Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 26:35/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ו:ל״ה

אמרת רוח. כל אחת מהן, וי"א מלשון "סורר ומורה" (דבר' כא יח), ועל דעתי שהוא מגזרת "מרה כלענה" (משלי ה, ד), כטעם מרירות נפש וכן כתוב "כי רעות בנות כנען" (בראשית כח, ה) ונכתבה זו הפרשה שישמרו בני ישראל מבנות כנען:

1A BITTERNESS OF SPIRIT. Each one of Esau’s wives²³ is in the plural; morat is a singular. Scripture should have used the plural morot. Hence I.E.’s comment. was a morat ru’ach (bitterness of spirit) to Isaac and Rebekah. Some say that morat (bitterness) is similar to the word moreh (rebellious) in If a man have a stubborn and rebellious (moreh) son (Deut. 21:18).²⁴) against the wishes of (ru’ach) Isaac and Rebekah. However, I believe that morat comes from the same root as marah (bitter) in bitter (marah) as wormwood (Prov. 5:4).²⁵ is not a verb meaning rebellious but a noun meaning bitter. The meaning of morat ru’ach is: they were a bitterness of the spirit; i.e., Isaac and Rebekah were displeased with having Canaanite daughters-in-law. In this case one does not have to interpret morat ru’ach as each one was a morat ru’ach, because it can be interpreted as both were a bitterness of spirit. Thus there is no problem with And they were being in the plural and morat ru’ach in the singular (Krinsky). Indeed, it is explicitly written, and Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased not²⁶ Isaac, his father (Gen. 28:8). The account of Esau’s wives was recorded so that the Israelites would keep themselves from taking Canaanite women.