Tannaitic and Ammoraic exegesis rarely toiled in grammatical problems; grammar was a borrowed science from the Arab world in the medieval period.
[3] While their work essentially focused on establishing the correct text and not the principles of grammar, the Masoretes contributed to the future study of biblical language.
[4] Many future grammarians continued the efforts of the Masorah and gave it a “central place in their works.” [5] Saadia Ga’on dealt with inflections and roots in his grammatical work.
Generally, he limited applying predecessors’ laws to understanding the text and avoided outlandish explanations of exceptions.
A specific opposition ibn Ezra had was to the explanation of “plene versus defective spelling.” The Spanish commentator also wrote several grammatical works outside his biblical commentary.
[9] The Kimhis were exegetes who relied most on peshat and avoided homiletical interpretations, and especially for David, philology played a large role in that.