Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 1:3/אבן עזרא על בראשית א׳:ג׳

אויאמר אמר הגאון כי פירוש ויאמר כמו וירצה, ואילו היה כן היה ראוי להיות אור, רק הוא כמשמעו, וכן "בדבר ד' שמים נעשו" (תהלים לג ו) "כי הוא צוה ונבראו (שם קמח ה) והטעם כנוי על המעשה שלא היה ביגיעה, ועל דרך משל מלך ומשרתיו,

1AND GOD SAID. Saadiah Gaon interprets va-yomer Elohim (and God said), as and God wanted. However, if this were the case Scripture should have stated God wanted (said) light to be. Therefore va-yomer Elohim is to be rendered “and God said.”⁷⁴ means God wanted, rather than God said, Scripture should have used the infinite li-heyot in place of yehi; Let there be implies a statement. We similarly read, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made (Ps. 33:6), and For He commanded, and they were created (Ps. 148:5).⁷⁵ Scripture describes creation as coming about by God’s word because it wants to teach us that heaven and earth came into being without any labor on God’s part. We may compare this to a king assigning certain tasks to his servants.

בוזה האור היה למעלה מן הרוח:

2[LIGHT.] The light spoken of in this verse was above the air.⁷⁶