Book of the Upright

In this introduction to his Hebrew commentary on the Torah, known as Book of the Upright (Sefer ha-yashar), Abraham Ibn Ezra reviews five different approaches to scriptural commentary. These approaches represent different schools of thought among earlier biblical exegetes, and Ibn Ezra finally settles on a peshat (plain meaning) perspective. As is apparent from this text, Ibn Ezra was deeply engaged with earlier geonic and Karaite writings; they are cited frequently throughout his commentaries. His assessments of the methods of his predecessors offer insights into the reception of many Judeo-Arabic authors whose works were not translated into Hebrew until the modern period. It has been suggested that the title of this work may be a play on his own name (Abraham), as rabbinic literature takes the biblical phrase sefer ha-yashar (Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18) to refer to the patriarchs (see b. Avodah Zarah 25a). Ibn Ezra seems to have completed this work in Lucca, Italy.