Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 9:26/אבן עזרא על בראשית ט׳:כ״ו
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