Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 42:37/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״ב:ל״ז

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).