in Arabic. This work has not yet been published, bu4 specimens of it, in Hebrew, have been printed by Leo- pold Dukes in the Literaturblatt des Orients, 1846, No. 42 : — 4. .4 Treatise on the Hebrew Particles, in alpliabet- ical order. This work, too, has not as yet been printed, but specimens of it have been published both by Dukes and Fiirst in the Literaturblatt des Orients, Nos. 29 and 42.: — 5. A Treatise on the Hebreio Homonyms, in alphabet- ical order, of which extracts have been published by Dukes iia the Literaturblatt des Orients, 1846, No. 4: — 6. Commentary on the Pentateuch, written in Arabic. Though this work has long been known through Aben- Ezra, who quotes it in his commentary on Gen. xlix, 6 ; Exod. V, 19, yet it is only lately (1851) that Dr. Stein- schneider discovered a MS. in the Bodleian Library con- taining a commentary on Ninnbers and Deuteronomy. "Ibn-Balaam always gives the grammatical explana- tion of the words first ; he then enters into a minute disquisition on Saadia's translation and exposition of the Pentateuch, which he generally rejects, then ex- plains the passage according to its context, and finally sets forth the Halachic and the judicial interpretation of the Talmud. A specimen of tliis commentar\", which is extremely important to the Hebrew text and the Massora, has been communicated by Adolph Neubauer In the Journal Asiatique of December, 1861. It is on Deut. V, 6, upon which Ibn-Balaam remarks, 'As to the different readings of the two Decalogues (i. e. Exod. xx, 2-17, and Deut. v, 6-21), Saadia is of opinion that they contain two different revelations. He entertains the same view respecting those Psalms which occur twice, Avith some verbal variations (c. g. Psa. xiv and liii), and respecting the different readings of the Babylonian and Palestinian codices.' We thus learn of a remarkable variation between the Western and Eastern codices which is not mentioned elsewhere, namely, that the words Xinn D'1'12 (Zech.xiv,2) are omitted in the lat- ter ; we discover why the Syriac version has not these words ; and wc, moreover, see in what light Saadia and others regarded the various readings" (Gmsbnrg in Kitto) : — 7. Commentary on the Psalms, frequently quoted by Aben-Ezra : — 8. Commentary on the Song of Sojigs, which, according to Ibn-Aknin (q. v.), who quotes it, gives a hteral exposition of this book : — 9. Commentary on Isaiah, quoted by Joseph Albo (Jkarim, sec. i, 1). " Ibn-Balaam, here, contrary to the generally received opinion, explains away the Messianic prophecies, and interprets Isa. xi as referring to Hezekiah. From Aben- Ezra's quotation on Zech. ix, 7 and Dan. x. 1, it seems as if he had also written commentai-ies on these books. Ibn-Balaam is one of the most liberal interpreteis, and quotes Christian commentators and the Koran in his expositions." See Gratz, Geschichte der Juden, vi, 83 sq. ; Jost, Geschichte des Judenthums v. s. Sekten, ii, 406 ; Y\:nst,Biblioih.Jud.i,81 ; Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, col. 1292-1297 ; He-Cha- luz (Lemberg, 1853), ii, 60 sq. ; Leopold Dulvcs, Beitrage zur Geschichte der dltesten Auslegung iind Sj)racherUd- rung des Alten Testamentes (Stuttgart, 1844), ii, 186 sq. ; Geiger, in the Jijdische Zeitschrift Jur Wissenschaft und Leb'en, 1862, p. 292 sq.
Ibn-Baruch, Barucit, a Jewish philosopher and commentator, flourished at Venice in the 16th centurj'. But little is kno^ra of the history of his life. He pub- lished a twofold commentary on Ecclesiastes, called both ap>^ nbinp {the Congregation of Jacob') and C'lp bx'nb';! {Holy Israel) (Venice, 1599), the first of which is discursive and diffuse, and the second exegetical and brief. " Based upon the first verse, ' the words of Cohe- leth, son of David, king in Jerusalem,' lie maintains that two persons are speaking in its book, a sceptic named Coheleth, and a believer called Ben-David, and accordingly treats the whole as a dialogue, in which these two characters are shown to discuss the most im- ])ortant problems of moral philosophy, and the philo- sophic systems of Greece and Arabia are made to furnish
IBN-CASPI
457
IBX-GANACH
tlie two heroes of the dialogue with the necessary phil- osophic materials." — Ginsbiirg in Kitto. The Qucesti- ones dUjiutdUn de Anima of Thomas Aquinas, which Avcre translated into Hebrew by AU Xabillo, are used in tliis work both to put objections into the mouth of the sceptic and to furnish the believer with terse replies (comp. also Comimntarij, 05, a ; 71, b ; 9(5, a ; 97, c ; 117, a; 11^, b; 119, a). It is a very vahiable aid to the study of Jewish philosophy. See Jellineck, Thomas v. Aquino i. d.jiid. Lit. (Lpz, 1853), p. ii (13) and vii. (J. H.W.)
Ibn-Caspi or Caspe, Joseph bex-Abba Mari (also called Bomifoux de tA rf/entiere), an able Jewish writer, was born of c wealthy family about 1280 at Ar- gentiere, in France. He removed while quite young to Tarascon, and devoted his time mainly to Biblical studies. When only seventeen years old, he published as a result commentaries on Aben-Ezra's exposition of the Pentateuch, and on Ibn-Ganach's grammatical work. When about thirty years old he extended his range of study to metaphysical subjects, and thereafter became an ardent admirer of Maimonides, whose method of in- terpretation he also adopted. Indeed, so far was he carried a^vay in liis admiration for the great philosopher that he emigrated to Egypt, having tlecided to study under the descendants of Maimonides. But he failed to meet there that great fountain of knowledge which he supposed the followers of the second great Moses ca- pable of supplying, and, after a few months' travel in Eg}-pt and the East, he returned to France. In 1327 he again set out on a journey to promote his studies by a residence at foreign high-schools, and he visited Cat- alonia, !Mallorca, Aragonia, and Valencia, and at one time even desired to go to Fez, having been informed that iu that African city several noted Jewish scholars resided, whose instructions he coveted. Towards the latter part of 1332 Ibu-Caspi returned to his native country, and devoted himself to the production of a number of valuable exegetical works. He died about 1340. In all he wrote some thirty-six works, most re- maining to us only in SIS. form, of which lists may be found in S. JelUneck, nip-^nr D-i-im, vol. ii, 1846; DeUtzsch and Zunz, Catal. MS. ; and in Fiirst, Riblioth. Jud. i, 147. Besides a commentary on Maimonides's More Xehochiin, his most valuable works are, M'^T^T C^CD (or nVj"l'^ only, the word r]OD, silver, being an allusion to his own name, "^SDD, which is found in the titles of all his works) (small silver chains or roots), a Hebrew Dictionary, which is one of his most interesting and important works. " He starts from the principle that every root has only one general idea as its basiS; and logically deduces from it all the otlier shades of meaning. A copy of this work in jMS., 2 vols. 4to, is in the Paris library, and another in the Angelica at Rome. Abrabanel frequently quotes it in his commentary on the Pentateuch (comp. p. 7), on Isaiah (comp. xlv, 3 ; Ixvi, 17), etc. ; Wolf gives a specimen of it (Bibliotheca Jlehrwa, i, 1543); Richard Simon used the Paris MS. Qlist. Cril. lib. i, cap. xxxi), and Leopold Dukes print- ed extracts from it {Litendurhlutt des Orients, 1847, p. 480) :— A Commentary on Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. " Of the commentary on Proverbs, whicli is one of Ibn-Caspi's most valuable contributions t£> BibUcal exegesis, the beginning and end liave been published by Werblumer (comp. fpD n:jinp, 1846, p. 19, etc.) ; an analysis of the commentary on Ecclesiastes is given by Giusburg (compare Historical and Critical Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Longman, 18G1, p. 60, etc.), and the brief commentary on, or, rather, introduction to the Song of Songs, which was pubhshed in 1577, but which is rarer than the MSS., has been reprinted with an English translation by Ginsburg in his Historical and Critical Commeittari/ on the Song of Songs (London, 1857, p. 47, etc.) :"— :]C3 m:i:2 {silver staves), or com- mentary on eight prophets, in which he attacks with