LEARNING WITH COMMENTATORS · 4 OF 5
Are they answering the same question?
Match Ibn Ezra and Rashi to different phrases in Genesis 12:3, then test whether a disagreement is really present.
In this lesson
Recover a real difference
Before reading on, recall one comparison from the earlier lessons. Choose Rashi and Ramban on lech lecha, or Ibn Ezra and Ramban on the place of God's call. Name the question, give each teacher's answer, and identify one piece of evidence. Explain why these really are different answers to a shared question.
1. Compare your recalled example.
On lech lecha, Rashi draws out Avram's benefit, while Ramban explains the wording through normal biblical usage and brings a parallel from Deuteronomy 2:13. Their difference concerns what the wording requires us to explain, not whether God promises Avram good.
On the call's setting, Ibn Ezra places the command in Ur Kasdim; Ramban places it in Haran and points to “Terach took Avram” in Genesis 11:31. These are different accounts of the command's place in the journey. In each comparison, we can name the shared issue before stating the difference.
Now read two comments on the same verse. Sharing a verse number does not establish that the teachers are answering the same question.
Locate the words
In Genesis, the Torah's first book, God calls our ancestor Avram to leave for the land God will show him. Avram is later called Avraham. Here is one of the promises that accompanies the call.
ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאר ונברכו בך כל משפחת האדמה
I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva; Hebrew shown without vowel marks
Use these phrase windows to follow the comments. מברכיך means “those who bless you”; ומקללך means “and the one who curses you.” The final clause, ונברכו בך כל משפחת האדמה, speaks of all the families of the earth being blessed through Avram.
Draw a line between the opening promises and the final clause. What changes in the people being described? Keep the words of the verse separate from any explanation of how its promise will unfold.
2. What belongs on each side of your line?
The opening names people who bless Avram and the one who curses him, together with God's response. The final clause widens the view to “all the families of the earth.” Locating these different parts lets us see exactly which words a commentator is explaining.
Follow Ibn Ezra's observation
Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra, gives this short comment. Plural is a grammatical form for more than one; singular is a form for one.
מברכיך — רבים. ומקללך — יחיד
“Those who bless you”: plural. “The one who curses you”: singular.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
A question this comment helps answer is: “What difference in grammatical number appears in these two expressions?” Ibn Ezra directs us to a feature already present in the verse's wording. A short observation can make us read more closely.
Consider three possible claims: the forms differ; Avram had exactly one enemy; Ibn Ezra explains why the forms differ. Which claim does this comment support? Write a further question that the comment leaves for study.
3. Separate the observation from an added claim.
The comment supports the first claim: the blessing expression is plural and the cursing expression singular. A singular form does not count all the people who might oppose Avram. Ibn Ezra does not supply a reason for the shift here. “Why does the verse change number?” is a useful further question, but we must not place our proposed answer in his mouth.
Follow Rashi's different phrase
Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, comments on ונברכו בך, “will be blessed through you.” He begins:
יש אגדות רבות וזהו פשוטו אדם אומר לבנו תהא כאברהם
There are many aggadic interpretations. This is its plain sense: a person says to his son, “May you be like Avraham.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva; Hebrew shown without vowel marks
Aggadic interpretations develop the passage's meaning through our interpretive tradition. Peshat, “plain sense,” names the contextual reading Rashi offers here. Rashi acknowledges more than one approach and identifies the reading he is now explaining.
In his example, Avraham becomes the person named when someone wishes another person good. Before reading the next source, write a question this explanation helps answer. Anchor it in the final clause rather than the opening contrast between blessers and a curser.
4. Compare the question your reading produced.
One useful question is: “What does it mean for people to be blessed ‘through you’?” Rashi explains the expression through a blessing that names Avraham as an example: “May you be like Avraham.” This is our reconstruction of a question his comment answers, not a question he explicitly wrote. It concerns the final blessing clause, not the number of the words Ibn Ezra explains.
Test the supporting example
Rashi brings a later Torah passage as evidence. Jacob, also called Israel, is blessing Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh. The verse includes this blessing formula, a form of words used to bless:
בך יברך ישראל לאמר ישמך אלהים כאפרים וכמנשה
By you Israel will bless, saying, “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva; Hebrew shown without vowel marks
Explain what is alike in “May you be like Avraham” and the blessing in this verse. Then identify who is asked to act in the Genesis 48:20 blessing. How does this example help Rashi explain a blessing expressed “by” or “through” someone?
5. Explain the evidence, not just the shared word.
Both blessings name people as examples of the good wished for the person receiving the blessing. Genesis 48:20 asks God to make the person like Ephraim and Manasseh. Rashi uses this biblical example to support his reading of people blessing by reference to Avraham. The named person supplies the example; the formula does not make that person the source of divine power. The parallel supports the usage without requiring the two verses to have identical grammar.
Decide whether there is a dispute
A learner writes: “Ibn Ezra disagrees with Rashi. Ibn Ezra says many people receive blessings, while Rashi says only a person's son does.” Return to both comments and identify the two shifts that made this comparison go wrong.
6. Repair the invented disagreement.
Ibn Ezra's plural concerns “those who bless you,” not a count of people receiving the final blessing. Rashi gives a person blessing his son as an example of the final clause's meaning; he does not say that only sons can be blessed. The learner has changed what each teacher says and then opposed the altered claims. These comments address different details of the verse. They do not by themselves establish a disagreement.
Your independent comparison. Write four connected sentences before opening the model. Give Ibn Ezra's phrase and observation; give Rashi's phrase and explanation; explain the contribution of Genesis 48:20; and state the relationship between the comments. Include one boundary: something these comments do not establish.
7. Compare your four-sentence account.
“Ibn Ezra notes that ‘those who bless you’ is plural, while ‘the one who curses you’ is singular. Rashi explains ‘will be blessed through you’ as a blessing that names Avraham as an example. Genesis 48:20 supports this use by giving a blessing that asks God to make someone like Ephraim and Manasseh. The comments illuminate different phrases, so these selections do not establish a dispute or tell us why the opening forms differ.”
Check the reasoning, not the model's wording. Each teacher has an exact textual anchor, Rashi's evidence has a stated purpose, and the conclusion stays within what the selections support.
Return next session
Before reopening either comment, recover its phrase and the question it helps answer. Name Rashi's later biblical example and explain what it contributes. Then contrast this pair with one genuine difference from the earlier lessons.
8. Check the distinctions you retrieved.
Ibn Ezra: plural blessers and singular curser in Genesis 12:3. Rashi: the final “will be blessed through you,” explained through a blessing naming Avraham. Genesis 48:20 supplies a blessing naming Ephraim and Manasseh as examples. These comments have different immediate questions; Rashi and Ramban on lech lecha, or Ibn Ezra and Ramban on the location of the call, give different answers about a shared issue. Return to the sources wherever you cannot name the phrase or explain the evidence.
Build your own comparison
Read Genesis 12:3, Ibn Ezra and Rashi on the verse, and Genesis 48:20 in context. All English renderings and exercises here are by Messianic Yeshiva.
Next, write a comparison across the unit and try the same reading habits on a new passage.