Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 48:22/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״ח:כ״ב

אשכם אחד. יש אומרים כי על עיר שכם רמז, כי גם היא היתה לבני יוסף,

1ONE PORTION. Some say that shekhem (portion) alludes to the city of Shechem which was in the portion of the land allotted to Joseph.

בוטעם בחרבי ובקשתי על השם כאשר אמר דוד "מגיני וקרן ישעי" (תהלים יח, ג, ש"ב כב ג), והנכון בעיני שפי' שכם אחד חלק אחד, והוא ממשפחת "על שכמם" (שמות יב, לד) "ולעבדו שכם אחד" (צפניה ג, ט),

2With my sword and with my bow refers to God, as in David’s statement, The lord is my rock…My shield and my horn of salvation (Ps. 18:3; II Sam. 22:3).³³ However, I believe that shekhem means a portion and shekhem echad is to be rendered one portion. The word shekhem is related to the words shikhmam (their shoulders) and shekhem (shoulder) in, upon their shoulders (shichmam) (Ex. 12:34), and To serve Him with one consent (shekhem echad) (Zeph. 3:9).³⁴ (shoulder) because the shoulder is a part of the body (Filwarg).

געל אחיך, נוסף על אחיך,

3ABOVE THY BRETHREN. More than thy brethren.³⁵

דוטעם אשר לקחתי אשר יקחו ישראל בחרבם ובקשתם, והזכיר האמורי בעבור שאין בשבעה גוים חזק כמוהו הלא תראה אחר שנהרגו שני מלכי האמורי הגדולים אמר יהושע "לתת אותנו ביד האמורי" (יהושע ז ז), ואל תתמה על מלת לקחתי, כי לאחר שהשם נתנה בפה לאברהם, הם יחשבו שהוא שלהם, וכן נאמר ליעקב "לך אתננה ולזרעך" (בראשית יג טו):

4[WHICH I TOOK.] Its meaning is: which the Israelites will take with their sword and with their bow.³⁶ (took), a perfect, is to be understood as an imperfect, viz., will take. I.E. later explains why Jacob used a perfect. Jacob singled out the Amorites because there were none among the seven Canaanite nations equal in strength to them. Observe, after the two mighty Amorite kings were slain³⁷ Joshua said (Josh. 7:7), Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over the Jordan,³⁸ to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites,³⁹ to cause us to perish? Jacob’s statement, Which I took, presents no problems⁴⁰ (took)? because the Patriarchs considered the land as theirs from the moment that God verbally gave it to Abraham.⁴¹ God similarly gave it to Jacob, as we read, The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed (Gen. 28:13).