Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 23:2/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ג:ב׳
אארבע. שם אדם גדול בענקים ולהיותו אברהם הוא על דרך דרש כי לא היה מהענקים וכאשר מתה שרה היה אברהם במקום אחר ע"כ אמר ויבא אברהם:
1KIRIATH-ARBA. Arba was the name of one of the great men of the Anakim.3 (Josh. 14:15); even Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak (Josh. 15:13). The identification of Arba with Abraham is homiletical,4 14:6. as Abraham was not of that race. When Sarah died Abraham was elsewhere; hence Scripture states, and Abraham came.
בולבכותה. לבכות עליה וכן "ובכתה את אביה" (דברים כא יג):
2AND TO WEEP FOR HER. The word livkotah is to be rendered to weep for her. And bewail her father (Deut. 21:13)5 is made up of two words, livkot (to weep) and the object otah (her). This combination of pronoun and object can only be made with a transitive verb. However, livkotah is intransitive. The meaning of livkotah is thus to weep her, an impossible rendering. Hence I.E. comments that the meaning of our word is to weep for her. He points out that the same is true in Deut. 21:13 (Krinsky). is similar.