The Ibn Ezra, in his commentary upon Shemos 7:24 suggests that the first three plagues of blood, frogs, and lice, afflicted not only the Egyptians, but the Jews as well. His opinion is based on the fact that we are only first told that a distinction was made between the Jews in Goshen and the rest of Egypt in the Torah's description of fourth plague of wild beasts. Therefore, he assumes that the first three plagues effected the Egyptians and Jews equally.

The Ibn Ezra's view seems to conflict with a number of midrashim that indicate that the plagues never effected the Jews in Goshen. Indeed, the Ibn Ezra himself seems to be mindful of this issue when quoting elements of these midrashim.

One might ask - How is it that we consider the Ibn Ezra one of the great traditional commentators when, in this case, his commentary completely undermines the traditional perspective?

A person once explained a verse in the Torah to the Chafetz Chayim in a way that clearly conflicted with the approach of Chazal (the Sages). The Chafetz Chayim got upset. The person responded that the Ibn Ezra also had comments that seemed to conflict with Chazal and therefore his explanation had a precedent.

The Chafetz Chayim told him the following parable: There was once a customer who carelessly lit a cigarette and threw it on the ground of a textile factory, setting it aflame. The owner was enraged. The customer, who was surprised at the owners response, commented that only a week prior to this incident, another customer had done same thing and yet the owner remained fully calm.

The owner replied: "That customer has bought thousands and thousands of dollars worth of material from me over the years, enabling. my company to prosper. When he caused a fire, I wasn't happy, but I was willing to be quiet. But you have spent only a few dollars here - you I will prosecute to the full extent of the law."

The Chafetz Chayim turned to the man and said: "The Ibn Ezra devoted his entire life to the study and expounding of Torah. His entire life was a Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of G-d's name). If we find an explanation of his that seems to conflict with Chazal, we are not happy, but we are willing to remain calm. But if someone below the Ibn Ezra's caliber, a "regular customer", engages in such activity, we cannot remain quiet. We must object mightily.