Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 7:21/אבן עזרא על בראשית ז׳:כ״א

אופי' ויגוע וכבר גוע ורבים בתורה כמוהו כמו ואתחנן (דבר' ג כג) וכן "וימטר עליהם מן" (תהלים עח כד) על פי' האמת

1[AND ALL FLESH PERISHED.] The meaning of And all flesh perished is: and all flesh had perished.²¹ There are many such instances in Scripture, such as And I besought the Lord (Deut. 3:23), and the true meaning of And He caused manna to rain upon them for food (Ps. 78:24).²² (and he caused to rain) does not appear to be a pluperfect, it is, (and he had caused to rain). Similarly va-etchannan is to be read: and I had besought it.

בומלת ויגוע מיתה ובפסוק "ויגוע וימת" (בראשית כה ה) אבאר לך זה, והנה ברור לך שמלת רמש כלל לעוף ולבהמה ולחיה ולשרץ שהוא דק ולאדם ויתכן להיות כל אשר נשמת רוח חיים באפיו שב אל האדם כי לא מצאנו נשמה הוץ מנשמת האדם ורבים אמרו שנקראת כן בעבור שהיא מן השמים, ואם הם שני שרשים ימצא כמוהו:

2[PERISHED.] Va-yigva (perished) means died. I will explain the exact meaning of this term when I comment on And Abraham expired (va-yigva), and died (Gen. 25:8). It is clear²³ is a general term. The verse then goes on to enumerate exactly what ha-romes includes. that remes (creeping thing) is a general term that includes fowl, cattle, animals, small thin swarming things and man. It is possible that all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life (v. 22) refers to every man (v. 21),²⁴, i.e., those who had a neshamat ru’ach chayyim. According to Cherez, this interpretation postulates that remes does not include man. as we do not find the expression neshamah (breath)²⁵ is the term for soul. used in reference to any creature except man. Many say that the soul is termed neshamah because it comes from the heaven (shamayim). The fact that shamayim and neshamah have differing roots does not refute the latter interpretation because there are other similar instances.²⁶ comes from the root nun, shin, mem. Shamayim comes from the root shin, mem, mem (Weiser).