Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 14:4/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ד:ד׳

אוטעם ושלש עשרה. בשלש עשרה כמו "כי ששת ימים עשה ד'" (שמות כ יא), ובעל סדר סדר עולם חברם ודעתו רחבה מדעתנו:

1[AND IN THE THIRTEENTH YEAR THEY REBELLED.] U-shelosh esreh (and the thirteenth) should be interpreted u-ve-shelosh esreh (and in the thirteenth).¹⁰ (and thirteen years). I.E. says, u-shelosh esreh should be read as if a bet were prefixed to shelosh, i.e., u-ve-shelosh esreh. It is similar to the word sheshet (six) in for in six (sheshet) days the Lord made the heaven and earth (Ex. 20:11).¹¹. Thus sheshet is to be read as if written ve-sheshet (in six). However, the author of the Seder Olam did not interpret it this way. He combined the years mentioned in our verse.¹² I. The Seder Olam interprets u-shelosh esreh shanah to mean, and 13 years; i.e., they rebelled 13 years. It adds these 13 years to the 12 years mentioned previously in our verse and claims that the Bible deals with a 25-year period, 12 of service and 13 years of rebellion. His mind was greater than ours.