Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''
online
; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionary'' gives the dates 1092/93 – 1167 was one of the most distinguished

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

biblical commentators and philosophers of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. He was born in Tudela,

Taifa of Zaragoza The taifa of Zaragoza () was an independent Arab Muslim state in the east of Al-Andalus (present-day Spain) with its capital in Saraqusta (Zaragoza) city. It was established in the early 11th century as one of the many Taifa kingdoms that foll ...

(now

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

Biography

Abraham Ibn Ezra was born in Tudela, one of the oldest and most important Jewish communities in Navarre. At the time, the town was under the rule of the

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

s of the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Taifa of Zaragoza. However, when he later moved to Córdoba, he claimed it was his birthplace. Ultimately, most scholars agree that his place of birth was Tudela. From outside sources, little is known of ibn Ezra's family; however, he wrote of a marriage to a wife who produced five children. While it is believed four died early, the last-born,

Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

, became an influential poet and a later convert to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

in 1140. His son's conversion was deeply troubling for ibn Ezra, leading him to pen many poems reacting to the event for years afterward. Ibn Ezra was a close friend of

Judah Halevi Judah haLevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; ; ; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets and is celebrated for his secular and religious poems, many of whic ...

, who was approximately 14 years older. When ibn Ezra moved to Córdoba as a young man, Halevi followed him. This trend continued when the two began their lives as wanderers in 1137. Halevi died in 1141, but Ibn Ezra continued travelling for three decades, reaching as far as

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. During his travels, he composed secular poetry of the lands he traveled through and rationalist Torah commentaries (for which he would be best remembered). He appears to have been unrelated to the contemporary scholar Moses ibn Ezra.

Works

Exodus w commentary by Abraham ibn Ezra 1488

In Spain, Ibn Ezra had already gained the reputation of a distinguished poet and thinker. However, apart from his poems, the vast majority of his work was composed after 1140. Written in Hebrew, as opposed to earlier thinkers' use of

Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...

, these works covering Hebrew grammar, Biblical exegesis, and scientific theory were tinged with the work of Arab scholars he had studied in Spain. Beginning many of his writings in Italy, Ibn Ezra also worked extensively to translate the works of grammarian and biblical exegetist Judah ben David Hayyuj from their original Judeo-Arabic to Hebrew. Published as early as 1140, these translations became some of the first expositions of Hebrew grammar to be written in Hebrew. While publishing translations, Ibn Ezra also began to publish biblical commentaries. Using many of the techniques outlined by Hayyuj, Ibn Ezra would publish his first biblical commentary on

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...

in 1140. He would continue to publish such commentaries over mainly works from

Ketuvim The (; ) is the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible, after the ("instruction") and the "Prophets". In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually titled "Writings" or "Hagiographa". In the Ketuvim, 1–2 Books ...

and

Nevi'im The (; ) is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the () and (). The Nevi'im are divided into two groups. The Former Prophets ( ) consists of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings ...

throughout his journey. He managed to publish a short commentary over the entire

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

while living in

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

in 1145. This brief commentary would be amended into more extended portions beginning in 1155 with the publication of his expanded commentary on Genesis. Besides his Torah commentaries, ibn Ezra also published many works in Hebrew on

Islamic science Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, the Umayyads of Córdoba, the Abbadids of Seville, the Samanids, the Ziyarids and the Buyi ...

. In doing so, he continued spreading the knowledge he had gained in Spain to the Jews throughout the areas he visited and lived. This can be seen particularly in the works he published while living in France. Many of the works he published relate to astrology and the use of the

astrolabe An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomy, astronomical list of astronomical instruments, instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and Model#Physical model, physical model of the visible celestial sphere, half-dome of the sky. It ...

Influence on biblical criticism and philosophy of religion

In his commentary, Ibn Ezra adhered to the literal sense of the texts, avoiding Rabbinic allegory and Kabbalistic interpretation. He exercised an independent criticism that, according to some writers, exhibits a marked tendency toward

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

. In addition, he sharply criticized those who blended the simplistic and logical explanation with

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

, maintaining that such interpretations were never intended to supplant the plain understanding. Indeed, Ibn Ezra is claimed by proponents of higher biblical criticism of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

as one of its earliest pioneers.

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

, in concluding that Moses did not author the Torah and that the Torah and other

protocanonical books The protocanonical books are those books of the Old Testament that are also included in the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and that came to be considered canonical during the formational period of orthodox Christianity. The Old Testament is entirely ...

were written or redacted by somebody else, cites Ibn Ezra's commentary on Deuteronomy. In his commentary, ibn Ezra examines Deuteronomy 1:1 and expresses concern over the unusual phrasing that describes Moses as being "beyond the Jordan." This wording suggests that the writer was situated in the land of Canaan, which is located west of the Jordan River, even though Moses and the

Children of Israel Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanite populations and other peoples.Mark Smit ...

had not yet crossed the Jordan at that point in the Biblical narrative.Jay F. Schachter,
The Commentary of Abraham Ibn Ezra on the Pentateuch: Volume 5, Deuteronomy
' (KTAV Publishing House 2003) Relating this inconsistency to others in the Torah, Ibn Ezra stated,

"If you can grasp the mystery behind the following problematic passages: 1) The final twelve verses of this book .e., Deuteronomy 34:1–12, describing the death of Moses 2) 'Moshe wrote his song on the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel euteronomy 31:22 3) 'At that time, the Canaanites dwelt in the land' enesis 12:6 4) '... In the mountain of God, He will appear' enesis 22:14 5) 'behold, his g king of Bashanbed is a bed of iron s it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? you will understand the truth."

Spinoza concluded that Ibn Ezra's reference to "the truth", and other such references scattered throughout Ibn Ezra's commentary in reference to seemingly anachronistic verses, as "a clear indication that it was not Moses who wrote the Pentateuch but someone else who lived long after him, and that it was a different book that Moses wrote". Spinoza and later scholars were thus able to expand on several of Ibn Ezra's references as a means of providing more substantial evidence for non-Mosaic authorship. On the other hand, Orthodox writers have stated that Ibn Ezra's commentary can be interpreted as consistent with Jewish tradition, stating that the Torah was divinely dictated to Moses. Ibn Ezra is also among the first scholars to have published a text about dividing the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amo ...

into at least two distinct parts. In his commentary to Isaiah, he remarked that chapters 1-39 dealt with a different historical period (second half of the 8th century BCE) than chapters 40-66 (later than the last third of the 6th century BCE). This division of the book into First Isaiah and Deutero-Isaiah has been accepted nowadays by all but the most conservative Jews and Christians. Ibn Ezra's commentaries, especially some of the longer excursuses, contain numerous contributions to the

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

. One work in particular that belongs to this province, ''Yesod Mora'' ("Foundation of Awe"), on the division and the reasons for the Biblical commandments, he wrote in 1158 for a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based friend, Joseph ben Jacob. In his philosophical thought,

Neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

ideas prevail, and

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

also had a place in his view of the world. He also wrote various works on mathematical and astronomical subjects. He believed that Greek science had been "pillaged" from Hebrew science which predated it. Ibn ezrs

Bibliography

Biblical commentaries

* ''Sefer ha-Yashar'' ("Book of the Straight"). The complete commentary on the Torah was finished shortly before his death.

Hebrew grammar

* ''Sefer Moznayim'' "Book of Scales" (1140), chiefly an explanation of the terms used in Hebrew grammar; as early as 1148, it was incorporated by Judah Hadassi in his ''Eshkol ha-Kofer'', with no mention of Ibn Ezra. *''Sefer ha-Yesod'', or ''Yesod Diqduq'' "Book of Language Fundamentals" (1143) *''Sefer Haganah 'al R. Sa'adyah Gaon'', (1143) ''a'' defense of Saadyah Gaon against Dunash ben Labrat's criticisms. * ''Tzakhoot'' (1145), on linguistic correctness, his best grammatical work, which also contains a brief outline of modern Hebrew meter. * ''Sefer Safah Berurah'' "Book of Purified Language" (1146)''.''

Smaller works – partly grammatical, partly exegetical

* ''Sefat Yeter'', in defense of

Saadia Gaon Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, Geonim, gaon, Jews, Jewish philosopher, and exegesis, exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate. Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic ...

against Dunash ben Labrat, whose criticism of Saadia ibn Ezra had brought with him from Egypt. * ''Sefer ha-Shem'' ("Book of the Name")'','' a work on the names of God''.'' * ''Yesod Mispar'', a small monograph on numerals. * ''Iggeret Shabbat'' (1158), a responsum on Shabbat

Religious philosophy

* ''Yesod Mora Vesod Hatorah'' (1158), on the division of and reasons for the Biblical commandments.

Mathematics

* ''Sefer ha-Ekhad'', on the peculiarities of the numbers 1–9. * ''Sefer ha-Mispar'' or ''Yesod Mispar'', arithmetic. * ''Luchot'', astronomical tables. * ''Sefer ha-'Ibbur'', on the calendar. * ''Keli ha-Nechoshet'', on the

. * ''Shalosh She'elot'', in answer to three chronological questions of David ben Joseph Narboni.

Astrology

Ibn Ezra composed his first book on astrology in Italy, before his move to France: * ''Mishpetai ha-Mazzelot'' ("Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs"), on the general principles of astrology In seven books written in

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

in 1147–1148 Ibn Ezra then composed a systematic presentation of astrology, starting with an introduction and a book on general principles, and then five books on particular branches of the subject. The presentation appears to have been planned as an integrated whole, with cross-references, including references to subsequent books in the future tense. Each of the books is known in two versions, so it seems that Ibn Ezra also created a revised edition of the series at some point. * ''Reshit Hokhma'' ("The Beginning of Wisdom"), an introduction to astrology, perhaps a revision of his earlier book * ''Sefer ha-Te'amim'' ("Book of Reasons"), an overview of Arabic astrology, explaining the material in the previous book. * ''Sefer ha-Moladot'' ("Book of Nativities"), on astrology based on the time and place of birth. * ''Sefer ha-Me'orot'' ("Book of Luminaries" or "Book of Lights"), on medical astrology. * ''Sefer ha-She'elot'' ("Book of Interrogations"), on questions about particular events. * ''Sefer ha-Mivharim'' ("Book of Elections", also known as "Critical Days"), on optimum days for particular activities. * ''Sefer ha-Olam'' ("Book of the World"), on the fates of countries and wars, and other larger-scale issues. * Translation of two works by the astrologer Mashallah ibn Athari: "She'elot" and "Qadrut".

Poetry

There are a great many other poems by Ibn Ezra, some of them religious and some secular – about friendship, wine, didactic or satirical. Like his friend Yehuda Halevi, he used the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

poetic form of Muwashshah.

Legacy

The crater Abenezra on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

was named in honor of Ibn Ezra.

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

's poem " Rabbi ben Ezra", beginning "Grow old along with me/The best is yet to be", is derived from a meditation on Ibn Ezra's life and work that appeared in Browning's 1864 poetry collection '' Dramatis Personæ.''

Burial

According to Jewish tradition, Abraham ibn Ezra was buried in Cabul in the Lower Galilee alongside

References

External links

''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2007)
entry on "Ibn Ezra, Abraham Ben Meir" with extensive bibliography by Uriel Simon and Raphael Jospe * * *
Commentaries over the Torah at Sefaria

Poems in Hebrew
a
Ben Yehuda Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn Ezra, Abraham 1080s births 1167 deaths People from Tudela, Navarre Bible commentators Jewish poets 12th-century rabbis in al-Andalus Medieval Hebraists Medieval Jewish astrologers Astrologers from Al-Andalus Medieval Navarrese Jews Philosophers of Judaism Sephardi rabbis Grammarians of Hebrew Jewish astronomers Jewish liturgical poets Medieval Jewish philosophers