Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 18:18/אבן עזרא על שמות י״ח:י״ח

אעשהו. מלה זרה בדקדוק, ובאה על דרך לשמרהו, כי לא מצאנו ה"א נראית בגזרת עשה:

1TO PERFORM IT. Asohu (to perform it) is grammatically inconsistent.¹⁸⁴ is ayin, sin, heh. When roots that end in a heh are combined with a pronoun, the heh changes to a tav. Hence our word should read asoto rather than asohu. It follows the form of lishmerehu¹⁸⁵ is a “whole,” i.e., a root that does not drop a letter. (to preserve him),¹⁸⁶ (preserve him) in Ps. 41:3. for we do not find the heh to be visible in the root ayin, sin, heh.¹⁸⁷ in this root is dropped when conjugated. Compare, asiti, asita, etc. Thus there is no reason why the root should follow the paradigm of a “whole” root when combined with a pronoun. Hence the grammatical inconsistency of asohu.