Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 19:8/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ט:ח׳
אידעו איש. לשון רבים ורבות בפעל שעבר בלא תוספות וי"ו פתוח שוה:
1KNOWN MAN. The third person plural perfect is the same in both the masculine and feminine when not written with a vav conversive which is vocalized with a pattach.11 (have known) is used both for the masculine and the feminine. However, when have known is written with a vav conversive, which is vocalized with a pattach, then the masculine and feminine have different forms. The masculine in this case is va-yede’u and the feminine va-tedanah.
בהאל. כמו האלה ויאמר הגאון, כי בעבור השלישי שלא בא אמר כן וזה הטעם רחוק, כי גם שתי הלשונות תמצאם בלשון ארמית:
2THESE. Ha-el (these) means the same as ha-eleh.12 is the usual term for these. Saadiah Gaon claims that Scripture used the term ha-el because one of the three angels was missing.13. However, his comment is far-fetched, for the Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch renders both ha-el and ha-eleh by the same word.14 and ha-eleh by ha-illen. If they had different nuances Onkelos would have used a different word for each.