Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 41:43/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״א:מ״ג
אהמשנה. מגזרת שנים, כי המלך כאחד, ואחריו המשנה כמו שני לו ואחריו השלש כמו שלישי:
1THE SECOND. Mishneh (the second) comes from the same root as shenayim (two). The king is like the numeral one, next comes the mishneh which means second to him, and afterward the shalish (adjutant) which means the same as shilishi (third).68 means second in rank and shalish third in rank (Netter). Mishneh can be taken to refer to the chariot, as Rashi interprets. Hence I.E. points out that mirkevet ha-mishneh (the second chariot) is to be rendered: the chariot of the second in rank (Cherez).
במרכבת. עץ נתונה על ארבעה סוסים, ומרכבת שלמה לעדה:
2CHARIOT. A wooden chariot pulled by four horses,69 (chariot) to mean a horse or mule. Cf. Rashi. as is evidenced by the chariot of Solomon.70 (merkavah) came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Now four times 150 gives 600. Hence each chariot had four horses.
גאברך. כל אדם קורא לפניו אכרע ואשתחוה, זו המלה מבנין הכבד הנוסף, ויברך על ברכיו (דה"ב, ו, יג) מהקל וכלם מגזרת ברכים, ויאמר ר' יונה המדקדק הספרדי כי אברך שם הפועל, והאל"ף תחת ה"א כמו אשכם ושלוח (ירמי' כה ד) ולפי דעתי שאל"ף אשכם לשון המדבר:
3ABRECH. Every man called before him, I will bend the knee (avrekh)71 is a first person singular. However, the verb preceding it, va-yikre’u (and they cried), is a plural. Thus rather than avrekh we would expect navrekh, hence I.E.’s comment. and I will bow down. The word avrekh is a hifil. However, the word va-yivrakh in and kneeled down (va-yivrakh) upon his knees (II Chron. 6:13) is a kal. Both words come from the same root, birkayim (knees).72. Rabbi Jonah, the Spanish grammarian,73 said that avrekh is an infinitive, with an alef taking the place of the heh,74 is a variant of havrekh. This answers the question raised in note 70. According to this comment avrech is not a first person singular but rather an infinitive. The verse thus reads: and they cried before him, bend the knee (havrekh). This is also the opinion of Kimchi. as we find in the word ashkem in sending them betimes (ashkem) and often (Jer. 25:4).75 is to be interpreted as if written hashkem. I.E. quotes Jer. 25:4, sending them betimes and often. However, in this verse the word for betimes is written hashkem with a heh. The reference therefore must be to Jer. 25:3 (speaking betimes and often) where the word for betimes is written ashkem with an alef. Either we have a scribal error or I.E. quoted from memory and erred. However, I believe that the alef of ashkem is a first person future prefix.76 has not been substituted for an alef, its meaning being: I arose and spoke (Krinsky). Hence we cannot use Jer. 25:3 as an analogy for a heh being substituted for an alef.