Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 18:29/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ח:כ״ט

אוטעם לא אעשה בעבור הארבעים, לא אעשה השחתה ושלא יאריך חבר שני החסרונים אחר כן, אם יחסר הרביעית גם השלישית גם החצי, וי"א למה לא הפחית מעשרה, בעבור היות שנים בכל עיר, כי חמש ערים היו וזה איננו נכון, בעבור שאמר בסדום לבדה ואע"פ שחכמינו ז"ל העתיקו שאין תפלה בצבור פחות מעשרה, גם זה הפסוק יחזיק ידי אמונתינו:

1[I WILL NOT DO IT FOR THE FORTY’S SAKE.] I will not do it⁶³, and at other times, I will not do. I.E. points out that they mean the same thing. means I will not bring destruction. And so as not to prolong his prayers Abraham combined the two previous subtractions.⁶⁴ Thus Abraham asked if one quarter of the forty was missing would God destroy the city. He then asked if a third of the thirty were missing, would God destroy it. He concluded by asking if God would destroy the city if half of the twenty righteous men were missing. Some say that Abraham did not ask God to spare for less than ten people because there were five cities and thus less than two righteous per city. However, they are mistaken, for Scripture expressly tells us that Abraham spoke only of Sodom.⁶⁵, etc. (v. 26). Thus only the men of Sodom are to be counted in the total. Now even though our sages, of blessed memory, transmitted as mere tradition the law that there can be no public prayer when fewer than ten men are present,⁶⁶ 7b, 47b; Megillah 21b. this verse may be taken as a support of our faith in the law which they passed on to us.⁶⁷ concerning the necessity of 10 men for public prayer.