Commentary: On Genesis

Joseph Kimḥi’s commentaries are marked by an emphasis on the peshat (plain meaning), as well as linguistics. Although he writes in Hebrew, Kimḥi was educated in Arabic, and he read earlier Judeo-Arabic exegetes, such as Se‘adya Ga’on. Kimḥi was particularly interested in inner-biblical interpretation and was comfortable presenting multiple explanations of a single verse. This passage from his commentary is a translation into Hebrew of a legendary story in Arabic about the founding of the ancient Egyptian civilization. To some extent, Kimḥi transforms this into a Jewish story by couching it in language drawn from the Hebrew Bible, especially from the book of Esther; these were obviously not part of the original.