174 r Michael Katz
Ibn-Ezra’s Approach
Ibn-Ezra belongs here to the second group of commentators mentioned
above. In his view God tells Moses that Ehyeh is His name. But in order to
show the power and uniqueness of this name, Ibn-Ezra goes far beyond
literal meaning. There are two commentaries by Ibn-Ezra on Exodus (and
on parts of Genesis). One is usually referred to as “The Short Ibn-Ezra”
and the other as “The Long Ibn-Ezra.” In the long one, the consideration
of verse 14 is very lengthy indeed. It spreads over two or three full pages
in various editions of Mikraot Gedolot.^5
The extraordinary length of commentary on a single verse stems from
the fact that here Ibn-Ezra mobilizes linguistics, astronomy, astrology,
mathematics, and philosophy to interpret and extol the Holy Name. In
the present essay we consider the mathematical part, where the idea is to
show that God’s name consists of letters whose gematric-numerical values
have unique and beautiful properties.
There are three distinct letters in the Hebrew word Ehyeh—Aleph (א),
Hey (ה) and Yod (י). The Hey appears again as the last letter. In Haviah
and in the ineffable name we find again two of these letters—Hey (twice)
and Yod, together with another letter, Vav (ו). So altogether there are four
distinct letters here—Aleph, Hey, Vav, and Yod, with gematric values 1, 5,
6, and 10, respectively.
In Jewish tradition gematric values are specific numerical values at-
tached to Hebrew letters. Gematria has to do with manipulations of these
values and of combinations of values of several letters or words. It should
be noted that Ibn-Ezra does not always approve of the use of gematria.
His disdain of certain utilizations of gematria can be seen, for instance, in
his commentary on Genesis 14:14. This verse tells us that the first of the
three Patriarchs, Avraham (then still called Avram), led a contingent of
318 men to chase and attack the armies of the four kings who had taken
his nephew Lot as prisoner of war. There is a famous Drash (homiletic
interpretation), appearing in the Talmud (Tractate Nedarim) and in the
Midrash (Bereshit Rabba), asserting that in fact this contingent consisted
of just one man—Avram’s domestic steward, the Hebrew letters of whose
name, Eliezer, have gematric values adding up to 318. Rashi (Rabbi Sh-
lomo Yitzhaki), the greatest biblical exegete in Judaic tradition, quotes
this Drash without any comment. Ibn-Ezra also mentions it, stressing that