Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 9/אבן עזרא על בראשית ט׳

אוחתכם. מפעלי הכפל מגזרת "תראו חתת" (איוב ו כא) כמו חתתכם:

1AND THE DREAD OF YOU. The root of ve-chittechem (and the dread of you) is chet, tav, tav. It comes from the same root as chatat (terror) in Ye, see a terror (chatat) (Job 6:21). Chittechem is synonymous with chatattekhem.¹ (terror or dread) with the pronominal suffix would read chatattekhem (your dread). In chittekhem a tav is missing; in chatattechem the whole root is present.

בבכל אשר תרמש האדמה. הטעם על האדמה או תהיה האדמה פועלת:

2AND UPON ALL WHEREWITH THE GROUND TEEMETH. It means everything which creeps upon the ground.² as tirmos al ha’adamah. Or, ha’adamah (the ground) is the subject.³ means, upon all creeping things which the ground will bring forth (Weiser). In the former, ground (adamah) is the object, in the latter the subject. According to the second interpretation, tirmos means will give birth to creeping things.

גבידכם נתנו. כי בידכם

3INTO YOUR HAND ARE THEY DELIVERED. This is to be read as if written, “because” into your hand are they delivered.

דוי"א כי בי"ת בְכֹל ובְכָל מקום ווי"ן, והקרוב שהוא דבק עם מוראכם:

4[AND UPON ALL.] Some say that the bet of be-khol (and upon all) and of u-ve-khol (and upon all) are in place of a vav.⁴, and u-ve-khol should be read as if written ve-khol (and all). According to this interpretation the second half of our verse is an independent clause stating: and all wherewith the ground teemeth and all the fish of the sea; into your hand are delivered. According to this interpretation we do not have to add the word “because” before into your hand are they delivered. However, it should be noted that this comment is difficult. U-ve-khol has a vav. Weiser suggests interpreting I.E.: and the bet of u-ve-khol is superfluous. Cf. Weiser and Cherez. However, it is more likely that this clause is connected to And the fear of you.⁵ has the meaning of on; be-khol thus means upon all rather than and all as in the former interpretation. The same is true for u-ve-khol (Weiser). According to this explanation the second half of the verse is a continuation of the first half. The entire verse should be read as follows: And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth… and upon all (be-khol) wherewith the ground teemeth, and upon all (u-ve-khol) the fish of the sea; because into your hand are they delivered. According to this interpretation “because” has to be added to the text (Cherez).

אכל רמש. שם כלל לחית השדה ולבהמות הישוב ולכל עוף ולכל דג, והנה הכל מותר לאכילה,

1EVERY MOVING THING. Remes (moving thing) is a general term for wild and domesticated animals and for all fowl and fish. Man was now permitted to kill and eat them all.

בכיֶרֶק על שני משקלים וכן "תנור עָשָן" (בראשית טו יז) כעֶשֶן הכבשן (שמות יט יח):

2AS THE GREEN HERB. Yerek (green) can be vocalized in two ways.⁶ (yerek) or two kematzim. The point is that green and smoke can follow either of two paradigms, pe’el (two segolim) or pa’al (two kematzim). The same is true with smoke. We thus find, behold a smoking (ashan)⁷ (ashan). furnace (Gen. 15:17), and as the smoke (ke-eshen)⁸ (eshen). of a furnace (Ex. 19:18).

אאך בשר בנפשו דמו. כן טעמו אך בשר עם נפשו שהוא דמו לא תאכלו, כטעם לא תאכל הנפש עם הבשר (דבר' יב כג) כי נפש כל בשר דמו כנפשו הוא וזאת הנפש המתנועעת והמרגשת היא הגוף:

1ONLY FLESH WITH THE LIFE THEREOF, WHICH IS THE BLOOD THEREOF, SHALL YE NOT EAT. The meaning of this verse is that you shall not eat flesh with its life (nefesh), which is its blood, as in and thou shalt not eat the life (nefesh, i.e., the blood) with the flesh (Deut. 12:23), and For as to the life (nefesh) of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life (nefesh) thereof (Lev. 17:14). The nefesh (life) which moves and feels is the body.⁹ does not here refer to soul; it means body. However, by extension it also refers to the blood which gives life to the body. Krinsky has an alternate reading: the nefesh spoken of here refers to that which moves and feels within the body, i.e., the blood. According to Cherez, I.E. uses the term body for the blood.

אואך את דמכם. פירושו התרתי לכם לשפוך דם כל חי זולתי דמכם של נפשותיכם שאתם אדם לא התרתי רק אדרשנו כטעם דורש דמים וזה כלל, ואחר כן ביאר ומיד האדם, אם יהרגו רבים את יחיד, או יחיד את יחיד אני אדרוש הדם, גם אדרשנו מיד כל חיה שאצוה לאחרת שיהרגנה והנה החיות מותרות לכם ולא אתם להן והמפרש דמכם לנפשותיכם זה ההורג נפשו הוא דחוק בעיני, והוסיף לבאר או היא מצוה לבני נח, והוא הישר להרוג ההורג

1AND SURELY YOUR BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES WILL I REQUIRE. I have permitted you to shed the blood of all living creatures. However, I have prohibited you the spilling of the blood of your lives because you are human. On the contrary, I will avenge that blood (edreshennu), as in For He that avengeth (doresh) blood (Ps. 9:13). Scripture first lays down a general rule, And surely your blood of your lives will I require, and then goes into detail and tells us whom God will punish for taking human life. AND AT THE HAND OF MAN. If many people kill one person or if one man kills another person (even at the hand of every man’s brother), I will avenge that death. I will also punish a beast that kills a man by having another animal kill it.¹⁰. Thus man is permitted to kill animals but animals are prohibited from killing humans. In my opinion it is farfetched to maintain that and surely your blood of your lives refers to suicide.¹¹ 91b. This verse teaches that a person is prohibited from harming himself. See also Rabbi B. Epstein, Torah Temimah on this verse.

אוטעם באדם בעדים או לעיני הכל או בעבור האדם שנשפך דמו וכמוהו רבים:

1[WHOSO SHEDDETH MAN’S BLOOD, BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED.] This is a further elaboration.¹². God will see to it that the murderers will somehow be killed by another person (Filwarg). It may also be taken, and this appears most likely, as a command to the sons of Noah to execute murderers. The term ba-adam (by man) can be interpreted in one of three ways: in front of witnesses;¹³ meaning in front of; ba-adam, in front of people, i.e. witnesses or in public. The verse thus reads, Whoso sheddeth man’s blood before witnesses (or before many people), his blood shall be shed. in front of people; or because a man was killed. There are many other such instances.¹⁴ to mean because (Krinsky). The verse thus reads, Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, because he killed a man, his blood shall be shed.

אויאמר אלהים אל נח ואל בניו. על ידי אביהם וי"א שארבעתם נביאים:

1AND GOD SPOKE UNTO NOAH, AND TO HIS SONS. God spoke to Noah’s sons through Noah. It is also possible that they were all prophets and God addressed all four of them.

אואת זרעכם. עם, ואתכם השלישי שהיו אתכם או נכפל לתוספות ביאור והברית שאקים היא שלא יכרת כל בשר:

1AND WITH YOUR SEED. Ve-et zarakhem is to be rendered: and with your seed.¹⁵ here has the meaning of im (with). The third with you (v. 10) is to be interpreted as meaning: that were with you.¹⁶ (with your) appears three times in verses 9 and 10. The third with you, i.e., and every beast of the earth with you, appears redundant because it follows and with every living creature that is with you, the fowl, the cattle. Hence I.E. interprets the former to mean that were with you in the Ark. It is also possible that with you is repeated for additional explanation.¹⁷ The covenant spoken of is that all flesh not be cut off anymore by the waters of the flood (v. 11).¹⁸, etc. Hence it appears that a covenant was made and then God promised neither shall, etc. I.E. points out that neither shall opens the covenant (Krinsky).

אומלת בשר גוף. כי הוא מרגיש, כי העצם לא ירגיש והנה הברית שלא יכרת גוף במימי מבול ויתכן שימלטם אם יבוא מבול הכניס בברית שלא יהיה עוד מבול ועל זאת הברית נאמר "אשר נשבעתי מעבור מי נח" (ישעי' נד, ט):

1[NEITHER SHALL ALL FLESH BE CUT OFF.] Flesh refers to the body. The body is so designated because flesh senses and the bones do not. The covenant is a promise that all bodies will never again be destroyed by a flood. God included in His covenant a pledge not to bring a comparable deluge ever again because the first part of His promise, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, may be taken to imply that there will be other floods but that God will save humanity. It is concerning this covenant that the prophet says, For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah Should no more go over the earth (Is. 54:9).

אאות. זכר ונקבה:

1THE TOKEN. Ot (token) may be either masculine or feminine.¹⁹

אאת קשתי. הנה נתתי עתה קשת בענן ואין פירושו כאשר אמר הגאון כי בתחלה היתה:

1MY BOW. Behold, I now set a bow in the clouds. Saadiah Gaon’s interpretation that the rainbow was previously in existence is incorrect.²⁰ (I have set) is employed, hence Saadiah’s interpretation.

אבענני ענן. קל הנון הראשון והיה ראוי להדגש בעבור שהוא מהבנין הכבד כמו בדברי אתך,

1WHEN I BRING CLOUDS OVER THE EARTH. The nun of be-aneni (when I bring clouds) does not have a dagesh even though it is a pi’el and therefore should have a dagesh in the middle radical of the root, as in when I speak (be-dabberi) with thee (Ex. 19:9).²¹ of dabberi has a dagesh. I.E. reads, be-dabberi ittakh. However, Ex. 19:9 reads, be-dabberi immakh. According to Vat. Ebr. 38 the reference is to Ezek. 3:27. However, here, too, the quote is not exact. If not a scribal error, it shows that I.E. quoted verses from memory.

בונראתה הקשת אלו היינו מאמינים בדברי חכמי יון שמלהט השמש תולד הקשת יש לומר כי השם חזק אור השמש אחד המבול והיא דרך נכונה למבין,

2AND THE BOW IS SEEN IN THE CLOUDS. If we would believe what the Greek scholars tell us, that the rainbow is produced by the sun’s flames, then we must assume that after the flood God strengthened the sun’s light.²² This is the way that a person who understands the sciences will interpret this verse.

אמלת יהיה, עם המים איננה ראיה כי המים לשון יחיד וכן ויהי אנשים (במדבר ט ו)

1[AND THE WATERS SHALL NO MORE BECOME.] The use of the singular yiheyeh (shall become) with mayim (waters) does not prove that mayim is singular.²³ We find the same word used with a plural in But there were (va-yehi)²⁴ is singular. certain men (Num. 9:6).

אוטעם והיתה הקשת בענן שהיא לעולם שם בסתר, והשם רואה אותה:

1[AND THE BOW SHALL BE IN THE CLOUD.] The bow is always hidden in the cloud and there seen by God.²⁵

אויאמר אלהים אל נח. זאת הברית שאמרתי לך וזו השבועה שהקימותי:

1AND GOD SAID UNTO NOAH. This is the covenant that I disclosed to you and this is the oath which I have established.²⁶ does not refer to sign because a sign is not established. It is made. Hence he interprets established as referring to an oath not to bring a flood (Meijler).

אוחם הוא אבי כנען., ללמד ששניהם רעים וכמעשה אבות יעשו בנים והזכיר כנען ולא כוש בעבור שיקלל כנען ונכתבה זאת הפרשה להודיע כי הכנענים מקוללים, וכן בנותיהם מימות נח וכן אמר אברהם "לא תקח אשה לבני מבנות הכנעני" (בראשית כד ג) וכן רבקה "מבנות הת כאלה" (בראשית כז מו) ושמא ישאל שואל מה חטאו בני חת, למה לא פקח עיניו, כי החת והאמורי והאחרים כלם בני כנען הם, על כן יאמר הכתוב "אל ארץ כנען" (יהושע כב לב):

1AND HAM IS THE FATHER OF CANAAN. This teaches that both Ham and Canaan were wicked, and as the father does, so do the children. Canaan and not Cush²⁷ is mentioned in this verse because Canaan was going to be cursed. This chapter²⁸ was written to inform us that all Canaanites, both male and female, bear a curse from the time of Noah. Abraham thus commanded his servant, thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites (Gen. 24:3). Rebecca similarly said, If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth…what good shall my life do me (Gen. 27:46). Should someone ask, what sins were the Hittites guilty of, let him open his eyes; the Hittites and the Amorites and the others are all descendants of Canaan.²⁹ We therefore read, unto the land of Canaan (Josh. 22:32).³⁰

אויחל. מתחלה מפעלי הכפל מהבנין הכבד הנוסף כמו ויסך בדלתים ים (איוב לח ח):

1AND NOAH…BEGAN. Va-yachel (began) is derived from techillah (beginning). It belongs to those roots whose second and third letters are identical.³¹. It is a hifil, similar to va-yasekh (shut up) in Or who shut up³², and it is also in the hifil. (va-yasekh) the sea with doors (Job 38:8).

באיש האדמה. יודע עבודת האדמה והיא חכמה גדולה והדרש שביום שנטעו שתה מיינו, יש לו סוד ואיננו כמשמעו וכן, ותהר האשה ותלד בן (שמות ב ב) לא היה ביום אחד:

2THE HUSBANDMAN. A skilled agriculturalist, agriculture being a great science. The Rabbinic statement that Noah drank from his vineyard on the day he planted it is not to be taken literally.³³ 36:7. There is a secret meaning to it. Similarly and the woman conceived, and bore a son (Ex. 2:2) did not take place on one and the same day.³⁴ did not take place on the same day.

אויתגל. מלשון גלוי, מבנין התפעל וכן ואל יתעל (ירמי' נא ג)

1AND HE WAS UNCOVERED. Va-yitgal (and he was uncovered) comes from the root gimel, lamed, heh, meaning to uncover. It is a hitpa’el. Yital (lift himself up) in And let him lift himself up (yital) (Jer. 51:3)³⁵ and a lamed heh. Its root is ayin, lamed, heh. is similar.

בוה"א אהלה מקום וי"ו וכן "את קול העם ברעה" (שמות לב יז), כי פרעה אהרן (שם שם כה):

2[HIS TENT.] The heh of oholoh (his tent) is in place of a vav.³⁶. The heh of be-re’oh (as they shouted), in the noise of the people as they shouted (be-re’oh) (Ex. 32:17), and the heh of fera’oh (let them loose) in for Aaron had let them loose (fera’oh) (Ex. 32:25), are similar.

אעל שכם שניהם. כל אחד שם קצת השמלה על שכמו ומלת שכם לא תתחבר:

1UPON BOTH THEIR SHOULDERS. Each one placed an edge of the blanket on his shoulders. Shekhem (shoulders) does not come in the plural.³⁷. The plural in the construct would be shikhme. The Bible employs the singular (shekhem) because the word does not appear in the plural.

באחרנית. הפוך הלוך האדם, כי כל תנועתו לפנים:

2BACKWARD. Opposite of the normal way of walking, which is to go forward.

אוייקץ נח., הכתוב לא גילה מה נעשה. והעושה היה כנען וכן היה כי חם ראה ולא כסהו כאשר עשו אחיו רק גלה הדבר ושמע כנען ולא נדע מה עשה,

1AND NOAH AWOKE. Scripture does not reveal what was done to Noah. Be that as it may, Canaan was the culprit. The sequence of events was as follows: Ham saw his father’s nakedness and unlike his brothers did not cover him. On the contrary, he revealed what he saw. Canaan heard that Noah was lying naked in his tent and did something to Noah. However, the Bible does not tell us what he did to him.³⁸. 70a.

בוטעם בנו הקטן לעד כי כן, הוא אומר "ובני חם כוש ומצרים ופוט וכנען" (בראשית יו"ד ו) גם וי"ו בנו שב אל הם הנזכר על כן קלל כנען והאומר שקלל נח את בן בנו בעבור שבירך אלהים את בניו זה דרך דרש:

2The meaning of the verse and (Noah) knew what his youngest son had done unto him is proof³⁹ cannot refer to him. Canaan was a youngest son and the verse can thus apply to him. that Canaan was the culprit, for we read, And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan (Gen. 10:6).⁴⁰ Furthermore, the his in his youngest son refers to Ham, who is previously mentioned.⁴¹ That is why Noah cursed Canaan. The one who says that Ham was the culprit, and that Canaan was cursed because Noah did not want to curse his son (Ham) because God had blessed Noah’s sons, is indulging in Midrash.⁴² 31:11.

אעבד עבדים. טעמו עבד כאחד העבדים ואילו היה עבד העבדים היה עבד לעבדים והעד קדש קדשים (ויקרא ו יח) בקדש הקדשים (שמות כו לג),

1A SERVANT OF SERVANTS. Eved avadim (a servant of servants) means a servant like all other servants.⁴³ means a member of the servant class. If Scripture meant a servant to servants then it would have read eved ha-avadim. Proof of this is: it is most holy (kodesh kodashim) (Lev. 6:18), and In a most holy place (be-kodesh ha-kodashim) (Num. 18:10).⁴⁴ means holy (kodesh) as one of the holy objects (kodashim). When Scripture wants to say most holy it uses the term kodesh ha-kodashim. Similarly had Scripture read eved ha-avadim, it would have meant a servant of (to) servants.

בוטעם לאחיו לכוש ומצרים ופוט שהם בני אביו וי"א כי הכושים הם עבדים בעבור שקלל נח את חם, והנה שכחו, כי המלך הראשון אחר המבול היה מכוש, וכן כתוב "ותהי ראשית ממלכתו בבל" (בראשית יו"ד י):

2[UNTO HIS BRETHREN.] To Cush, Mizraim and Put, the sons of Ham his father. There are some who say that the Cushites are enslaved because Noah cursed Ham. However, they have forgotten that the first king to rule after the flood was a Cushite. Thus it is written, and Cush begot Nimrod…And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (Gen. 10:8-10).⁴⁵

אברוך ד' אלהי שם. חייבין אנו להוסיף תודות לשם שהוא אלהי שם והוא ישים כנען עבד לו ולשם והטעם שיכריחנו לעבוד את שם, כי מלת למו כמו להם והוי"ו נוסף כוי"ו תביאמו (שמות טו יז), לכן בחסרון ה"א ובלא וי"ו לא ימצא והזכיר עם שם, השם הנכבד והנורא בעבור כבוד שם, ואין יפת כמוהו, ואמר הגאון כי תחסר מלת אבי, והיה ראוי להיותו ארור אבי כנען, אמר כי כמוהו "לעיני חנמאל דודי" (ירמי' לב ב) שהוא בן דודו ויתכן שהיה גדול מירמיה בשנים, והיה קורא אותו בשם אביו בעבור כבוד האב וכן אשת אחי האב קראה הכתוב "דודתך" (ויקרא יח יד) וזה אבי כנען איננו כן

1BLESSED BE THE LORD, THE GOD OF SHEM. We are duty-bound to be bountiful in praise of the Lord, who is the God of Shem, for He will make Canaan a servant of God and Shem.⁴⁶ The meaning of our verse is, God will compel Canaan to serve Shem, for lamo (their) has the same meaning as la-hem (to them).⁴⁷). I.E. points out that lamo means to them (la-hem) and refers to God and Shem who are mentioned in the first half of the verse. The vav of lamo is superfluous and is similar to the vav of tevi’emo (Thou bringest them in) (Ex. 15:17).⁴⁸ of tevi’emo is also superfluous. Therefore the term “to them” is not encountered in Scripture, spelled either without a heh or a vav.⁴⁹ or lamo, the term lam is not found in Scripture (Netter). The Tetragrammaton is invoked in connection with Shem to honor Shem.⁵⁰ It is not employed with regard to Japheth because he was not his brother’s equal. Saadiah Gaon says that Cursed be Canaan is short for cursed be Canaan’s father.⁵¹ He says that In the presence of Hanamel my uncle (Jer. 32:12) is similar, as Hanamel was really Jeremiah’s uncle’s son.⁵² However, it is possible that Hanamel was older than Jeremiah and the latter referred to him as “my uncle” because it was an honor for him to be called by his father’s title.⁵³ Similarly one’s father’s brother’s wife is called aunt in Scripture.⁵⁴, his wife is a dodah. She is so called in order to honor her, because she is married to one’s uncle. See I.E. to Lev. 18:14. Similarly Lot is called Abraham’s brother, rather than his nephew (Gen. 14:14). However, in our case there is no reason to refer to Ham by the name of his son.⁵⁵

אופי' יפת מן יפה, ולא פי' יפה רק הוא כמו "ירחיב" (דבר' יב כ) ובלשון ארמית כמוהו והוא מהבנין הכבד הנוסף כמו "ומלכים יַרד" (ישעי' מא ב) ובפסוק הזה ברך יפת, גם שם, כי פירוש "וישכון באהלי שם" שישכון אלהים באהלי שם כי בפסוק הראשון ברך השם:

1[ENLARGE.] Saadiah also explains the word yaft (enlarge) as coming from the Hebrew word for beautiful (yafeh). However, his comment is not beautiful (yafeh).⁵⁶ Yaft means he will enlarge.⁵⁷. Compare Deut. 12:20. The Aramaic word for He shall enlarge (Deut. 12:20) is similar.⁵⁸ as are yafte (Deut. 12:20). Yaft (enlarge) is a hifil. It is like yard in And maketh him rule (yard) over kings (Is. 41:2).⁵⁹, like yard, is an abridged word. Yaft is short for yafteh and yard for yardeh. Both Shem and Japheth were blessed in this verse, for the meaning of And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem is: may God dwell in the tents of Shem. The previous verse (v. 26) relates the blessing with which Noah blessed God.⁶⁰

בויהי כנען עבד למו. לשם וליפת גם לאחיו, והנה הוא עבד עולם, כי מאלה נפצה כל הארץ, וזה הדבר היה אחר שנים רבות אחר המבול:

2AND LET CANAAN BE THEIR SERVANT. To Shem, to Japheth and also to his brothers. Thus Canaan was to be a slave to all of the world, for from Shem, Japheth and Canaan’s brothers all of humanity is descended. This came to pass many years after the flood.⁶¹