Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Numbers 2/אבן עזרא על במדבר ב׳
אוטעם אל משה ואל אהרן. בעבור כי אהרן ובניו ישימו משא הקהתים בכתף:
1[AND THE LORD SPOKE UNTO MOSES AND UNTO AARON.] Scripture reads, unto Moses and unto Aaron1 because Aaron and his sons were to command the Kohathites as to which burdens they were to carry upon their shoulders.2
אבאתת. סימנים היו בכל דגל ודגל וקדמונינו אמרו שהיה בדגל ראובן צורת אדם מכח דרש דודאים ובדגל יהודה צורת אריה כי בו המשילו יעקב ובדגל אפרים צורת שור מטעם בכור שור ובדגל דן צורת נשר עד שידמו לכרובים שראה יחזקאל הנביא:
1ACCORDING TO THE ENSIGNS. There were signs upon each and every standard. The ancients3 said that the banner of Reuben had the form of a person on it.4 2:6. Their statement is based on a midrashic interpretation concerning the mandrakes found by Reuben.5 The ancients also tell us that there was an image of a lion on the standard of Judah, for Jacob had compared Judah to a lion.6 They also tell us that the banner of Ephraim7 had the image of an ox upon it, in keeping with the verse, His firstling bullock (Deut. 33:17). The flag of Dan had the image of an eagle. Thus the banners were similar to the cherubim which the prophet Ezekiel saw.8
במנגד. רחוק:
2A GOOD WAY OFF. The word mi-neged means a good way off.9 literally means opposite. Hence I.E.’s comment.
אקדמה מזרחה. תחלת מזרח:
1ON THE EAST SIDE TOWARD THE SUNRISING. The beginning of the east.10. This literally means toward the east. According to I.E., kedemah mizrachah is a technical term for the beginning of the east, i.e., northeast. See I.E. on Ex. 27:9 and the notes thereto (Vol. 2, pp. 581-2).
אופקודיהם. או ופקודיו. אין הפרש ביניהם:
1AND HIS HOST (U-FEKUDEHEM). Scripture could have read u-fekudav (and his host).11 There is no difference between the two terms.12 literally means and their host. U-fekudav means and his host. I.E. indicates that Scripture employs the singular for the plural, as the Bible uses collective nouns.
אוהחונים עליו. כמו עמו והם אחריו וקודם השלישי:
1AND THOSE THAT PITCH NEXT UNTO HIM. Ve-hachonim alav means those that pitch with him.13 literally means on him. Thus the literal meaning of ve-hachonim alav (and those that pitch next unto him) is, and those that pitch upon him. Hence I.E.’s comment that alav means with him. Issachar was behind Judah and in front of Zebulun who was third.
אראשונה יסעו. הם יסעו בתחלה:
1THEY SHALL SET FORTH FIRST. The meaning of rishonah yissa’u is, they shall set forth first.14 should be read as if written ba-rishonah yissa’u. (Krinsky).
אתימנה. מגזרת ימין:
1ON THE SOUTH SIDE. The word temanah (on the south side) comes from the same root as the word yemin (right).15
אושנים. תאר השם:
1SECOND. Sheniyyim (second) is an adjective.
אונסע אהל מועד בתוך המחנות. הנזכרות כי הגרשונים והמררים נוסעים בין דגל יהודה ובין דגל ראובן והקהתים נוסעים ועמהם אהרן ובניו בין דגל יהודה ובין דגל אפרים:
1THEN THE TENT OF MEETING, WITH THE CAMP OF THE LEVITES, SHALL SET FORWARD IN THE MIDST OF THE CAMPS. In the midst of the above-mentioned camps,16 for the Gershonites and Merarites journeyed between the banner of Judah and the banner of Reuben.17 And the Kohathites, and with them Aaron and his sons, journeyed between the banner of Reuben and the banner of Ephraim.18
בכאשר יחנו כן יסעו. שב אל המחנות שהם ישראל לא אל מחנה הלוים כי יחנה דגל יהודה למזרח כי הגרשוני שהוא למערב המקדש ומררי בצפון יחדו יסעו:
2AS THEY ENCAMP, SO SHALL THEY SET FORWARD. The reference is to the camps, which refers to the camp of the Israelites. It19. does not refer to the camp of the Levites. The Gershonites, who pitched on the west20 of the sanctuary, and the Merarites on the north21 journeyed together,22 after the camp of Judah who pitched on the east.23
געל ידו. פאה ומקום וכן יד הירדן ויד תהיה לך:
3EVERY MAN IN HIS PLACE. The meaning of al yado (in his place) is, in his corner and place.24 literally means his hand. Hence I.E.’s comment. The same applies to yad ha-yarden (by the side of the Jordan) (Num. 13:29) and ve-yad tiheyah lekha (and thou shalt have a paddle) (Deut. 23:13).25, literally hand, is to be rendered as place in both of these verses.
אאלה פקודי בני ישראל. וכן נסעו. כאשר היו ביום שהתפקדו והנה בעשרים יום לא מת אחד מהם וזה דבר פלא:
1THESE ARE THEY THAT WERE NUMBERED OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. When they journeyed,26 they were the same number as on the day that they were counted.27 Thus not one of them died in twenty days. This is a great wonder.
אוהלוים לא התפקדו. לבאר שלא נחשוב אחד מהם עם הפקודים בנסעם:
1BUT THE LEVITES WERE NOT NUMBERED AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Scripture makes it clear that we should not count even one Levite among those who were counted when they journeyed.28
אויעשו בני ישראל. כל ימי המדבר:
1THUS DID THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. All the days that they spent in the desert.