Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 33:10/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״ג:י׳
אאל נא. אל יאמר אדוני כן, וכבר הודעתיך דקדוק הנגיד:
1NAY, I PRAY THEE. I pray my lord not to so speak.11 (nay, I pray thee) is short for al na yomar adoni ken (I pray my lord not to so speak) (Weiser). I have previously noted Rabbi Samuel Ha-Nagid’s interpretation of the term al (nay).12
בכראות פני אלהים. מלאך, ורבי המפרשים אומרים כי בא המלאך ליעקב לחזק את לבו שלא יירא מאחיו כי הנה המלאך לא יכול לו, אף כי בן אדם, ואין מלת שרית עם אלהים כמו "וישר אבימלך על ישראל" (שופ' ט כב), כי אין "עם" כמו "על", רק פירושו שר תחשב עם המלאכים, ואם אנשים שרים, ושואלים ישאלו מה טעם ויזרח לו השמש, והלא ברגע אחד זורחת בכל העולם, ושאלתם תוהו, כי עת זרוח השמש בכל מקום ישתנה והנה בין ירושלים ובין זאת המדינה שחברתי בה זה הפי' ושמה לוקא שעה ושליש שעה, וברחב י"ב מעלות, וזה הדבר ברור בלא ספק, ופי' והוא צולע שהיה הולך על צלעו האחת, וטעם על כן זכר לדבר:
2AS ONE SEETH THE FACE OF GOD. The face of an angel. Many of the commentators explain that the angel with whom Jacob wrestled came to encourage him not to lose heart and fear Esau. For if an angel could not overcome him, certainly no human could. The word sarita (thou hast striven), in thou hast striven (sarita) with (im) God (Gen. 32:29),13 to mean strove. Since Jacob alluded to the angel in his comments to Esau, I.E. now goes back and concludes his comments on that incident which is reported in the previous chapter. does not mean the same as va-yaser14, Oxford, 1968. (was prince) in And Abimelech was prince (va-yasar) over (al) Israel (Jud. 9:22), because im (with) is not the same as al (over). Our phrase (Gen. 32:29) means that you are considered a prince among the angels, and also among human princes.15 as, you have become a sar, a prince; im Elohim, among angels; ve-im anashim, and among human princes. Some ask, what does Scripture mean by And the sun rose upon him (Gen. 32:32) when the sun rises all over the world at the same time?16 78:8, “Did the sun rise only for him?” This is a nonsensical question because the sun rises at different times in different places. For example, there is a difference of one and a third hours in sunrise and also twelve degrees in latitude between Jerusalem and the place where I wrote this commentary, namely the city of Lucca.17 This thing is certain and beyond doubt. The meaning of tzole’a (and he limped) (Gen. 32:32) is, he walked on one side.18 as a side (see his comments on Gen. 2:21). Tzole’a is a denominative. A healthy person walks straight, a sick person leans on one side (Cherez). The meaning of al ken (therefore) (Gen. 32:33) is, in commemoration of this thing.19