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The Bible Through the Lens of Truth

Ibn Ezra
Relating to Rashi 1040-1105, France

Ibn Ezra 1089-1167, Spain

Gen. 32 9

(Jacob) thinking, If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, the other camp may
yet escape.

Rashi

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THEN THE REMAINING CAMP MAY ESCAPE in spite of him, for I will fight against
him He prepared himself for three things: to give him a present as it states (Genesis
19:22) So, the present passed before him; for prayer as it states (Genesis
19:10), And he said, O God of my father Abraham; for war as it states in this verse,
then the remaining camp may escape, for I will fight against him (Tanchuma Yashan
1:8:6).

Ibn Ezra

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And the remaining camp can remain - perhaps it will be the case that they will run
away. Or that his brother's anger will abate with his attack on the first camp, or
reprieve and rescue will come from God and similarly If the Arameans prove too
strong for me, you come to my aid" (II Samuel 10:11

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And that which Rav Shlomo (Rashi) said, that he would be a remnant by force, is a way of Drash
(midrash), and when Hashem said to him, Your seed will be like the dust of the earth (Gen. 28, 14), he
did not know if it referred to these (people now) or to others. Joseph was sold when he was alive and he

didnt know, for the prophet doesnt know hidden things if Hashem doesnt reveal it to him and Elisha
said, Hashem has hidden it from me and did not tell me (II Kings 4, 26).

) ( Ibn Ezra Ex. 16, 15

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Rabbeinu Shelomo (Rashi) said that in Arabic the translation of Mah is What is it? And the one who told
him (Rashi) this did not speak correctly, for the translation of Mah in Arabic is What is and man means
who is he

) ( Ibn Ezra Jethro, ch. 18

But when Moses father-in-law saw how much he had to do for the people, he said,
What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you actalone, while all
the people stand about you from morning until evening?

Ibn Ezra

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Rabbeinu Shelomo (Rashi) said that (the problem was) that Moshe was sitting alone and Israel were
standing and it is not nice (ethical). And Moshe did it the right way, for a judge sits and the disputants
stand and he only asked about it in that he was alone to judge and there were no judges to help him.

Exodus 28, the Urim vtumim on the high priests breast plate..

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We can say that the urim are also the Tumim because it says to the urim and tumim (as opposed to the
urim and to the tumim) but Rabbeinu Shelomo said that the Urim and the Tumim are the writing of
the explicit name of G-d. And if he had seen the writings of Rav Hay Gaon he would not have said that.

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The truth is that it is like their name (What does he mean?).

Ramban reporting what the Ibn Says: .

He thought they were images that astrologers use to know the thoughts of the questioner..

So is Ibn Ezra a man of pshat or not?

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He (Rashi) thought he was in accordance with the way of pshat, simple meaning and his words are only
peshat one in a thousand.

The Ibn Ezras stated purpose, introduction

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The foundation I will place my commentary on which is straight in my eyes which is to the face of G-d.

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And because of the drash, the simple meaning (pshat) is not lost for there are 70 faces to the Torah, but
among the laws and torahs and statutes, if we find two explanations for a verse and one is like the
sages who were all righteous, we will depend on their truth without a doubt

The simple meaning

Deut. 26

You shall then recite as follows before the LORD your God: My father was a Lost
Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but
there he became a great and very populous nation.

An Aramean, a wanderer, my Father

Ibn Ezra:

Lost is an intransitive verb. If the Aramean referred to Lavan, then the verb would
be in the transitive hifil or piel form. Besides, what sense is there to say, Lavan
tried to destroy my forefather, and he went down to Egypt? Lavan never considered
going down to Egypt! The plausible interpretation is that the Aramean refers to
Yaaqov, as if Scripture had said, When my forefather was in Aramea, he was lost
meaning, he was a pauper, without property. Compare, give strong drink to him
who is lost [Proverbs 31: 6 ], where it is immediately followed by, let him drink, and
forget his poverty [Proverbs 31: 7 ]. Thus the lost Aramean was my
forefather. The intent of this passage is: I did not inherit this land from my
forefather, for he was a pauper when he came to Aramea, and he was a stranger in
Egypt, where he was few in number. Afterwards, he became a great
nation; and you, God , brought us out of slavery, and gave us the good land. Do not
object to Yaaqovs being called an Aramean,since similar appellations can be
found. Consider Yeter the Ishmaelite [I Chronicles 2: 17 ], even though he was
really an Israelite (for so it is written [II Samuel 17: 25 ]).

Ex. 11, 4 vs. 12, 9 The meaning of repetition

In the middle of the night the LORD struck down all the first-born in the land of
Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first-born of the
captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle.

and every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh
who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones;
and all the first-born of the cattle.

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I already said that the prophets do not guard words just meanings like the words hagmiini and hashkeini
(re. Rivka and the water) or Zahor and Shamor, guard and remember, and false and in vain (oaths) and
do not desire and do not covet are equal in meaning

Intro by Ibn Ezra re. the Massorites

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I wont give the reasons of the people of the Massorah why this is written in full form and this in the
missing form (vavs and yods) for all their reasons are on the way of Drash, for the verse will sometimes
write it like this and sometimes like that.. for Moshe wrote with a vav and Mishlei wrote without a vav
and many years were between them and only for children is their explanation good and there is no need
for a tikun soferim (to claim the text was fixed by the scribes occasionally)

Rejects some Drash

Gen. 14, 14

When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his
retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went
in pursuit as far as Dan.

Rashi

318 men (went with Avraham)- our sages say it was just Eliezer for the Gematria of 318 is Eliezer

- 1 -70

-30 -7

-10 - 200

Ibn Ezra

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And the calculation of the letters of Eliezer is the way of Drash, for the verse does not speak in gmatrias,
for everyone who wishes can take every word for good or for bad, rather the word means what it says.

Does not always reject Drash, Midrash

Gen. 6, 12

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How honorable the drash which they darshened that they strayed with water and so they were judged
with water

Sometimes grudgingly

Gen. 11, 29

Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, the name of Abrams wife being Sarai
and that of Nahors wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and
YIscah.

Ibn Ezra

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Our predecessors said that Yiskah is Sarah and if it is a tradition we will accept it.

The lens of truth

So the LORD God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken.

He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-
turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

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He sent them out, all sendings which are followed by a mem, as in from, is like expulsion and it is
derogatory, as in sent from the face of the earth and not as one big Sefardic sage said that it is a

language of honor as in He went with him to send him.. for then the honor of the earth would be greater
than that of Gan Eden.. and kruvim some say is like children in Aramaic and I think that it is about all the
images (above such as the ox, man, calf, etc) and the total proof is from that which it says later the
cherubs and they are the known angels with sword in hand and it has two sides and that is what turning
means and those who say it is referring to the sun is not true.

Is Ibn Ezra committed mostly to the pshat or to something else?

What is pshat?
Sara Yefet, professor at Hebrew U.

The pshat has no master above it. It has its own autonomy. It has no authority other than itself. Well, it
is responsible to the text itself.

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Is Ibn Ezra committed to the Pshat?

From the Ibn Ezras introduction

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The fifth way is the basis on which I will sit, to explain the verses as should be based on grammar and
simple meaning, only in the mitzvoth and the laws I will depend on my predecessors and according to
their words will I fix the grammar of the language..

Another truth?

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(Re. Tefilin which could be interpreted figuratively) What the Sages transmitted to write the parashiot is
the truth.

Uriel Simon, professor, Bar Illan University

Commentary has the lower hand when it comes to science of the Arab-Greek sort.

In the quest for truth there is no room for compromise, and a true researcher cannot be afraid of true
conclusions, be they what they may.

What is the purpose of his commentary?

The secret of the truth, the inner truth.

A prequisite for Ibn Ezra to understand the torah is science.

Ibn Ezra allowed some philological fudging in order to reconcile with science.

See I Chronicles 29, 11-13 and Tehilim

Uriel Simon

If you use ideas from outside the text, that is not necessarily going away from the autonomy of Pshat. It
is just widening the options of what is legitimate to explain things.

Science

Devarim at the end

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All His ways are law, that they do not just but are all uniform, and this is the praise. All things change
according to their needs but the deeds of hashem are for his honor. Dont ask from the standing of the
sun (in Joshua) for its secret is clear given the word and the moon in the valley of Aylon as I explained

The importance of science to understand the text

Ex. 23, the long commentary

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You shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will remove
sickness from your midst.

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No woman in your land shall miscarry or be barren. I will let you enjoy the full count of your days.

Ibn Ezra

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Avraham (Ibn Ezra) said, there are great sages of both Toras (oral and written) and they did not engage
in the wisdom of toldot so they could not explain the blessings and I will mention some

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Now, one who keeps the torah does not need a doctor other than Hashem, therefore it says, In his
illness he did not seek Hashem but the doctors (II Chron. 16, 12), and then there is the wisdom of the
spheres and it will be according to every women that she should miscarry for the nature of the womb
nourishes the children or she will be barren but if he clung to Hashem and his moled, (the souls etc) and
if according to the stars he would not give birth, if he clung then the strength of the kidneys would win
fix his seed so he would give birth.

Ex. 28

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I tried to reveal this secret but I could not write it for they would not understand it those who did not
learn the secret of midot and the astrology.

Importance of science

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Your ways, these are the ways of Hashem and the giving of the soul which he created wisely

There are commandments which are clear and some we dont know them in truth only from the holy
transmitters of the torah and without them we could explain many ways and there are mitzvoth which
we got from them not mentioned in the torah, and in general, if not fo rhte Anshei Knesset Hagedolah,
and the people of the mishnah and Talmud out torah would be lost for all this kept it up and explained it
well and all they received and sometimes they find clear evidence in the torah and some by way of drash

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and some by way of hints in the text (asmachta)

And those who understand can tell when it is simple and when it is drash for it is not all the same..

Ibn Ezra as religious critic

Tzitzit, Num. 15, 39

And those who pray with a talit during prayer do so they may say the shma. But I think it would
be better to wear the talit at other times so one would remember and not err and not sin at all
times for during prayer you will not sin.

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Ex. 12, 15

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove
leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the
seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

Ibn Ezra

It says in Pesach seven days to eat matzah, and it is an obligation according to

Ibid 23, 15

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It is an obligation and it is not like Six days you shall work, for afterwards it says
you should rest on the seventh (which is the actual mitzvah). But it is not true
re. seven days you shall eat matza (there is no other mitzvah other than this)
and also, why did it not say, seven days you shall not eat chametz (without
mentioning eating bread, if it is not an obligation for 7 days)?