IBN BALAAM JEHUDAH (nlbn in rrwr), called in Ambic Able-Zakaria yahja, and by Ibn Ezra rrnro ".), R. 7ehua'ah, the first grammarian, +intcm mbn In, Ben Balazzin the Spaniard, one of the most distinguished logians and commentators of the Spanish school, who lived in Seville between A.D. 1050 and ro9o. He wrote (r) wipnn +tnyo "Int, a work ON tht accents of the Bible, which was first edited by Jo. Mercer under the title De accentibus scriptura pro saias, Par., Rob. Stephanus, 1565. Some portions of this book have been incorporated by Heiden helm in his excellent work called a,nvuri Icnwn. [HEIDENHEim.i (2) t1"/Mi vrizt) ON the Poetical accents of yob, Proverbs, and the Psalms, first published by Mercer, Paris 1556, and recently re-edited with the remarks of the most ancient grammarians upon these peculiar accents, as well as notes and an introduction, by G. J. Polak, Amsterdam 1858. (3) mon Ininny tkvnri mt:vri, on the a'enominative verbs in the Hebre-w language. These denominatives are arranged in alphabetical order, and commented upon in Arabic. This work has not yet been published, but speci mens of it in Hebrew have been printed by Leopold Dukes in Literaturblatt a'es Orients, 1846, No. 42.
(4) vinvri rorrht. izt:), a treatise on the Hebrew particles, in alphabetical order. This work, too, has not as yet been printed, but specimens of it have been published both by Dukes and Fiirst in Litera turblatt des Orients, Nos. 29 and 42. (5) ',Da nann, a treatise on the Hebrew homonyms, in alpha betical order, extracts of which have been pub lished by Dukes in Literaturblatt des Orients, 1846, No. 4. (6) A Commentary on the Pentateuch, written in Arabic : though this work has long been known through Ibn Ezra, who quotes it in his commentary on Gen. xlix. 6 ; Exod. v. 19; yet it is only lately 0851) that the indefatigable Dr. Steinschneider has discovered a MS. in the Bod leian Library containing the commentary on NUM bers and Deuteronomy. Ibn Balaam always gives the grammatical explanation 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 explains the passage ac cording to its context, and finally sets forth the IIalachic and the judicial interpretation of the Talmud. A spechnen of this comrnentary, which is extremely important to the Hebrew text and the Massora, has been communicated by Adolph Neu bauer in the yournal Asiatique of December 1861. It is on Deut. v. 6, upon which Ibn Balaam remarks, As to the different readings of the two Decaloguer (Le., Exod. xx. 2-17, and Dent. v. 6-21), Saadia is of opinion that they contain two different revela tions. He entertains the same view respecting those Psalms which occur twice with some verbal variations [ex. gr., Ps. xiv. and El.], and respecting
the different readings of the Babylonian and Pales tinian codices. Thus, for example, when the Babylonians omit the words C1'1 in Zech. xiv. 4, which the Palestinians insert, he takes this as a proof that this prophecy was revealed in two different forms. He, in like manner, adheres to both readings in every other prophecy in which similar verbal variations are found, because both have been revealed. I, however, find it more probable that tradition is the cause of these dif ferent readings, inasmuch as some have undoubt edly heard the prophet use such expressions on one occasion, and others heard from him other expres sions on another occasion, and both traditions have been followed. This, I am also of opinion, is the cause of the -differences between Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali [BEN ASHER; BEN NAPHTALI], each of them found a copy, according to one such tra dition, which he followed without any regard to the deviations. And this is the case with all the difference between the Westerns and the Easterns which the ancients have fixed.' From this import ant passage we get to know a remarkable variation between the Western and Eastern codices which is not mentioned elsewhere, namely, that the words voz N17171 (Zech. xiv. 2) are omitted in the latter ; We also get to know why the Syriac version has not these words ; and we, moreover, see in what light Saadia and others regarded the various readings. (7) A Commentary 072 the Psalms, quoted by Ibn Ezra on Ps. iv. 8 ; vii. 6, 7 ; x. 14; xxiv. 2 ; liv. 7 ; lxxxi. 17 ; lxxxiv. 4; IXXXVi. 2 ; lxxxviii. 5 ; CVii. 28 ; CXV. 7; cxix. 8 ; cxliv. 8. (8)A Commentaryon the Song of Songs, which, according to Ibn Aknin, who quotes it, gives a literal exposition of this book [IBN AICNIN]. (9) A Commentary on Isansh, quoted by Joseph Albo (Ikarim, sec. i. I), from which it appears that Ibn Balaam, contrary to the generally received opinion, explained away the Messianic prophecies, and interprets Is. xi. as re ferring to Hezekiah. From Ibn Ezra's quotation on Zech. ix. 7 and Dan. x. 1, it seems as if he had also written commentaries on these books. I'm Balaam is one of the most liberal interpreters, and quotes Christian commentators and the Koran in his expositions. Comp. Steinsclmeider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, COI. I292 1297 ; vol. ii., Lemberg 1853, p. 60, ff. ; Leopold Dukes, Beitriige Zur Geschichte der Aeltesten Auslegu,ng und Spracherkldrung des A lten Testamentes von Ewald und Dukes, Stuttgart 1844, vol. ii., p. 186, ff.; Geiger, ..idische Zeitschrip? fur IVissenschaft und Leben, vol. i., 1862, p. 292, ff. —C. D. G.