Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 34:11/אבן עזרא על שמות ל״ד:י״א

אשמר לך. לפי דעתי עם משה ידבר שישמור אלה הדברים ויספרם כן לבני ישראל על דרך שמרו עדותיו וחוק נתן למו (תה' צט ז) כאשר פירשתי במקומו:

1OBSERVE THOU. I believe that the Lord is addressing Moses.¹⁵⁵ God is telling Moses to keep these things¹⁵⁶ (shameru) His testimonies (Ps. 99:7) to mean Moses and Aaron transmitted the exact contents of God’s testimonies. They did not add or diminish anything from God’s dictum. See I.E. on Ps. 99:7. and to then relate them to the children of Israel. Shemor (observe) is to be taken in the sense of shameru (kept) in They¹⁵⁷kept His testimonies, and the statute that He gave them (Ps. 99:7), in accordance with the way I have explained it in its place.¹⁵⁸

בותחלת הפרשה שתאמר להם הנני גרש מפניך, וזאת הפרשה דומה לפרשת הנה אנכי שולח מלאך (למעלה כג כ) עם הפרשה שהיא למעלה:

2[BEHOLD, I AM DRIVING OUT BEFORE THEE.] Your opening words to Israel shall be,¹⁵⁹ in the sense of transmit precisely, he explains our verse as follows: transmit precisely that which I am commanding you this day. First tell Israel, behold, I am driving out before thee, etc. behold I am driving out before thee. ¹⁶⁰ This section¹⁶¹ is similar to Behold, I send an angel before thee (Ex. 23:20)¹⁶². and the section which precedes it (Ex. 23:12-19).¹⁶³

גומלת גרש. מהבנין הקל והוא פועל יוצא וככה אלמנה וגרושה (ויקרא כא יד):

3[I AM DRIVING OUT.] The word goresh (I am driving out) is a transitive verb in the kal. It is the same case with the word gerushah (one divorced) in A widow, or one divorced (Lev. 21:14).