Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/175

137 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

137 is

mentioned in II Kings

xxxvi.

xviii. 34, xix. 13; Isa. x. 9,

xxxvii. 13; Jev. xlix. 23. Rammannirari III. fought against it (Schrader, " Keilinschriftliche Bibliotliek, " i. 209), and Tiglath-pileser III. besieged it for two years and captured it about 740 B.C. (ib. i. 19,

213,

and

j.

jr.

AKPHAXAD (ne>3S"iK): of Shem.

dignitaries in its production is one of the signs of the comparative religious tolerance then prevailing in Castile.

G. A. B.

22, 24; xi. 10-13;

and

I Cliron.

According i.

to Gen. x.

17, 18, the third

Bochart's identification

("

Phaleg, "

ii.

son

4) of

name with the Arrapachitis of the Greeks, an Armenian region, north of Assyria, adjacent to the Great or Upper Zab river, has long prevailed. The

this

Arrapachitis, however, did not belong to the Semitic

world and it would be difficult to account for the element " -shad " (very improbably explained as an Armenian element, "-shat," by Lagarde, "Sym."i. Still more improbable is the Kurdish Albag. 54). Delitzsch's ("Paradies," 256) explanation from the Assyrian " arba-kishshati " (the four quarters of the world), has not been confirmed. More recently, the view of Michaelis, anticipated by Josephus (" Ant.

that Arpakshad contains the name of the Kasdim or Chaldeans, has become predominant. The explanations of Gesenius, etc. " boundary [" Arp "] of Chaldea " (Keshad); of Cheyne, " Arpakh " and "keshad," written together by mistake ("Expositor," 1897, p. 145), etc. are now superseded by the observation of Hommel (" Ancient Hebrew Traditions," 294) that Arpakshad is the same as " Ur of the Chaldeans " Both names agree in the consonants ( Ur-kasdini). except one, and also in meaning, as Arpakshad is the father of Shelah, grandfather of Eber and ancestor of Terah, Nahor, and Abraham, who came from Ur (Gen. xi. 12). The inserted " p " of Arpakshad has so far not been explained Hommel has recourse even to Egyptian but it is doubtless due to some graphic error (see Ur). In Judith i. 1, etc., Arphaxad, a king of the Medians in Ecbatana, is mentioned, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar II. of Assyria and put to death. The name has clearly been borrowed from Gen. x. by the writer. i.

6,

§

4),

,

,

—

—

J.

W. M. M.

jr.

ARRAGEL, MOSES: ished in the

first

Spanish rabbi; flourhalf of the fifteenth century at

Maqueda and Guadalfajara,

Castile.

The name

is

the Arabic al-Rijal (Steinschneider,

"Jew. Quart. Rev."xi. 610); according to H. Derenbourg ("Journal des Savants," November, 1898), it is derived from the Hebrew "ha-Ragil " (the expert). When in 1422 Don Luis de Guzman, grand master of the Order of Calatrava, was preparing in Toledo to make war upon the Moors, he seems to have suffered a change of heart and, tired of the chase, of playing chess, and of reading romances of chivalry, he felt the need of a good translation of the Bible in Spanish, with a commentary thereon. He asked Rabbi Moses Arragel to undertake this

work (April

At

the rabbi declined the inimpossible it was for a Jew to translate, or comment upon, the Bible in a manner 5).

vitation, feeling

his particular wishes in regard to the matter. The translation of the Old Testament in the Castilian language is one of several which were Translates made at this time; and the cooperathe Old tion of the Jewish rabbi with Catho-

Testament.

Isa. x. 9).

Aronssohn Arragel

first

how

to satisfy a Catholic. Don Luis, however, insisted and he assigned Friar Arias de Enciena, custos of the Franciscans in Toledo, to make known to Moses

lie

took Arragel many years to finish this work. completed (June 2, 1430) it was presented by him with much ceremony to Don Luis in Toledo, in the presence of a concourse of prominent and learned men. The head of the Order of St. Francis, replying to the presentation address, expressed him" Rest assured that if, please self as follows God, the interior of the Bible as regards its substance is equal to its exterior, it will be the most beautiful and the most famous work to be found in many a kingdom. " These and other details are found preIt

When



accompanying which is the whole correspondence between Don Luisde Guzman and Moses Arragel. Luis' letter commences as follows " We, Master of Calatrava, send many salutations to you, Raby Moses Arragel, our vassal in our city of Maqueda. Know, O Raby Moses! that we desire to possess a Bible with glosses and comments and we are told that you can do the work well. fixed to the translation,



It- is interesting to notice that this translation into old Castilian follows the order of books according to the Hebrew canon. This was the express desire of

Jerome; and indeed his translation seems to have formed, in a measure, the basis for this new translation, which was made with the help of the Hebrew original. Wherever the Latin text of Jerome agreed with the Hebrew, Moses followed both; where they differed, he followed the Hebrew exclusively. A surprising freedom of speech is also shown by Moses in the glosses that he has attached to the text. He does not scruple to differ from the interpretation of When he comes in conflict his own coreligionists. with the dogmas of the established church, he says " This is the opinion of the Christians plainly but the Jews hold just the opposite view." He often cites the view of the grand master, Don Luis, himHe is decidedly self, but never controverts him. rational in his own views on many points, and does not scruple to declare many expressions figurative. The glosses are not simply dry explanations, for Moses has inserted here and there a number of Jew:



and proverbs. The authorities cited are numerous. Of classic authors, we find Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemoeus, and Pliny; of Christian scholars, Saint Bernard, Saint Udefonso, and Nicholas de Lyra. His remarks on Christian theology are drawn from the " Tratado sobre la Justicia de la Vida Esish tales, fables,

Don Pedro, archbishop of Seville. He byname the Talmud, the Midrash (Midras

pirituel " of

mentions

"los Prabot"), the cabalists "rabi Tanhuma," "rabi Salomon" (Rashi), "rabi Abraham Aben Ezra," "rabi Moysen de Egipto" (Maimonides), "rabi Nicun (Nissim) de Barcelona," "rabi Jaco" (Jacob ben A slier), "rabi Joseph," "el Camhy" (Kimhi), etc. On the whole, this work of Arragel's shows him to have been a man of vast learning, of fine literary taste, and of a breadth of view hardly to be or