Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah
Sforno on Genesis 32:3/ספורנו על בראשית ל״ב:ג׳
אמַחֲנֵה אֱלֹהִים זֶה. הַמַּחֲנֶה שֶׁלִּי שֶׁפָּגְעוּ בּוֹ מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים, אֵין סָפֵק שֶׁהוּא מַחֲנֵה אֱלֹהִים, כְּעִנְיַן "וַיִּקְרָא לַמָּקוֹם אֵל בֵּית אֵל" (בראשית כח:יט), כִּי שָׁם נִגְלוּ אֵלָיו הָאֱלֹהִים:
1מחנה אלוקים זה. Now that the angels have seen fit to join me there can be no doubt that mine is a godly camp. Just as Yaakov had called the place where he had had the dream of the ladder Bet El, so he now referred to his camp as machaneh elokim. In either instance the reason was that he had been found worthy of a divine revelation.
במַחֲנָיִם. שְׁתֵּי מַחֲנוֹת – אֱלֹהִים שֶׁל מַלְאָכִים וְשֶׁלּוֹ, כְּמִשְׁפַּט סִימָן הָרַבִּים הַבָּא אַחַר פַּתָּח מִלְּעֵיל, הַמּוֹרִים עַל מִסְפַּר שְׁנַיִם, כְּמוֹ פַּעֲמַיִם, שְׁבוּעַיִם, שְׁנָתַיִם וְזוּלָתָם. חסלת פרשת ויצא.
2מחנים, two camps; the camp of G’d (angels) and his own. The grammatical formulation with the plural ending following the vowel patach, the stress is on the penultimate syllable as this indicated the number 2. Parallel examples are paamayim, shevuayim, shenatayim, etc. .[the kametz here substitutes for the patach as it is the end of the sentence. Ed.]