Al-Khwarizmi’s Mathematical Doctrines in Ibn-Ezra’s Biblical Commentary r 175it is Drash and that the scripture doesn’t talk gematria with which anyone
who so wishes can “bring out any name for good or for bad.”
It seems that what Ibn-Ezra dislikes is the game (or art), quite popu-
lar in some circles nowadays, of summing up the values of letters in a
word or a phrase in order to “discover” hidden meanings and connec-
tions.^6 But when it comes to considering mathematical properties of a
specific number that happens to be the gematric value of a certain letter,
he does not hesitate to make the most of it. And that is exactly what he
does with the numbers 1, 5, 6, and 10. He concludes his discussion of these
numbers with the observation that their sum is 22—the total number of
Hebrew letters (so presumably the letters of the Holy Name represent the
full alphabet). But most of the discussion is dedicated to properties of
each of the four numbers (and an additional number—9, for reasons to
be explained below) by itself. Yet, while handling each number separately,
Ibn-Ezra unfolds some of the fundamental principles of arithmetic. This
is what we are about to show now.
In the following section, from the lengthy mathematical paragraph in
Ibn-Ezra’s commentary on God’s name we shall quote, not necessarily in
the order of their appearance, sentences and subparagraphs dealing with
properties of the special numbers 1, 5, 6, and 10. In each case we start with
the Hebrew original, followed by a bracketed English translation (as it is
in the opening paragraphs of the first two sections above) and then by
explanations and remarks. We shall similarly dedicate one section to the
more general principles and one to the properties of the special number
- An additional section will relate to the lengthy commentary on the Ten
Commandments.^7
Specific Properties
We start with a fairly simple property that holds for each of the four num-
bers under consideration (and for no other number).
ואלה ארבעתם אהוי הם הנכבדים. וכל מספר מרובע ששם
אחד נוסף על המרובע ככה יש בשרשו וככה בדומה
לו. וכן במרובע חמשה חמשה ובמרובע ששה ששה.
אלה הד‘ מספרים לעולם שומרים עצמם במרובעת וזהו
מעלתם על כל המספרים המרובעים.