Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 20:3/אבן עזרא על ויקרא כ׳:ג׳
אואני אתן את פני באיש ההוא. אם היה בסתר ויש אומרים כי טעמו להכרית זרעו:
1I ALSO WILL SET MY FACE AGAINST THAT MAN. If the sin was committed secretly.9 Others say that the reference10. is to the extirpation of the culprit’s seed.
בלמען טמא את מקדשי. שהוא בתוך ארץ ישראל:
2TO DEFILE MY SANCTUARY. Which is in the Land of Israel.
גולחלל את שם קדשי. שישמעו הגוים:
3AND TO PROFANE MY HOLY NAME. For nations will hear.11
דוהיה נראה לנו כי טעם באבן שם המין כמו ויהי לי שור וחמור ודברי הקבלה נכונים והם אמת. ויאמר רבי יונה המדקדק הספרדי נ״ע כי פירוש ובמשפחתו הדומה אליו ומי הביאנו בצרה הזאת רק פירוש כמשמעו כי עם הארץ יעלימו עיניהם בעבור שהם ממשפחתו:
4It would have appeared to us that ba-even (with stones)12 (v. 2) is a collective noun.13 is to be rendered with stones. Compare, And I have oxen (shor),14 and asses (chamor)15 (Gen. 32:6).16 However, the words of tradition are correct.17 literally. According to the Midrash the culprit was first stoned by one stone. See Sanhedrin 6:4, “The place of stoning was twice the height of a man. One of the witnesses knocked him down…If he died that sufficed; but if not, the second witness took a stone and dropped it on his heart. If he died that sufficed; but if not, he was stoned by all Israel.” They are true. Rabbi Jonah the Spanish grammarian who rests in paradise says that and against his family (v. 5) means all those like him.18 Who brought us into this trouble?19 Our verse is to be taken literally. The people of the land20 will hide their eyes because they are of his family.21