Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 32:20/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״ב:כ׳
אגם את כל ההולכים. כי חמש הי' שם:
1AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED. Scripture says this because there were five groups.36 what to tell Esau because there were five groups and each group was instructed what to say.
בבמוצאכם. נפתח הצדי"ק בעבור אות הגרון ואם אין כמוהו:
2WHEN YE FIND HIM. The tzadi of be-motza’akhem (when ye find) is vocalized with a pattach because it precedes a guttural.37, as in be-shovbekha (Deut. 6:7) or tofsekhem (Josh. 8:8). However, in our case rather than being vocalized with a sheva, the second root letter is vocalized with a pattach. We thus read, motza’akhem rather than motzakhem. I.E. explains that this is so because the tsadi precedes a guttural (the alef) (Cherez). This is so even though we do not find another example of this in the Bible.38. Compare, shomakhem (Deut. 5:20), where the mem is vocalized with a sheva even though it precedes an ayin, a guttural (Cherez). Thus I.E. notes that while his explanation is correct with regard to our word it does not hold for similar words in Scripture.