and read down, i.e., vav, heh, vav; yod, lamed, yod; samekh, alef, tet, and so on. The reason they invert the middle verse is that it states, and the one did not come near the other all the night; i.e., one is not to combine the letters of this verse in their normal fashion but they are to be read backwards as the word ha-laylah (the night) is. For ha-laylah reads the same whether from left to right or right to left (Krinsky). the sign of the secret of God’s explicit name. However, in my opinion it is so written75) whose might delivered Israel. because, as I will explain in the Torah portion Ki Tissa,76),which when calculated as follows, Y (10) YH (15) YHV (21) YHVH (26), comes to 72. Cf. I.E.’s Sefer Ha-Shem 5. the numerical value of God’s glorious name comes to seventy-two. The Book of Raziel77 states that one who wants to query the heavenly powers in a dream should read the verse, Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, etc. (Ezek. 1:1), for it contains seventy-two letters.78, and apparently also in I.E’s version of Scripture, the words ha-golah and marot in Ezek. 1:1 were spelled without a vav. Otherwise the number of letters in Ezek 1:1 comes to 74 as they do in our editions of the Prophets. Cf. Minchat Shai on Ezek. 1:1.
במלאך האלהים. הוא השר הגדול ההולך בענן והוא הכתוב עליו, וה' הולך לפניהם יומם (למעלה יג כא) וכאשר נסע זה המלאך ההולך לפני מחנה ישראל והלך מאחריהם, נסע עמוד הענן עמו והאומר כי מלאך האלהים הוא הענן יראה לנו אנה מצאנו עמוד הענן נקרא מלאך האלהים, ואם המלאך הוא העמוד, למה אמר פעם אחרת ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ואם השיב לנו הטעם כפול אין משפט לשון הקדש לכפול רק הנבואות והתוכחות, רק המספר כי כן היה המעשה אין ראוי לכפול:
2THE ANGEL OF GOD. The reference is to the great prince79. who goes in the cloud, concerning whom it is written, And the Lord went before them by day (Ex. 13:21). When this angel, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, the pillar of cloud moved with him. Let the one who identifies the angel of God with the cloud show us where we find the pillar of cloud called the angel of God. Furthermore, if the angel and the pillar are one and the same, why is and the pillar of cloud removed from before them repeated? If he should answer that Scripture repeats the same idea in different words,80 then we respond that it is not the manner of Scripture to repeat itself except in prophecy81 or reproof.82 Moreover, it is unfit to repeat oneself when reporting how something happened.83