Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 37:25/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״ז:כ״ה
אוישבו לאכל לחם. התשעה אחים:
1AND THEY SAT DOWN TO EAT BREAD. The nine brothers.32
בארחת ישמעאלים. כאשר אמר המתרגם, בעבור שהיא הולכת ארחות:
2A CARAVAN OF ISHMAELITES. Orechat is to be rendered caravan as Onkelos does. A caravan is so called because it travels on the roads (orechot).
גנכאת. אמר ר' משה הכהן ז"ל הספרדי שפי' נכאת דבר נחמד, וכן "ויראם את כל בית נכותה" (מ"ב כ יג), כי הוי"ו והאל"ף יתחלפו שהם האותיות הנח:
3SPICERY. Rabbi Moses Ha-Kohen the Spaniard33 explains nekhot (spicery) to mean a precious thing. Bet nekhoto (his treasure house) in and showed them all his treasure-house (bet nekhoto) (II Kings 20:13) is similar. Nekhot34. and nekhoto35. The problem is that the word is not so spelled in II Kings 20:13. Krinsky and Cherez suggest that since the word is pronounced nekhoto, it is as if a vav is placed after the caf. are similar because the vav and the alef are interchangeable since they are quiescent letters.36 and vav in nekhot are not pronounced. Hence they are quiescent. I.E. refers to the alef, vav, heh, yod as quiescent letters (otiyot ha-nach) because they are not always enunciated.
דוצרי. מצאנוהו במקרא בשו"א נח תחת הצד"י ובקמץ חטף הַצֳרִי אין בגלעד (ירמי' ה כב), גם בחולם, ודבש שמן וָצֹרִי (יחזקאל כז יז), והגאון פי' אותו, כי הוא הנעשה משבעים וחמשה עיקרים, ואחרים אמרו כי הוא פרי, ואחרים אמרו כי הוא פרי או שמן האילן שהובא מיריחו אל מצרים על דעת יוסף בן גוריון ור' ישמעאל אמר שהוא שרף ואנחנו נסמוך על דעתו,
4AND BALM. The word for balm is encountered in Scripture vocalized with a quiescent sheva beneath the tzadi (utzri).37 in our verse, tzeri. However, there is an important grammatical aside in this note. I.E. calls our sheva a quiescent sheva, a sheva nach. However, according to standard grammatical usage a sheva following a long vowel is vocal. Thus our sheva should be a vocal sheva, a sheva na, and not a quiescent one. Therefore our word should be read u-tzeri and not utzri. William Chomsky points out that the vocal pronunciation of the sheva following a long vowel was introduced by the Kimchis and that the pre-Kimchi grammarians had no such concept. I.E.’s note seems to bear this out. Cf. W. Chomsky, “The pronunciation of the Sheva,” The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. LXII, October, 1971. For an alternate interpretation see Cherez. We also find it vocalized with a chataf kamatz beneath the tzadi, viz., Is there no balm (ha-tzori) in Gilead? (Jer. 8:22). It also appears with the tzadi vocalized with a cholem, viz., and honey, and oil, and balm (ve-tzori) (Ezek. 27:17). Saadiah Gaon explained that tzeri (balm)38 (Weiser). is a mixture of 75 roots. Others say that tzeri is a type of fruit. Still others say that it is either a fruit or the oil of a tree39 that, according to Joseph ben Gurion,40 was brought from Jericho to Egypt. However, Rabbi Ishmael41 6a; Shabbat 26a. However, in the Talmud this opinion is quoted in the name of Rabbi Simeon. Either there is a scribal error in our text or I.E. was quoting from memory. says that it means resin. We will rely on the latter opinion.
הולוט אמר הגאון שהוא הפרי כן בלשון ישמעאל בתוספות בי"ת ואולי כן הוא:
5AND LADANUM. Saadiah Gaon says that lot (ladanum) is the same fruit that in Arabic is similarly called with the addition of a bet.42 (Weiser). Perhaps it is so.