Seven Torah Passages of Non-Mosaic Origin According to Ibn Ezra and R. Joseph Bonfils

 All English translations from biblical verses come from the NJPS Tanakh translation, with some adjustments.

Ibn Ezra’s and Bonfils’ comments on this passage were also translated by Rabbi Elli Fischer on his On The Contrary blog, see translation and discussion here. 

The debate about whether Moses or Joshua wrote the last eight verses of the Torah appears here, as well as in Baba Batra 15a.

In my TABS essay, “Ibn Ezra’s Secret: Late Editorial Comments in the Opening Chapters of Deuteronomy,” I discuss two other examples: the reference to Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land in the past tense (Deut. 2:10-12), and the reference to the founding of Havvot Yair (3:14), which is also dated to the time of the Judges (Judg. 10:3-4). I remain surprised that ibn Ezra didn’t catch these, as they are more obvious than some of his examples. Perhaps he did catch them and only meant for the list here to be a partial list to get the point across.  

I understand this line as the end of ibn Ezra’s previous comment where he clarified that the Torah which God taught, to which Moses refers, are the laws which he will list later on in the book. But Bonfils interprets this line as part of the next ibn Ezra, as can be seen above.

I would have suggested something else forced ibn Ezra’s hand. Since Deuteronomy is written in 1^st person (as opposed to the other four books) parts where it speaks in the 3^rd person betray an editorial insertion. This is the same point Rashbam makes at the beginning and end of his commentary on Ecclesiastes, where he says that the opening two verses and the closing seven verses were not by the author but were editorial summaries written in afterwards. His reasoning is also because of the switch to 3^rd person narration.

Some theorize that Yitzhaki was a Karaite scholar (ibn Ezra certainly read Karaite commentaries, such as that of Yephet ben Ali). As far as I am aware, Yitzhaki’s identity is still unknown.

Playing off of Sarah’s comment about the birth of Isaac (Gen. 21:6).

The text says “Tahpanhes” but this appears to be a mistake, since Tahpanhes is a city not a person.

In other words, this is a list of kings who hadn’t yet ruled, or even been born, when Moses wrote this section.

The text says “in the days of Saul” but this appears to be a mistake, since the verse is clearly speaking about Jehoshaphat.

All this assumes that Yitzchaki believes this to be a list of kings from before Saul. Unfortunately, as we do not have Yitzchaki’s text extant (as far as I am aware), we do not know if this assumption is correct or not. On the surface, I would imagine that Yitzchaki did not read the text this way, but if so, we don’t know how he interpreted the phrase “before any king reigned over the Israelites.” 

One problematic matter regarding this suggestion is that ibn Ezra believes that the last chapter of the Torah, which is an entire parasha, was added. I am not sure this is the best explanation for what troubled ibn Ezra here.