Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 49:19/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״ט:י״ט
אגד. התנבא שיבא עליו גדוד, והוא ינצחנו באחרונה:
1GAD. Jacob prophesied that a troop (an army) would attack Gad but that he would ultimately be victorious.123, heel meaning in the end. Cf. I.E.’s comments on Gen. 3:15.
ביגודנו. כמו לעם יגודנו (חבקוק נ טז), גם יגוד מפעלי הכפל והשורק תחת הולם כמו יָרוּן וְשָמַח (משלי כט ו) ואנחנו לא נדע היום כל התלאות העוברות על אבותינו:
2SHALL TROOP UPON HIM. Yegudennu (shall troop upon him) is similar to yegudennu (he invadeth) in the people that he invadeth (yegudennu) (Hab. 3:16).124 (Gad, a troop shall troop upon him) means, Gad, a troop shall invade or attack him. Yagud (he shall troop), like gedud (a troop), comes from the root gimel, dalet, dalet.125 (a troop), yegudennu (shall troop upon him) and yagud (he shall troop) all come from the same double root, gimel, dalet, dalet. That gedud comes from this root is obvious. That yagud and yegudennu (yagud plus the suffix nu) come from this root is not as apparent. Double root letters are vocalized with a cholam and ayin vav roots with a shuruk in the kal imperfect. It thus appears that yagud and yegudennu come from the root gimel, vav, dalet, hence I.E.’s comment. It is vocalized with a shuruk in place of a cholam like the word yarun (doth sing) in But the righteous doth sing (yarun) and rejoice (Prov. 29:6).126 comes from the root resh, nun, nun, so it should have been vocalized yaron. We thus see that at times a double root is vocalized as an ayin vav (Cherez). We do not know exactly to what incident Jacob was referring because we don’t know all the tribulations that our ancestors endured.127