Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 4:22/אבן עזרא על ויקרא ד׳:כ״ב
אאשר נשיא יחטא. הפוך וכן הוא אשר יחטא הנשיא והוא דבק באשר למעלה ואם כל עדת ישראל כאילו אמר ואם אשר יחטא הוא נשיא שבט או נשיא בית אב:
1WHEN A RULER SINNETH. The words are inverted.31 (when a ruler sinneth). Our verse should be read as if written, when the sinner is the ruler.32. I.E. interprets thus because he believes that asher (when) is connected to the verb (yechete), not to the noun (nasi). It is connected to that which is written above,33 (and if) but with asher (the one who). that is, And if the whole congregation of Israel… (v. 13). Our verse, as it were, states, and if the one who sins is the ruler of a tribe or the ruler of a father’s house.