Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 40/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ׳

אחטאו. חטא מוסר המלוכה,

1OFFENDED. They committed an offense (chet) in a matter of state.¹

אבעבור שלא ישתנה סמ"ך סריסיו הוא לאות כי היה הרי"ש ראוי להדגש ונקמץ הסמ"ך בקמץ גדול לחסרון הדגש:

1The fact that the samekh of sarisav (his officers) retains its kamatz is proof that the resh of saris (officer) should have received a dagesh, and since it cannot the samekh was vocalized with a long kamatz to compensate for the missing dagesh.² beneath their first letter in the singular are vocalized with a sheva under their first letter in the plural; i.e., nagid becomes negidim. Saris does not follow this rule. Its plural is sarisim, not serisim. Hence the word presents a problem. I.E. suggests that saris belongs to the group of nouns vocalized pattach-chirik. The latter retain their pattach in the plural; i.e., kabbir becomes kabbirim. I.E. points out that saris should have been vocalized with a pattach beneath the samekh but due to the fact that a resh cannot receive a dagesh (a dagesh usually follows a pattach), the samekh was vocalized with a kamatz to compensate for the missing dagesh. Hence saris retains its kamatz in the plural.

אבמשמר בית שר הטבחים. מקום שיהי' שם נשמרים בעבור שלא יברחו:

1AND HE PUT THEM IN WARD IN THE HOUSE OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. A place where they would be guarded so they would not escape.

אויפקד שר הטבחים. והנה כאשר הושמו אלה הסריסים בבית שר הטבחים, פקד את יוסף, והטעם זכר דבריו והביאו אל ביתו, ושמהו בבור והוא המשמר וזאת דעת המדקדק הגדול ולפי דעתי שבית הסהר היה בבית שר הטבחים, ושם היה יוסף והעד מקום אשר יוסף אסור שם, וצוה שר הטבחים להיות יוסף אתם לשרת אותם, כי מעלה גדולה היתה להם בבית פרעה, כי שרים היו:

1AND THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD CHARGED. When these two officers were put in a ward in the house of the captain of the guard, the latter remembered (pakad)³ (charged) is translated as remembered. Thus according to this interpretation, And the captain of the guard charged (va-yifkod) Joseph is to be rendered: And the captain of the guard remembered (va-yifkod) Joseph. Joseph; i.e., he recalled his abilities⁴. and brought him to his house⁵ and placed him in a dungeon⁶ which is the ward spoken of in our verse. The latter is the opinion of the great grammarian.⁷ However, I believe that the prison was in the house of the captain of the guard and Joseph was there to begin with. Proof of this is Scripture’s explicit statement, And he put them…into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. What our verse relates is that the captain of the guard commanded (charged)⁸ as charged. Joseph to be with the butler and baker and serve them because they had high status in Pharaoh’s palace insomuch as they were officers of the king.

אויחלמו. כטעם איש כפתרון חלומו כי ראה כל אחד בחלומו מהו פתרון חלומו לעתיד, ומה שאירע לו:

1AND THEY DREAMED. The meaning⁹ rather than ke-ta’am (Filwarg, Krinsky). The aforementioned is borne out by Vat. Ebr. 38 which reads, ve-ta’am. of each man according to the interpretation of his dream is that each one of them saw in his dream details that could be interpreted to foretell what would happen in the future.¹⁰. 38). Our printed texts read, “Each one saw the interpretation of the dream and what happened to him” The problem with this reading is, if they saw the interpretation of their dream in their nocturnal vision why, then, did they turn to Joseph for its interpretation? Hence we have translated according to Vat. Ebr. 38.

אזועפים. מתרעשים כטעם "ויעמד הים מזעפו" (יונה א טו):

1SAD. Zo’afim (sad) means agitated, as is the meaning of the word zapo (its rage) in and the sea ceased from its raging (mi-zapo) (Jon. 1:15).¹¹

בויבא אליהם. יתכן שבלילה היה לן בבור:

2AND JOSEPH CAME IN UNTO THEM. It is possible that Joseph used to sleep in the dungeon at night.¹²

אוטעם הלא לאלחהים פתרונים. כי פתרון החלומות לשם הוא כי הוא יודע העתיד, והראה בחלום מה יהיה למי שירצה ואם אני אפתור אותו לטוב או לרע, לא יועיל ולא יזיק, ואחר שהדבר כן, ולשם פתרון כל החלומות אל תחושו שתספרו חלומותיכם לי, וכל החלומות הולכים אחר הפה דברי יחיד הם:

1[DO NOT INTERPRETATIONS BELONG TO GOD.] Its meaning is that the interpretations of dreams belong to the Lord because He knows the future. He has revealed what is going to come to pass in a dream to one whom He selected and it therefore makes no difference whether I interpret the dream for good or ill. Since this is so, and all interpretations belong to God, do not be concerned about telling me your dreams.¹³ The Rabbinic statement that all dreams follow the interpretation is the opinion of an individual sage.¹⁴ 55b. According to the latter a dream’s meaning depends on its interpretation. This contradicts I.E. Hence, I.E. says that Rabbi Elazar’s opinion is not binding.

אעלתה נצה. כמו "הנצו הרמונים" (ש"ה ז יג):

1ITS BLOSSOMS SHOT FORTH. Nitzah (its blossoms) is the same as henetzu (be in flower) in And the pomegranates be in flower (hanetzu) (Cant. 7:13).

בהבשילו אשכלותיה. הפך הבוסר, וכמוהו כי בשל קציר (יואל ד יג), ואם הם שני בנינים:

2AND THE CLUSTERS THEREOF BROUGHT FORTH RIPE GRAPES. Hivshilu (brought forth ripe) is the oppposite of boser (sour grapes).¹⁵ Bashal (is ripe) in For the harvest is ripe (bashal) (Joel 4:13) is similar. The two words are similar even though hivshilu in our verse and bashal belong to different conjugational paradigms.¹⁶ is in the hifil, bashal is in the kal. Both mean ripened.

אואשחט אותם. כמו שוחטי הילדים (ישעי' נז ה) ולא כאשר פי' הגאון:

1AND PRESSED THEM. Va-eschat (pressed) is similar to shochate (slay) in That slay (shochate) the children in the valleys (Is. 57:5). Saadiah Gaon’s interpretation of va-eschat is wrong.¹⁷ does not mean to press or squeeze as Saadiah Gaon says (this interpretation is accepted by J.P.S. and all others) since the word is not found elsewhere in the Bible. The word sachat, meaning to squeeze, is found in Rabbinic literature, but there it is spelled with a samakh and not with a sin. I.E. notes that the word shachat spelled with a shin or sachat spelled with a sin as in our verse means the same, to cut, hence to slay by cutting the throat. Thus our verse should be rendered: And I cut the grape so that its juice ran. It is also possible that in I.E.’s copy of Isaiah shochate was spelled with a sin, i.e., he read sochate, and what I.E. is doing is noting that va-eschat is like sochate. For additional interpretations see Cherez and Weiser.

אפתרונו. פירושו, ולא מצאנו מלת פתרון כי אם עם החלום,

1THE INTERPRETATION OF IT. Pitrono (the interpretation of it) means its explanation. The term pitrono is not found in Scripture except in reference to a dream.¹⁸

ביש שואלים מאין ידע יוסף כי שלשה שריגים הם ימים ולא חדשים או שנים, ויתכן יום הולדת את פרעה כמו היום שנולד בו, כי הנה היום יש מלכים שיעשו משתה ביום תקופת שנתם ויקראו לכל עבדיהם ויתנו להם מתנות או יתכן שהגבירה היתה הרה, והראשון קרוב אלי:

2Some ask, how did Joseph know that the three branches refer to three days and not to three months or three years? Because yom hulledet et paroh (v. 20)¹⁹. possibly means the day on which Pharaoh was born.²⁰ For today there are kings who make a party on their birthday and invite their servants and distribute gifts to them. It is also possible that the queen was pregnant.²¹ means the day that a child was born to Pharaoh. It was known that the queen was in her ninth month and Joseph reasoned that the “three branches” referred to the days left till she delivered. The first interpretation appeals to me.

אישא פרעה את ראשך. ירים, הנכון שהוא בדרך מספר, והעד "וישא את ראש שר המשקים, ואת ראש שר האופים בתוך עבדיו" (בראשית מ כ) ובפ' כי תשא אפרש זה:

1SHALL PHARAOH LIFT UP THY HEAD. Yissa means shall lift up.²² In its correct sense, yissa means to lift up by counting. ²³ Proof of this is Scripture stating, and he lifted up (va-yissa) the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants (v. 20).²⁴ must mean and he counted because Pharaoh did not exalt the chief baker. I will explain this term in my comments on the Torah portion Ki Tissa (Ex. 30:12).²⁵

בכנך. משמרתך הראשונה, ומכונתך ומתכונתך, ויתכן להיותו מן גזרת כן, וכמוהו "ועמד על כנו" (דניאל יא כ):

2THINE OFFICE. Kannekha means thy previous station, thy place,²⁶. Compare, mekhunatah in Zech. 5:11. thy state.²⁷. Compare, matkunto in II Chron. 24:13. I.E. is saying is that kannekha (thine office) is similar to mekhunatah and matkunto. However, I.E. changes the pronominal suffixes. Kannekha most likely comes from the same root as ken (a base, a pedestal) (I Kings 7:29). The word kanno (in his place) in Then shall stand up in his place (kanno) (Dan. 11:20) is analogous.

אמארץ העברים. אפרשנו בפסוק כי תקנה עבד עברי (שמות כא ב), ואחר כל חלום במקרא מלת הנה טעמה כאילו:

1OUT OF THE LAND OF THE HEBREWS. I will explain this in my comments on If thou buy a Hebrew servant (Ex. 21:2). When the term hinneh (behold) is found in Scripture following a dream, its meaning is as it were.²⁸ (behold) applies to something real. However, when used to describe what one saw in a dream it means: as it were, as if. Cf. Gen. 28:12; 37:7-10; 41:2-6, 18-23.

אסלי חורי. אמר הגאון שהוא לחם לבן כמו,"חורי יהודה" (נחמי' ו יז):

1THREE BASKETS OF WHITE BREAD. Saadiah Gaon says that chori means white bread, as in the nobles (chore)²⁹ (literally, the white ones) because they are metaphorically speaking as the color white which resembles light.” of Judah (Neh. 6:17).

אבעוד. בטרם עוד וטעמו לא יעבור עוד כך זמן עד שיהיה זה:

1WITHIN YET. Be’od (within yet) is to be translated before again.³⁰ means again. The bet prefixed to it means before. Thus be’od means before again (within yet), and the meaning of be’od sheloshet yamim (within yet three days) is before three days again pass. I.E. makes this point because Onkelos translates be’od, after yet. Thus Onkelos renders be’od sheloshet yamim at the end of three days. Its meaning is: such a time³¹ will not again pass without this happening.

בישא פרעה את ראשך מעליך. ישאנו ממקומו, וטעמו יסירנו או ירימנו על עץ:

2SHALL PHARAOH LIFT UP THY HEAD FROM OFF THEE. He will lift it up from its place. It means he will remove it or raise it up on a pole.³² may mean to remove or to raise up (Cherez).

אהלדת. שם הפועל מהבנין שלא נזכר שם פועלו:

1BIRTHDAY. Hulledet (birth) is an infinitive in the hofal.

אעל משקהו. שם, כי "אשר היית משקהו" (בראשית מ יג) פועל:

1UNTO HIS BUTLERSHIP. Mashkehu (his butlership) here is a noun.³³ means his drink. The meaning of our verse is: And he restored the chief butler back to being in charge of his drink. In verse 13 it means, gives him to drink. However, mashkehu in when thou wast his butler (mashkehu) (v. 13) is a verb.

אולא זכר שר המשקים. לא הזכירו בפה אל פרעה, וכן "ומשא ד' לא תזכרו עוד" (ירמי' כג לו) "זכר את ושתי" (אסתר ב א):

1YET DID NOT THE CHIEF BUTLER REMEMBER JOSEPH. He did not verbally mention him to Pharaoh.³⁴ (usually translated remembered) here means mentioned, as in make mention of me (ve-hizkartani) unto Pharaoh (v. 14). The words tizkeru (shall ye mention) and zakhar (he remembered), in And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention (tizkeru)³⁵ no more (Jer. 23:36) and he remembered (zakhar) Vashti (Est. 2:1), are similar.

בוישכחהו. בלב

2BUT FORGOT HIM. In his heart.³⁶