RALBAG (n"1). This eminent commentator, grammarian, metaphysician, mathematician, astro nomer, and philosopher, was born at Bano]as, not far from Gerona, in 1288. He is called Ralbag = )2"51, by the Jews, from the initial letters of his proper name, tIV1 13 "1 '1, R. Levi b. Gershon, and is quoted by Christian writers by the name .dfagister Leo de Bannolis or Gersonides. Very little is known about the personal history of this remarkable Hebrew, beyond the fact that by virtue of his residence in Orange and Avignon he was providentially exempted from the fearful sufferings inflicted upon his brethren (1306, etc.) by the cruel government of Philip IV. the Fair and his suc cessors, and that he was thus enabled quietly to con secrate his extraordinary powers to the elucidation of the Scriptures as well as to the advancement of science. It is beyond the range of this article to notice the peculiar system of moral philosophy pro pounded by Ralbag, or to describe his valuable con tributions to the science of medicine and to astro nomy : we must confine ourselves to his exegetical works, and these we shall detail as much as possible in chronological order. Though he began his authorship with philosophical and scientific produc tions when about thirty (1317), yet he published no exegetical work till he was thirty-seven years of age, from which time he unremittingly devoted himself to the exposition of the Bible. His first commen tary is on the Book of Job, and was finished 1325. Twelve months later (1326) he published a com mentary on the Song of Songs ; and in 1328 a commentary on Coheleth or Ecclesiastes. These
three books afforded him ample scope for pro pounding his philosophical theories, inasmuch as Job and Ecclesiastes discuss the moral government of God, whilst the Song of Songs by its allegory disclosed to him the profoundest metaphysical secrets, — ' Jerusalem' being man—for ' just as man was chosen from the creatures for the service of God, so Jerusalem was selected from all other cities for the worship of the Most High;" the daughters of Jerusalem are the powers of the soul ;' and King Solomon is `the spirit in man which rules.' About the same time (1328) Ralbag finished his commentary on the first chapters of Genesis treating on the hexahemeron, and shortly after issued an exposition of Esther (1329). The Pentateuch now engaged his attention ; and, after labouring over it eight years (1329-1337), he com pleted the interpretation of this difficult part of the O. T.—Genesis in 1329; Exodus, 1330; Leviticus —Deuteronomy, 1337. Whilst engaged on this portion of the Bible, he also worked at a commentary on the Earlier Prophets—i. e., Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings—which he finished in 1338, as well as on commentaries on Proverbs, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles, all of which are dated 1338. The following are the editions of his works ;limn Commentary on the Pentateuch, first printed at Mantua before 148o, then by Corn. Adelkind, Venice 1547, and then again in Frankfurter's Great Rabbinic Bible, Amsterdam 1724-1727 [FRANK