Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Numbers 3:38/אבן עזרא על במדבר ג׳:ל״ח
אקדמה מזרחה. הוא מזרחה שמש במקום התחברות העגלות והנה במזרח אהל משה ואהל אהרן ואהל בניו ובני בניו וכל ביתם:
1EASTWARD…TOWARD THE SUNRISING. Mizrachah means toward the sunrising. It refers to the place where the circles64 (wagons). Vat. Ebr. 38 reads, agulot (circles). It isn’t clear what I.E. is referring to. Meijler suggests that the reference is to where the heaven and earth appear to touch, i.e., the horizon. For other interpretations, see Weiser and Krinsky. come together. Observe, the tent of Moses, the tent of Aaron, and the tent of his children and his children’s children and all their entire households were in the east.65
בוהזר הקרב. אל מקום הקדש והנה כל הלוים סביבות המשכן לשמור אותו:
2AND THE COMMON MAN THAT DREW NIGH. To the holy place.66 Note, all the Levites camped around the tabernacle in order to guard it.