Ibn Ezra, grew up in the Golden Age in Spain and thus received a wide-ranging education. On the one hand, he acquired great expertise in the works of great Jewish minds throughout the generations; on the other hand, he was also fluent in Arabic, and he was involved in the rich Muslim culture, its literature and its scientific innovations.
Ibn Ezra was not only a sharp-tongued thinker; he was a believing Jew, with a passionate love for his people and his Creator, for the Torah and its commandments - a man of science and a man of spirit.
Ibn Ezra wrote commentaries on the Torah, and various books of Neviim and Ketuvim. It appears from his words that he wrote commentaries to other books of Tanakh as well, but they have been lost. He wrote two commentaries to the Torah, Peirush Ha-katzar and Peirush Ha-arokh, the Short and Long Commentary.
Ibn Ezra’s commentaries, unlike those of the commentators of northern France, are difficult to comprehend.
In Ibn Ezra’s introduction to his commentary, he presents different approaches to biblical interpretation followed and expresses criticism of each:
- The scholars of Spanish yeshivot weaved philosophical views into their commentaries on the Torah.
- The Karaites, who deny the tradition of the Oral Torah.
- Those who understand the Torah as allegory. Ibn Ezra mainly opposes this as a path leading to Christianity.
- The homiletic exegetes in Christian lands, who do not relate to the peshat of the verses, instead following the Midrashic approach.
