Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 30:35/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל׳:ל״ה
אויסר ביום ההוא את התישים העקודים והטלואים. שפירש הנקודים והברודים:
1AND HE REMOVED THAT DAY THE HE-GOATS THAT WERE STREAKED AND SPOTTED. Spotted (telu’im) means speckled and grizzled.
בהנקודות והטלואות. פי' העקודות והברודות וזה טעם כל אשר לבן בו,
2[AND ALL THE SHE-GOATS THAT WERE SPECKLED AND SPOTTED.] The interpretation of telu’ot (spotted) is streaked and grizzled.50 (spotted) refers to the other types of marks. This is what Scripture means by everyone that had white in it.51
גוכל שה חום, כבש שחור, והוא שם תואר, כמו פעול, ומשקלו "סוג לב" (משלי יד יד), ומלת הסר משם על דעת מדקדק גדול שם הפועל להסיר משם ואלה שכרי, ופי' ויתן ביד בניו של יעקב, רק וישם דרך שלשת ימים על לבן הוא, וזה הפי' איננו נכון, כי אין ליעקב בן גדול מראובן, ועוד אין לו ז' שנים, וכן פי' הפרשה, הסר משם כמשמעו לשון צווי, וטעם והיה שכרי כאלה אחר שתסירם:
3AND ALL THE DARK ONES AMONG THE SHEEP. The black sheep. Chum (dark, black) is an adjective similar to a pa’ul. It follows the paradigm of sug (dissembler) in The dissembler (sug) in heart (Prov. 14:14).52 because only transitive verbs come in the pa’ul. Chum is intransitive. Nevertheless, it is similar to pa’ul in that it is an adjective. The same is true of sug (Cherez). Weiser translates: It is an adjective in the pu’al, following the paradigm of sug; that is, it is an ayin, vav in the pu’al. A great grammarian explained the word haser (removing)53 can be either an infinitive or an imperative. The grammarian explained it as an infinitive because of the difficulty of coordinating I will pass with the imperative remove. in removing (haser) from thence (v. 32) as an infinitive, meaning to remove. The meaning of the aforementioned verse according to this scholar is: I will pass through all thy flock today to remove from thence every…and that which I remove will be my hire.54 He further explained And gave them into the hands of his sons (v. 35) as referring to Jacob’s sons.55; and his sons refers to Jacob’s sons. However, he said that he set three days journey betwixt himself and Jacob (v. 36) pertains to Laban.56 This comment is wrong in view of the fact that Jacob had no son older than Reuben, and he was not yet seven years old.57 This is the way our passage is to be explained: haser (v. 32) is, as its form indicates, an imperative meaning “remove” and the meaning of and of such shall be my hire (v. 32) is: such as these which you now remove will in the future be my hire.58
דוענתה בי צדקתי. לפניך היא תעיד כאשר תבא ותראה שכרי, והוא העדר שאפריד לנפשי, אם לא מצאת התישים והעזים עקודים נקודים וברודים, והכבשים שחורים גנוב הוא אתי, והנה אתה הסירות מן הצאן כל עקוד ונקוד וברוד בעזים וכל חום בכשבים:
4SO SHALL MY RIGHTEOUSNESS WITNESS AGAINST ME. My righteousness shall testify for me before thee,59 with so shall my righteousness witness against me, rather than with my hire, which precedes it (Krinsky, Cherez). when you come and look over my hire, viz., the flock that I have separated for myself. If you find among the latter a he and she-goat that is not streaked, speckled and grizzled or a sheep that is not black, then it shall be counted stolen. Behold you have already removed from the flock all goats streaked, speckled and grizzled and all black sheep.60
הויאמר לבן הן. כמו הנה כי הה"א נוסף כמו האלה האל:
5AND LABAN SAID: BEHOLD. Hen (behold) is identical in meaning to hinneh, the heh being superfluous.61. It is similar in this regard to ha-eleh (these) and ha-el (these).62 and ha-eleh mean the same, the heh being superfluous.
וויסר ביום ההוא. לבן הסיר:
6AND HE REMOVED. Laban removed.63 refers to Jacob.