Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 25:22/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ה:כ״ב
אויתרוצצו. מלשון מרוצה והצדי"ק כפול, ואחיו "כברקים ירוצצו" (נחום ב ה), ונקראו בנים על שם סופם וכן "ובגדי ערומים תפשיט" (איוב כב ו), והיא שאלה לנשים שילדו אם ארע להם ככה, ותאמרנה לא:
1AND THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED TOGETHER. Va-yitrotzatzu (and they struggled) comes from the word that means running.33. According to I.E., And the children struggled…within her is to be rendered: and the children ran within her, that is, moved quickly within her. The tzadi is doubled.34 is conjugated in the hitpa’el. Its parallel is found in They run to and fro (yerotzetzu) like the lightnings (Nahum 2:5).35 (run to and fro) is from the root resh, vav, tzadi. The tzadi is doubled in keeping with the rule that the last letter of an ayin vav is doubled when conjugated in the pi’el. The Bible refers to the fetuses as children36 (children) always refers to born children. A fetus is not a child (Krinsky). because that is what they ultimately became.37. And stripped the naked of their clothing (Job 22:6)38 is similar. Rebekah asked women who had children if they had had a similar experience. They responded that they did not.
בוטעם ותאמר אם כן. הדבר והמנהג, למה זה אנכי בהריון משונה:
2Rebekah then said, if it, namely, the manner and custom of pregnancy, be so as they said, wherefore do I undergo such an abnormal pregnancy.39 (Wherefore do I live) literally reads: why, then, am I, which I.E. interprets to mean: why, then, am I undergoing an abnormal pregnancy. It should be noted that according to I.E., Rebekah’s questioning of the other women is not stated in the text but is implied by her saying, im ken lammah zeh anokhi.