Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 9:30/אבן עזרא על שמות ט׳:ל׳
אואתה. אמר רבינו שלמה כי טרם תיראון, כמו לא תיראון, וכמוהו טרם ישכבו (ברא' יט ד) וזו המלה איננה נמצאת כאשר חשב, כי לעולם יבוא אחריה הענין, כי אחר טרם ישכבו כתוב "ואנשי העיר אנשי סדום נסבו על הבית", והטעם כאשר היתה עת שכיבתם נסבו על הבית "וככה, טרם יקראו ואני אענה (ישעי' סה כד) וככה בטרם יקטירון את החלב (ש"אב טו), וככה כל טרם, והנה אין טרם כמו לא, והגאון רב סעדיה ז"ל דבק הענין, וככה פי', אמר משה לפרעה אני אתפלל להסיר מכת הברד רק מה שהשחית השחית:
1BUT AS FOR THEE. Rabbi Solomon94 says that the meaning of terem tire’un (ye will not yet fear) is: you do not fear.95 means not yet. He renders terem tire’un as: you will not yet fear. However, I.E. quoted Rashi as saying that terem means no. Most of the commentaries avoid the issue. They apparently believe that I.E. was laconic in quoting Rashi. However, in his short commentary, I.E. quotes Rabbi Judah the grammarian as saying that terem means no. Weiser suggests that I.E. confused Rashi and Rabbi Judah in his long commentary. Since, as has been shown in Vol. 1 of this work, I.E. often quoted from memory and, as Birnbaum notes, did not always have time to edit his writings, it is quite possible that Weiser is right. He interprets terem yishkavu (but before they lay down) (Gen. 19:4) similarly.96 However, the meaning of this word is not as he imagined, as the subject always follows.97 is almost always followed by a subject. Hence I.E. interprets terem as meaning before. The problem with I.E.’s interpretation is that in our verse, unlike Gen. 19:4, the term seems to end the subject under conversation. It is to answer the latter that I.E. quotes Saadiah Gaon and then offers his own interpretation. Following terem yishkavu (but before they lay down) Scripture reads, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round: its meaning is, at the time when they lay down they compassed the house round. The word terem (before) in before they call, I will answer (Is. 65:24) and terem (before) in Yea before the fat was made to smoke (I Sam. 2:15) are similar. The same applies to all times the word terem is used. Thus terem never has the meaning of no.98 Rabbi Saadiah Gaon of blessed memory connected the whole subject.99 is before. He connects verses 29-32. If he did not connect them, verse 30 would make no sense for it would end reading: I know before you fear the Lord God. He explained it as follows. Moses said to Pharaoh, I shall pray for the hail to be removed.100 However, what it destroyed, it destroyed.101