Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Spanish Humanists on the Ten Commandments

Abstract

Benito Arias Montano (1527–1598) was one of the most important Spanish humanists of the Renaissance. His most significant undertaking was the edition of the Biblia Polyglotta Regia, published in Antwerp in 1569–1573. In his preface to this edition, Arias Montano defended the need to know biblical Hebrew for the correct interpretation of Scripture. A translation of Abraham ibn Ezra’s Commentary on the Ten Commandments has been attributed to him. This article analyses this translation and compares it with the original in order to demonstrate the interest of a Spanish humanist like Montano in the work of a medieval exegete such as Ibn Ezra. The contents of Ibn Ezra’s interpretations are compared to the explanations of the Ten Commandments contained in manuals of Christian doctrine written in the Renaissance period. This translation can be understood as an example of the appropriation of the Jewish exegetical legacy by Renaissance Christian humanists.