Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 37:2/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״ז:ב׳
אוהטעם אלה תולדות יעקב, אלו המאורעות שאירעו לו, והמקרים שבאו עליו מגזרת "מה ילד יום" (משלי כז א):
1The meaning of These are the generations of Jacob is: these are the events which befell him and the incidents which came upon him. Toledot (generations) comes from the same root as yeled (bring forth) in What a day may bring forth (yeled) (Prov. 27:1).3 is not rendered generations but events, as evidenced by the word of the same root, yod, lamed, dalet in Prov. 27:1.
בוהוא נער את בני בלהה ואת בני זלפה. בעבור היותו קטן שמוהו בני השפחות שמש להם, כי אם ישרת אחיו בני הגבירה לא היה דבר רע, וזאת היא דבתם רעה, וטעם אבר מן החי דרש הוא, כי הכתוב לא הזכיר מאחיו חוץ מבני השפחות:
2BEING STILL A LAD, EVEN WITH THE SONS OF BILHAH, AND WITH THE SONS OF ZILPAH. The sons of the concubines (the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah) made Joseph their attendant (servant) since he was their younger brother. This was the evil report of them which he brought unto their father. Had the children of Leah, the mistress of the house, made Joseph their attendant, then no wrong would have been done.4 of his brothers to bring unto their father. The view that evil report pertains to limbs torn from living animals is a Midrashic interpretation.5 84:7. That Joseph did not bring an evil report to Jacob concerning Leah’s children is clear from the fact that Scripture only mentions the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah in our verse.6 (report of them) must refer to Zilpah and Bilhah’s sons. This comment is either a proof of what I.E. wrote above, viz., that Joseph spoke only about the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Krinsky), or its purpose is to negate a Midrashic statement to the effect that Joseph spoke ill only of Leah’s children, viz., that he told Jacob that Leah’s children refer to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah as the children of slave girls (Filwarg).