  Ibn Ezra begins his reply with the observation that people differ in the nature of their belief. Some believe in God because they have heard about Him or read about Him in the Bible; but should that belief be challenged in any way, they are immediately stymied. By contrast, those who have chosen the path of knowledge will work their way up from the study of mineral and animal kingdoms to the structure and functions of the human body, and thence to a study of the heavens. Thus will the scholar ascend from God’s “ways” to an understanding of the divine name. According to Ibn Ezra, the first two words of the commandment (“I [am] YHWH”) hint at the knowledge of God that one obtains from creation; it would thus be superfluous to add “Who made heaven and earth”. 