Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 18:9/אבן עזרא על שמות י״ח:ט׳
אויחד. מגזרת חדוה, והיה ראוי להיותו על משקל וַיִפְתְּ בסתר לבי (איוב לא כז) וַיִשְׁבְּ ממנו שבי (במד' כא א) רק נפתח החי"ת בעבור שהוא מן אות הגרון, ונשאר הדל"ת דגוש כאשר היה, ולא אדע בכל המקרא אות דגוש בסוף המלה, רק אם היה בג"ד כפ"ת שיתחברו שני שואין שהם בסוף כמו וַיִשְׁבְּ ממנו (שם) וַיֵשְׁתְּ מן היין (ברא' ט, כא), רק עם אחד מהמלכים לא מצאנוהו דגוש רק פתח והם שנים "וַיִחַדְ יתרו" ואל יִחַד בימי שנה (איוב ג ו):
1AND JETHRO REJOICED. Va-yichad (rejoiced) comes from the same root as the word chedvah (rejoicing).120 The meaning of va-yichad thus is, and he rejoiced. It should have been vocalized like the word va-yift (enticed) in And my heart hath been secretly enticed (Job 31:27) and va-yishb (and took captive) in and took some of them captive (Num. 21:1).121 is peh, tav, heh, and that of va-yishb is shin, bet, heh. Va-yift is short for va-yifteh and va-yishb for va-yishbeh; that is, in words ending in a heh, the heh may be dropped in the imperfect. The latter is referred to as an abbreviated root. Now since the root of va-yichad is chet, dalet heh, va-yichad should have been vocalized va-yichd. However, the chet was vocalized with a pattach122 because it is a guttural, and the dagesh123 in the long form, viz., yechedeh. remains in the dalet124 has a dagesh in it. Prima facie, there is no reason for this dagesh. Hence I.E.’s comment. as it was. I am not aware of a letter having a dagesh at the end of a word in all of Scripture except in the case of a bet, gimel, dalet, kaf, peh, tav at the end of a word when two sheva’im come together,125 as in the word va-yishb (and took captive)126 beneath each of the last two letters, the shin and the bet. in and took some of them captive (Num. 21:1) and va-yesht (and he drank)127 beneath each of the last two letters, the shin and the tav. in And he drank of the wine (Gen. 9:21). However, we never find a dagesh at the end of a word when preceded by a vowel128 is not considered a vowel. except in the case of a pattach. In the latter case we find two such words namely, va-yichad (rejoiced) in And Jethro rejoiced and yichad (rejoice) in Let it not rejoice among the days of the year (Job 3:6).