Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Jewish thought.
Angaben zur Quelle:
2 (2020) 35-64
Keywords:
Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meïr,
;
Bible. Commentaries
;
History and criticism
Abstract:
In this article, I compare Ibn Ezra's treatment of two esoteric doctrines in hisearly commentary to Genesis and Exodus, written in Lucca, and his latercommentary on these books, written in Rouen. The first doctrine is thenature of the biblical angels, and the second is the rational soul and itsultimate end. The article opens with a brief account of Ibn Ezra's compositionof the commentary on the Torah and the approach he adopts, and moves onto describe the changes in his approach in his later commentary on the booksof Genesis and Exodus. It then presents an outline of the topics on which IbnEzra alludes to secret doctrines and the philosophical background of some ofhis secrets, before turning to a detailed analysis of the two topics underconsideration. I argue that while Ibn Ezra expands upon some of thesesecrets in his later commentaries, only readers adept in the sciences andphilosophy can truly appreciate them. This is even more true regarding thereaders of his earlier commentaries. Yet Ibn Ezra elaborated on some of thesecrets in his later commentaries not because the Jewish intellectual elite ofNorthern France were more familiar with the scientific and philosophicalbackground of the secrets than the Italian Jewish intellectual elite, enablingthem to better appreciate his exposition. Rather, he did so because he wishedto prod his readers in the Christian world to study the sciences andphilosophy, and he saw that the succinct hints he had provided in his firstcommentary were not sufficient to accomplish this goal.
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