Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 18:7/אבן עזרא על שמות י״ח:ז׳
אויצא, לקראת חתנו. בעבור כבוד יתרו וחכמתו, ולא לאשתו ובניו, כי אין מנהג לאדם נכבד לצאת לקראת אשתו או בניו:
1AND MOSES WENT OUT TO MEET HIS FATHER-IN-LAW. Out of regard for Jethro and his wisdom, but not out of regard for his95 wife and children, for it is not customary for a respected person to go out to meet his wife or children.
בוישתחו. דקדוק וישתחו קשה, ידענו כי שרשו מבעלי הה"א באחרונה, והנה הוי"ו במקום ה"א, כוי"ו "שלו הייתי" (איוב טז יב) שאמר ממנו לא שלותי (שם ג כו), והנה כאשר אמרו לשון יחיד וישתחו, היה ראוי להיות וישתחוה כי התי"ו מבנין התפעל כמו, והאיש משתאה לה (ברא' כד כא), כי משפט אותיות השיניים אם היה אחד מהם פ"א הפועל, והיה האות אשר לפניהם תי"ו התפעל, והנה בעבור שהחליפו הה"א בוי"ו במלת וישתחו הניחו וי"ו הראשון שאינו סימן לשון רבים תחת ה"א השרש והעלימו הוי"ו ואמר וישתחו, ובעבור היות הוי"ו בסוף המלה סימן לשון רבים כאשר הוא נעלם, כמו למה תתראו (ברא' מב א), והנה היה נראה מלת וישתחו בהעלם הוי"ו שהוא סימן לשון רבים ע"כ הוצרכה להיות המלה מלעיל להפריש בינה ובין מנהגם בלשון רבים:
2AND BOWED DOWN. Va-yishtachu (and bowed down) is grammatically difficult.96 38 reads: “Va-yishtachu (he bowed) and also estachaveh (I will bow) are grammatically difficult.” That is, the entire paradigm is difficult, for its root is shin, chet, heh and it is spelled with a vav. Va-yishtachu is especially difficult in that the heh drops out and it is irregularly vocalized. We know that it comes from a root ending in a heh.97 The vav in va-yishtachu98 is in place of a heh,99 like the vav of shalev (at ease)100 However, a vav has been substituted for a heh. in I was at ease (Job 16:12), from whose root we get the word shalavti (at ease) in I was not at ease (Job 3:26). Now the term va-yishtachaveh101 ends vav, heh, while I.E.’s point is that the word should really have no vav at all. See note 96. Filwarg suggests two possible emendations: one, va-yishtacheh, the other, va-yishtachev. In the former, I.E. is explaining that if a vav had not been substituted for a heh, the word would have been va-yishtacheh. For the latter is the way third person hitpa’el’s are vocalized. If we emend to va-yishtachev, then I.E. is merely explaining why the word is vocalized va-yishtachu when, as noted above, according to Hebrew grammar the word should have been vocalized va-yishtachev. The error in transcription probably arose from the fact that the normally used word for “and he bowed” is va-yishtachaveh. See Filwarg and Krinsky. should have been employed in the singular,102 rather than va-yishtachu, for the tav103 is a sign of the hitpa’el conjugation. It is like the tav in mishta’eh (steadfastly)104 of the hitpa’el conjugation. in And the man looked steadfastly on her (Gen. 24:21). For the rule relating to the dentals105 or zayin. states that if the first letter of a root before which the tav of the hitpa’el conjugation is placed106 of the hitpa’el conjugation precedes the root. Compare hitkatev, hityashev, etc. is a dental, then107 [the tav is placed after the first root letter].108 the tav follows rather than precedes the shin. Now because the heh has been changed into a vav in va-yishtachu Hebrew allows the first vav,109 (and they bowed) (Filwarg). which is not a plural suffix, to remain in place of the root heh110 and silences the vav.111 I.E. refers to the shuruk as a silent vav. Hence the word reads va-yishtachu.112 For other interpretations see Krinsky and Weiser. Now a vav at the end of a word is the sign of the plural suffix when silent as in titra’u (look one upon the other) in Why do ye look one upon the other (Gen. 42:1). Thus the word va-yishtachu, ending in a silent vav, would appear to be in the plural. Va-yishtachu was therefore penultimately accented113 to differentiate between it and the customary way of vocalizing plurals.114 is penultimately accented to indicate that it is not a plural.
גולפי הסברה כי היוצא הוא המשתחוה זה לזה:
3[AND BOWED DOWN.] Logically speaking, the one who goes out is the one who bows to his counterpart.115
דוקראו הכתוב רעהו בעבור גודל מעלתו בחכמה:
4[EACH OTHER.] Scripture refers to Jethro as Moses’ friend because of his greatness in wisdom.116
הויבאו האהלה. שהוא ידוע שהוא אהל משה:
5AND THEY CAME INTO THE TENT. Which was known as Moses’ tent.