IBN-GIATH
d. Juden, vi, 25 sq., 205 sq. ; Ftirst, Hebr. Diet. Introd. p. xxxsq.; YAno,Cyclo2).of Bibl. Lit.\i,2,bi &(\.; Furst, Biblioth. Jud. i, 315.
Ibn-Gebirol or Gabirol, Salomon een-Jehu- DAH, a very distinguished Jewish philosopher, commen- tator, and grammarian, as well as hymnologist, was born at Malaga, in Spain, about 1021. When only nineteen years of age he evinced his great skill fis a poet, and his thorough acquaintance with Hebrew gram.mar by writ- ing a grammar of the Hebrew language in Hebrew verse. It has never been printed entire, but parts of it have been published by Parchon in his Hebrtw Lexicon (Paris, 1844), and by Leop. Dukes, in his Shire Shelomo (Hannov. 1858). About 1045 Ibn-Gebirol published his first philosophical work, which was translated "by Ibn- Tibbon into Hebrew, entitled ^£211 Si'THTD -pptri (pub- lished in 1550 and often). He propounds in this work " a pecidiar theory of the human temperament and pas- sions, enumerates twenty propensities corresponding to the four dispositions multiplied by the five senses, and shows how the leaning of the soul to the one side may be brought to the moral equipoise hy observing the declarations of Scripture, and ethical sayings of the Talmud, which he largely quotes, and which he inter- sperses with the chief sayings of ' the divine' Socrates, his pupil Plato, Aristotle, the Arabic philosophers, and especially with the maxims of a Jewish moral philoso- pher called Chefez Al-Kute, who is the author of an Ar- abic paraphrase of the Psalms in rhyme (Steinschnei- der, Jeicish Literature [Lond. 1857], p. 101)." But as this work contained also personal allusions to some lead- ing men of Saragossa, he was expatriated in 1046. Af- ter travelling from one place to another, he finally found a protector in the celebrated Samuel Ha-Nagid, a Jew also, then prime minister of Spain, and he was enabled to continue his philosophical studies, as the result of which he produced The Fountain of Life, his greatest work. Fragments of a Hebrew translation and an en- tire Latin version of it were published by INIunk in his Melanges de philosojihie Jnive et A 7-abe (Paris, 1857-59). He died in 1070. The influence which Ibn-Gebirol ex- erted on Arabian and Jewish philosophj' cannot be too highly estimated. He certainly deserves to be called " the Jewish Plato," as Griitz chooses to name him : but the assertion that he was the Jirst philosopher of the JMiddle Ages, and that his philosophical treatises Avcre used by the scholastic philosophers, is an error, as Lewis {flistoi-y of Bhilosojihy, ii, 63) fully proves, al- though INIunk, and after him Gratz, fell into the same mistake, as also Ginsburg, the writer of the article on Ibn-Gebirol in Kitto (liibl. Cyclop, ii, 356). From fre- quent quotations in Aben-Ezra's commentaries, it seems that Ibn-Gebirol must also have written some exposi- tions of the Old-Test. Scriptures, though none such are known to us at present existing. Ibn-Gebirol also had a natural talent for verse-making. One of his hAmns, entitled The royal Diadem, " a beautiful and pathetic poetical composition of profound philosophical senti- ments and great devotion, forms an important part of the divine service on the evening preceding the great Day of Atonement with the devout Jews to the present day." See Griitz, Geschichte d. Juden, vi, 31 sq. ; Sachs, Religiose Poesie d. Juden i. Sjmnien (Berl. 1845), p. 3 sq., 213, etc.; Zw\z, Synar/ogale Poesie dcr Mittelalters, p= 222 ; Fiirst, Biblioth. Jud. i, 320 sq.
Ibn-Giath, Isaac ben-Jehudaii, a Jewish Pabbi of a very distinguished family who resided in Lucena, not far from Cordova, was born about 1030, He was a very able philosopher and hymnologist, and well conversant with the Talmud, He is said to have Avritten a Com- mentary on Ecclesiastes, which has not as yet come to light. From the frequent quotations made from it by the best interpreters and lexicographers, it appears that it contained important contributions to the critical expo- sition of this diflicult book. From the references to his ^vritings made by Aben-Ezra (comp, comment, on Dent, X, 7 ; Psa, cxlvii, 3), Kimchi (Lexicon, luider articles
IBN-GIKATILLA
459
IBN-LATIF
p"ia, nj", mny, "110, :i'33, 1:T), and Solomon ben- Melech (comment, on 2 Sam. xxii, 3G), it is evident that Ibn-Giath must have also written some other exegetie- al and grammatical treatises, and that he material!}' contributed to the development of Biblical exegesis. Kis devotional poetry, which is rather inferior to Ibn- Gebirol's (q. v.), is used in the Jewish service to the present dav. He died in 1089. See /uiiz, SijiitiijKfidle Poesie d. Mittelalters, p. 225 sq.; Fiirst, liihlinih. .lud.^ i, 332 sq. ; Sachs, Die Religiose Poesie </. Jiidi-it in ^^piiiden (Berlin, 1845), p. 46, etc., 255, etc.; Landshut, Amude Ahodu (Berl. 1857), fasciculus i, HI, etc; Griitz, Gesch. del- Jwlcn, vi, 74.
Ibn-Gikatilla. See Joseph Ibs-Chiquitilla, Ibni'jah (Heb. Yibniyah', i^'^'^'^'}, i. q. Ihneiah; Sept. 'Itjiavaai), the father of Reuel, which latter was the grandfather of the Meshullam, another Benjaraite, M'ho settled in Jerusalem after the return from Baby- lon (1 Chron. ix, 8). B.C. long ante 536.
Ibn-Jachja, David, a Jewish scholar, was born about 1410. lie was a Rabbi at Lisbon, in Portugal, and had gained great celebrity by his scholarship when he was suddenly accused of giving aid to the Spanish Maranes (q. v.), who, having witnessed the peculiar practices of the Spanish disciples of Christ, preferred to return to the faith of their fathers. Ibn-Jachja was condemned to death, and barely escaped the punish- ment by a flight to Naples. Later, he removed to Con- stantinople, and taught the sciences. He died in 1504. His works are, Leshoa Limmodim, ularge Hebrew gram- mar ; and Shekel Hakkodesh, on the metric and poetical laws of the new Hebrew dialect. See Carmoly, Die Jachjiden, p. 17 ; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, ix, 3 ; Ether- idge, /w^rod to Heb. Lit p. 462; Fllrst, Biblioth. Jud. ii. 2sq.