Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 42/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״ב

אוירא יעקב. בעבור היות ההרגשות נחברות במקום אחר יחליפו זו בזו, כמו, ראה ריח בני" (בראשית כז כז) "ומתוק האור" (קהלת יא ז), וכן וירא יעקב, כי אחריו כתיב "הנה שמעתי" (פ' ב):

1NOW JACOB SAW. Scripture interchanges¹ the way the senses² are referred to because they are all perceived in one central place.³ Thus Scripture says, See the smell of my son (Gen. 27:27);⁴ and And the light is sweet (Eccles. 11:7).⁵ Now Jacob saw is similar,⁶ for afterward Scripture states, Behold I have heard that there is corn in Egypt (v. 2).

בלמה תתראו. שיש לכם הון, או אל תהיו מריבים זה עם זה כמו נתראה פנים (דה"ב, כה, יז):

2WHY DO YOU LOOK ONE UPON ANOTHER. Lammah titra’u (why do you look one upon another) means, don’t show yourselves as having an abundance of food.⁷ Or it may mean, do not quarrel with each other, as in Come, let us look one another (nitra’eh) in the face (II Chron. 25:17).⁸ in II Chron. 25:17 as fight. Thus the root resh, alef, heh which usually means to see, at times also means to fight or quarrel. Hence titra’u is similar to nitra’eh, i.e., it means to quarrel.

אושברו. וקנו לנו שבר:

1AND BUY FOR US. Ve-shivru lanu means, and buy corn for us.⁹ means to buy grain. He points this out because in Gen. 41:56 it means to sell grain.

אאסון. מות:

1HARM. Death.

אהמשביר. מגזרת שבר וטעמו מוכר, והוא פועל יוצא לשני פעולים:

1THAT SOLD. Ha-mashbir (that sold) comes from the same root as shever (corn). It means the seller. It is a causative verb.¹⁰. He caused the wheat to be sold (Weiser).

אויתנכר. מגזרת נכרי, הראה שהוא נכרי:

1BUT MADE HIMSELF STRANGE UNTO THEM. Va-yitnakker (but made himself strange) comes from the same root as nokhri (stranger). Its meaning is, he showed himself to be a stranger.

בקשות. שם התואר והטעם מלות קשות, וכן יענה עזות (משלי יח כג):

2ROUGHLY. Kashot (roughly) is an adjective. Its meaning is rough words.¹¹) is short for rough words (Weiser). The Hebrew literally reads: and spoke rough (kashot) with them. Answereth impudent (Prov. 18:23) is similar.¹²

גויכירם. בתחילה הכיר שהם אחיו ואחר כך הסתכל בכל אחד והכירו וזהו ויכר יוסף את אחיו:

3AND HE KNEW THEM. When Joseph first saw the group he recognized them as his brothers. ¹³. He then looked at each one of them and recognized them individually. The latter is the meaning of And Joseph knew his brethren (v. 8).¹⁴. Verse 8 states, And Joseph knew his brethren. I.E. interprets our verse as referring to the brothers as a group and verse 8 to each individual brother.

אערות הארץ. בעבור היות המנהג להסתיר הערוה שהיא דבר מגונה, על כן אמר דרך משל, או בעבור היות הערוה נסתרת, כך אתם באים לראות סוד הארץ, והוא הנכון בעיני:

1THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. Nakedness is a figure of speech for shame, since it is customary to hide one’s nakedness because of its unseemliness.¹⁵ Or nakedness refers to secrets, since one’s nakedness is covered. Joseph thus said to them, “You have come to learn the secrets of the land.” I prefer the latter interpretation.

אנחנו. בלא אלף והוא האמת:

1WE. Nachnu (we) is spelled without an alef. This is the correct form of the word.¹⁶ is primary, anachnu secondary, as the alef of anachnu is superfluous (Filwarg, Weiser, Cherez). Cf. I.E. on Lam. 3:42.

בכנים. נאמנים, ויתכן להיותו מגזרת "כן תעשה כאשר דברת" (בראשית יח ה) או מגזרת "כן בנות צלפחד" (במדבר כו ו), כמו האמת:

2UPRIGHT. Kenim means truthful. It is possible that kenim comes from the same root as ken (so) in So (ken) do, as thou hast said (Gen. 18:5).¹⁷ (we are upright men) is we are so, we are as we appear, that is, people who came to buy grain. Or kenim comes from the same root¹⁸ as ken (truth) in The daughters of Zelophehad speak right (ken) (Num. 27:7).¹⁹ means, we are truthful men.

אהאסרו. תאסרו, כמו ומות בהר (דבר' לב נ):

1AND YE SHALL BE BOUND. He’aseru²⁰ is an imperative meaning bind yourselves. Now one cannot bind oneself, that is, put oneself in prison (Krinsky). Also, Simeon was bound, he did not bind himself (Filwarg). Hence I.E. points out that even though he’aseru is an imperative, here it has the meaning of an imperfect. should be rendered: ye shall be bound. It is similar to u-mot (and die) in and die in the mount (Deut. 32:50).²¹ is an imperative, but it has the meaning of an imperfect; i.e., it means you will die. See I.E.’s comments on Gen. 1:22.

ארעבון בתיכם. צורך בעבור הרעב, וטעמו הביאו אל בתיכם:

1FAMINE OF YOUR HOUSES. Needed because of the famine of your houses.²² (com famine). This makes no sense, so I.E. interprets, com because of the famine. The meaning of havi’u shever ra’avon batekhem (carry corn for the famine of your houses) is, carry to your houses the corn needed because of the famine.²³ (carry com famine your houses). I.E. says that havi’u (carry) is to be connected to batekhem (your houses). Thus the meaning of the clause is: carry to your houses the com needed because of the famine (Krinsky, Cherez).

אאבל. כמו "אבל שרה אשתך" (בראשית יז יט) כמו אכן (בראשית כח טז):

1VERILY. Aval (verily) has the same meaning as aval in Verily (aval) Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son (Gen. 17:19). It means verily (Gen. 28:16).²⁴ also means but, however. Hence I.E. points out that here it means verily.

אהמליץ. מבאר מגזרת מליצה,

1THE INTERPRETER. Ha-melitz means the interpreter. It is related to melitzah (figure of speech) (Prov. 1:6).

בולקח שמעון, כי כאשר יחטאו רבים הגדול שבהם בשנים יענש יותר ועזב ראובן כי הוא הצילו),

2Joseph imprisoned Simeon because when many sin, the oldest is punished more severely than the others. He did not punish Reuben because he (Reuben) saved him.²⁵

אויאמר ר' משה הכהן כי כסף וזהב לא ימצאו בלשון רבים והנה שכח "כספיהם" (בראשית מב כה):

1Rabbi Moses Ha-Kohen says that the words zahav (gold) and kesef (silver) are never encountered in the plural.²⁶ 42a; Shemot Rabbah 35. However, he forgot that Scripture employs the term kaspehem (money) (v. 25).²⁷ (Filwarg).

אוישאו את שברם. אשר קנו:

1[AND THEY LADED THEIR ASSES WITH THEIR CORN.] Which they had bought.

אויפתח האחד. האחד מהן. ויתכן להיות ראובן כי הוא הבבור, כמו אחד בחשבון:

1AND AS ONE OF THEM OPENED. Va-yiftach ha-echad means, and one of them opened. The reference is possibly to Reuben, as he was the first born. In this case ha-echad (one of them) means the first in number.²⁸) has the definite article prefixed to it. Thus it means the number one or the first one, that is, the eldest. If Scripture had meant one of them, it would have read echad.

אואת רעבון בתיכם. צורך:

1THE FAMINE OF YOUR HOUSES. Needed for the famine that is in your houses.²⁹

אכלנה. כל הצרות האלה:

1ALL THESE THINGS. AU these troubles.

אוי"א כי פי' תמית תעניש, ואחרים אמרו שזאת תפלה לנגד השם וכלל הדבר אילו היה מדבר נכונה, לא היה יעקב מחריש:

1[THOU SHALT SLAY.] Some say that thou shalt slay means thou shalt punish.³⁰ is hyperbolic. Reuben did not expect Jacob to kill his grandchildren. Others say that this was a prayer to God.³¹ to God, as if to say, Lord strike my sons dead if I bring not him to thee (to Jacob). This interpretation, too, seeks to get around the problem of Reuben telling his father to kill his grandchildren if he fails to return Benjamin safely. The sum of the matter is this, if Reuben would have spoken correctly Jacob would not have ignored him.³² (Krinsky).