Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 18:13/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ח:י״ג

אואני זקנתי. פירושו אחרי בלותי והמלאך אמר אמת:

1WHOM AM OLD. This explains After I am waxed old.¹⁷ (after I am waxed old). The angel quoted her as saying, ani zakanti (I who am old). I.E. points out that zakanti means the same as viloti. The angel spoke the truth.¹⁸ 87a and Yebamot 65b, which state that Scripture changed Sarah’s actual words for the sake of peace so that Abraham would not take offense. They interpret ani zakanti (I whom am old) as referring to Sarah’s statement of va-adoni zaken (my lord being old also). I.E. disagrees with this interpretation (see note 17).

בומ"ם אמנם נוסף כמ"ם "שלשם" (בראשית לא ה), ומפרשים אחרים אמרו כי אלו ג' אנשים נביאים היו, ואם טען טוען, והלא אברהם נביא היה, ואיך בא נביא אל נביא, רק אם היה גדול ממנו בנבואה כמשה ואהרן ותשובתם שלא באו לאברהם רק לשרה וכן אמרו איה שרה אשתך (בראשית יח ט) והשנים הלכו אל סדום, ואל תתמה על מלת "כי משחיתים אנחנו" (בראשית יט יג) כי כן כתוב "ומשה ואהרן עשו את כל המופתים" (שמות יא י) והשם עשאם וסמכם אליהם, בעבור שנעשו על ידם והנה פי' ויאכלו כמשמעו, ופי' "ויאמר אדני אם נא מצאתי חן" (בראשית יח ג) איננו קדש, רק הוא כמו רבותי, על כן פתוח הנו"ן, ולא נקמץ כמשפטו, ובספרים שהוא קמוץ יהיה פירושו נביא השם. וטעם בעיניך. (בראשית יח ג) שדבר בתחלה עם הגדול שבהם ואחר כן עם כולם ומצאנו שנקרא הנביא מלאך "בחגי", וי"א כי אברהם בקש רשות מהשכינה, וי"א שהוא מוקדם ומאוחר, וכן הוא וישא, וכבר נשא עיניו ועשה כך וכך, ואח"כ נראה אליו השם ואמר המכסה אני מאברהם גם זעקת סדום ואלו ההולכים הגיעו אל סדום, ואברהם עודנו עומד לפני ד', ועל כל פנים "וד' אמר" (בראשית יח יז) עם אברהם ידבר או עם המלאכים שיאמרו לו, רק "ויאמר ד' זעקת סדום" (בראשית יח כ) עם אברהם דבר ואברהם נגש ואמר "האף תספה" (בראשית יח כג) ונכנס פסוק "ויפנו משם האנשים" (בראשית יח כב) להודיע כי בעת שבאו אל סדום, אז אמר השם לאברהם זעקת סדום וכן "אמור לנער ויעבור לפנינו ויעבור ואתה עמוד כיום" (ש"א ט כט) ואין לנו צורך לתיקון סופרים, והעד שאמר באחרונה "אל המקום אשר עמד שם את פני ד'" (בראשית יט כז), והנכון בעיני תמצאנו רמוז בפרשת ואלה שמות:

2The mem of umnam (of a surety) is not a root letter. It is like the mem of shilshom (the day before yesterday) (Gen. 31:5). Other commentators maintain that Abraham’s three guests were prophets. If one should argue, why would God send a message via a prophet to Abraham who himself was a prophet,¹⁹ since it is only when one prophet is greater than the other, as in the case of Moses who was sent with a prophesy to Aaron,²⁰ that God transmits his intentions to a prophet through another prophet,²¹ then they would answer that the three prophets came not to Abraham but to Sarah. Indeed, Scripture explicitly states, And they said unto him: Where is Sarah thy wife (v. 9).²² After one of the prophets delivered the message to Sarah, the other two went on to Sodom. Also, do not be troubled by the clause for we will destroy this place (Gen.19:13),²³ as we find a similar expression with regard to Moses and Aaron: And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh (Ex. 11:10). In reality God did the wonders and they were attributed to Moses and Aaron because they were the agents by which the miracles were performed. Now according to this interpretation, and they did eat (v. 8) is to be taken literally. Similarly, according to this interpretation, the term Adonai (Lord) in My lord, (Adonai) if now I have found favor in thy sight (v. 3) does not refer to the Deity, but means my lords. Hence there is a pattach beneath the nun, and it is not vocalized with a kamatz as would be the case if it referred to God.²⁴ with a pattach means my lords; with a kamatz, it means Lord. However, in those copies of the Pentateuch where Adonai is vocalized with a kamatz the term must be interpreted as: O prophet of God.²⁵ is vocalized with a kamatz. Also (according to the aforementioned interpretation), the reason Abraham said, if now I have found favor in thy sight (v. 3)²⁶ ? He should have used the plural be-enekhem. is that he first addressed the most important of the three and then the other two.²⁷ Those who maintain that the three who visited Abraham were prophets²⁸ point out that the prophet Haggai is referred to in Scripture as an angel.²⁹ Others say that Adonai means Lord and that Abraham respectfully requested that God wait until he had attended his guests. There are still others who say that the verses are not in order of their occurrence.³⁰ According to this interpretation, And he lifted up (v. 2) is to be interpreted: and he had already lifted up his eyes and looked and done so and so. After this, God appeared to him and said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing, etc. (v. 17), and Verily the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, etc. (v. 20). But Abraham stood yet before the Lord (v. 22) when the two angels who left for Sodom arrived there. In any case,³¹ And the Lord said: Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing, etc., relates either to what God directly revealed to Abraham or to what He told the angels to relate to Abraham. However, all opinions agree that And the Lord said: Verily the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and verily their sin is exceedingly grievous, etc. (v. 20 and 21), definitely records God’s words to Abraham. Upon hearing this, Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked, etc. (v. 23-32).And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the Lord, (v. 22) is a parenthetical statement noting that at the very moment that the men came to Sodom, God told Abraham, Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great. This is similar: As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul: ‘Bid the servant pass on before us - and he passed on - but stand thou still at this time, that I may cause thee to hear the word of God’ (I Sam. 9:27).³² is a parenthetical statement. I.E. points out that such statements are found in the Bible. Similarly verse 22 is parenthetical. There is no need to assume that the scribes changed the original reading of our verse³³. Cf. Bereshit Rabbah 49:7; Va-yikra Rabbah 11:5. For the reason that the Midrash assumed the verse originally read: but the Lord yet stood before Abraham; see Rashi and Krinsky. I.E. claims that there never was, in fact, any scribal emendation, as the literal meaning of the text does not support such an assumption (Filwarg). from but the Lord stood yet before Abraham to but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. Indeed, the verse And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord (Gen. 19:27) proves that there was no scribal emendation.³⁴ I will allude to my own beliefs with regard to the appearance of the angels in my commentary on the first Torah portion of Exodus.³⁵