IBN BAL?AM, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL

IBN BAL ?AM, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL (Ar. Abu Zakariyy? Ya?y? ; second half of the 11^th century), biblical commentator and Hebrew grammarian. Ibn Bal?am came from Toledo from a respected family and settled later in Seville. Moses ibn Ezra, in his poems, extols his critical faculty, his wide knowledge, and his precise style, but criticizes his irritable temper in polemics. According to Ibn Ezra, Ibn Bal?am in his old age devoted himself to the study of the halakhah (Shirat Yisrael, ed. by B. Halper (1924), p. 73). Ibn Ezra's words are borne out by Ibn Bal?am's works: they present vehement polemics, especially against Moses b. Samuel ha-Kohen *Gikatilla, and, in marked opposition to the Spanish biblical commentators of his age, apply halakhic hermeneutics. In accordance with the Spanish school of exegesis, he analyzes the Bible text grammatically and makes comparisons with Arabic. He exerted great influence on later commentators, especially on Abraham ibn Ezra.

The following works by him, all composed in Arabic, are known: (1) Kit?b al-T?rji? ("The Book of Decision"), a commentary on the Pentateuch, a considerable portion of which was edited by S.A. Pozna?ski (to Lev. in zhb, 4 (1900), 17ff.) and S. Fuchs (to Num. and Deut., in Studien…, iii–xxiii); (2) Nuqat al-Miqra ("Glosses to the Scripture"), a commentary on the Prophets and Hagiographa, parts of which were published in various places (see bibliography, Abramson, p. 55, notes 6–11); (3) Kit?b Ta?d?d I?j?z?t al-Tawr?t wa-al-Nubuwwa ("The Book of the Enumeration of the Wonders of the Pentateuch and the Prophets"), quoted by Moses ibn Ezra (Shirat Yisrael, 188) and by Ibn Bal?am himself in Nuqa? al-Miqra; (4) Kit?b al-Irsh?d ("The Book of Guidance"), quoted by Moses ibn Ezra (ibid., 110). Steinschneider was wrong in identifying it with the Horayat ha-Kore, which apparently was not composed by Ibn Bal?am; the same applies, it seems, to the Sefer Ta'amei ha-Mikra; (5) Kit?b al-Tajn?s ("The Book of Homonyms," also called Kit?b al-Mu??biq wa-al-Muj?nis); the Arabic original was edited by Kokowzoff (p. 69 Heb. pt.), and again by Abramson; (6) Hur?f al-Ma??n?, on Hebrew particles (see Kokowzoff, p. 203 Russ. pt. and pp. 109ff., Heb. pt.); (7) al Af?al al-Mushtaqqa min al-Asm??, on denominative verbs (see Kokowzoff, p. 203 Russ. pt. and pp. 133ff. Heb. pt.).

It is supposed that some poems with the acrostic of the name Bal?am were composed by Ibn Bal?am.

bibliography:

S. Fuchs, Studien ueber Abu Zakaria Jachja… (1893); W. Wickes, A Treatise on the Accentuation of the Three So-Called Poetical Books of the Old Testament… (Oxford, 1881), 102ff.; P. Kahle, in: zdmg, 55 (1901), 175; Pozna?ski, ibid., 70 (1916), 449–76; 71 (1917), 270 (mainly corrections by I. Goldziher); B. Kohlbach, Jehuda ibn Balan (Hung., 1888); P. Kokowzoff, K istorii srednevekovoy yevreyskoy filologii i yevreysko-arabskoy literaturi, 2 (1916); M. Zobel, in: ej, 8 (1931), 316–21; S. Abramson, in: H. Yalon Jubilee Volume (1963), 51–149; Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 298–300; Davidson, O?ar, 4 (1933), 388.

[Joshua Blau]