Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 32:25/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״ב:כ״ה
אויאבק. מגזרת אבק, עד שעלה אבק ביניהם:
1AND THERE WRESTLED A MAN. Va-ye’avek (and there wrestled) comes from the same root as avak (dust). They struggled so that dust arose between them.
בעד עלות השחר. עד סור שחרות הלילה, וי"א כי שחר רמות אור והוא הנראה בעבים טרם זרוח השמש וכן "אשר אין לו שחר" (ישעי' ח כ):
2UNTIL THE BREAKING OF THE DAY. Ad alot ha-shachar (until the breaking of the day) means until the darkness of the night went away.46 (breaking) to mean go up, i.e., to depart, and shacher (dawn) to mean darkness, for this is what the root of shachar means. Others say that shachar (dawn) refers to the image of light that appears in the clouds before sunrise.47 means dawn and alot the rising. Alot ha-shachar thus means the breaking of dawn. Shacher (light) in wherein there is no light (shacher) (Is. 8:20) is similar.