Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 33:12/אבן עזרא על שמות ל״ג:י״ב
אויאמר משה ראה. כאומר ראה הצרה שאני עומד בה ועתה אומר דקדוק הפרשה:
1AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD: SEE, THOU SAYEST UNTO ME. See means see the predicament in which I find myself.42 I will now grammatically explain the section.43
באמר הגאון ידעתיך כמו כבדתיך ואין זה נכון, כי הנה אחריו ואדעך, כאשר ידעתני:
2[I KNOW THEE.] Rabbi Saadiah Gaon says that yedatikha (I know thee) means I have honored thee. However, this is incorrect, for that I may know Thee (v. 13) just as You know me follows.44 (hodi’eni) thy ways, that I may know Thee (ve-eda’akah) (v. 13). Now ve-eda’akah in verse 13 cannot mean I will respect, for hodi’eni and ve-eda’akah come from the same root. Hence if ve-eda’akah means I will honor Thee, then hodi’eni must mean honor me. If this is the case, then verse 13 reads, honor me with Your ways so that I may honor You. This makes no sense. Hence we must translate ve-eda’akah as: that I will know Thee. Now if ve-eda’akah means that I will know thee, then yedatikha, which precedes it, must be rendered I know Thee.