Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 4:10/אבן עזרא על שמות ד׳:י׳

אויאמר. כל המפרשים פה אחד אמרו, כי פרוש בי לשון בקשה. ור' יהודה הלוי אמר כי הוא דרך קצרה, והטעם "בי אני אדני העון" (ש"א כה כד), כלומר עשה בי עונש מה שתרצה, והניחני מזה שלא תשלחני וככה "בי אדני ידבר נא עבדך דבר" (ברא' מד יה) עשה בי מה שתרצה והניחני לדבר:

1AND MOSES SAID. All the commentaries agree that bi (oh) is to be taken as a supplicatory expression.²⁶ However, Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi says that bi is an abridgement. It is short for bi ani adoni he-avon (Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity) (I Sam. 25:24), that is, punish me as you wish²⁷ (iniquity) to mean punishment. See his comments on Gen. 4:13 and 43:20. Thus bi ani adoni he-avon means upon me, my lord be, the punishment. but relieve me of this task and do not send me.²⁸ in the context in which it is used in this verse. Similarly bi adoni yedabber na avdekha davar (oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears) (Gen. 44:18). Its meaning is, do to me as you wish but allow me to speak.

באיש דברים. יודע לדבר צחות שאיננו מתעכב בלשונו בדברו או מגמגם, או שיכבדו על פיו אותיות ידועות, ומנהג העברים כאשר ירצו להשוות שני דברים או שלשה יוסיפו מלת גם בתחלה, כמו משול בנו גם אתה, גם בנך, גם בן בנך (שופ' ה כב):

2A MAN OF WORDS. A person who knows how to speak elegantly, that is, a person who does not halt or stutter or have difficulty in enunciating certain letters. It is the custom of the Hebrews when they went to compare two or three things to add the word gam (also) to the first object,²⁹ (neither heretofore), gam me-az dabberekha el avdekha (nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant). Literally translated, it means: also from yesterday and also from the third day, also since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant. The first “also” appears out of place hence I.E.’s comment. I.E. then goes on to explain what Scripture means by the third day. as in Rule over us, also you, also your son and also your son’s son (Jud. 8:22).³⁰

גוטעם "שלשם", לא יאמר תמול כי אם ליום הזה שהוא מדבר בו והנה שלישי שעבר ליום הזה שהוא מדבר בו, והמ"ם כדרך לשון רבים, בעבור היום ואתמולו, ואעפ"י שאין השי"ן קמוצה כמשפט, או המ"ם נוסף באחרונה כאשר הוא נוסף בראשונה "ויהי כמשלש חדשים" (ברא' לה כד):

3[HERETOFORE.] The explanation of the word shilshom (third day)³¹ is as follows. The word temol (yesterday)³² refers to the day before the one in which the person is speaking. Shilshom thus refers to the third day from which the person is speaking.³³ (the third day) means three days ago. The point is that the Bible uses temol and shilshom back to back. Since temol means yesterday the word shilshom must mean three says ago, not the third day to come. The mem in shilshom is the mem of the plural³⁴ as it refers to today and yesterday,³⁵ means their third day, i.e., today’s and yesterday’s third day (Weiser). even though its shin is not vocalized with a kamatz as the rules of grammar require.³⁶ is their third day (shalosh she-lahem) the word should have read shilsham. On the other hand, it is possible that the mem is appended at the end of the word as it is to the beginning of the word.³⁷ of shilshom is not the mem of the plural. It is a form (or superfluous) letter and has no meaning. Compare, the word mishlosh (three)³⁸ in mishlosh has no meaning. See I.E. on Gen. 35:24. in And it came to pass about three months after (Gen. 38:24).

דגם מאז דברך. מעת דברך, כמו "ומאז באתי אל פרעה לדבר בשמך" (למטה ה כג), כי לא סר כובד לשונו רק נשאר כאשר היה, והאומר ששכח לשון מצרים איננו נכון, כי הוא אומר ב' דברים, כבד פה, וכבד לשון, ועוד נלמוד מתשובת השם "מי שם פה לאדם, או מי ישום אלם", שאינו מדבר על לשון מצרים, רק ככה נולד שהיה כבד פה שלא היה יכול להוציא אותיות השפה וכל אותיות הלשון, רק קצתם היה מוציאם בכובד וזהו טעם אנכי אהיה עם פיך והוריתיך, אמר שיורנו אשר ידבר מלות, שאין שם מאותיות הכבדות על פיו:

4NOR SINCE THOU HAST SPOKEN. Me-az dabberkha (since thou hast spoken)³⁹ means then. Hence I.E.’s comment that me-az means from the time or since. is to be rendered, from the time that thou hast spoken. Me-az (since) in For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name (Ex. 5:23) is similar, as⁴⁰ the slowness of his speech was not removed⁴¹ but remained as it was. The one who says that Moses forgot Egyptian⁴² is incorrect, because Moses mentioned two things, viz., slowness of speech and slowness of tongue.⁴³ Furthermore, we can learn from God’s answer, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh a man dumb? that Moses was not referring to the Egyptian language.⁴⁴ The upshot of this is that Moses was born with slowness of speech; i.e., he could not pronounce the labials or all of the linguals.⁴⁵ (lips). Slowness of tongue indicates a problem with linguals. However, he was able to pronounce some of them with difficulty. This is the meaning of, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak; i.e., God told Moses that He would teach him to speak with words that do not contain letters that he had difficulty enunciating.