IBN 'EZRĀ' ABRĀHĀM BEN MĒ'ĪR. - Grammarian, biblical commentator, poet, philosopher and astrologer, b. at Toledo (Castile) or at Tudela (Navarre) ca. 1092, d., according to tradition, at Calahorra in 1167. He emigrated, to escape the persecutions of the Jews, before 1140. He lived successively at Qayrawān, at Rome in 1140, where he wrote a commentary on Ecclesiastes, followed by commentaries on the other four "scrolls" and by a Hebrew grammar (Mōznajīm, "Balance").
Other works were composed by him around 1144 at Lucca. In 1145 he finished the commentary on Isaiah; in the same year he moved to Mantua, where he drafted another grammatical work. The Italian Jews, devoted to Talmudic studies, did not appreciate the scientific activity of I. 'E. In 1155 he went to Provence and here, especially at Béziers, he was received with many honors. At Rodez (southern France) he finished the commentaries on Daniel, the Psalms and the twelve minor prophets. In 1157 he completed the commentary on the Pentateuch, which was discussed because it was not in every respect in conformity with Talmudic tradition. In 1158 he drafted at London the work Jēšōdh mārā'. In 1160 he wrote at Narbonne an astrological work. Then he went to Rome. The life of I. 'E. is a wandering one, made up of intense labor and of poverty, of which he himself speaks with a touch of irony.
As a poet, he is too much of a grammarian to allow himself linguistic licenses. Many poems are of a liturgical character. He sometimes treats of the struggle between body and spirit and teaches to accept the vicissitudes of life with serenity. At other times he recalls the past glories of Israel and, a son of his time, seeks to deduce from the prophetic visions the beginning of the messianic era.
His philosophical ideas are scattered throughout his biblical commentaries. His exclusively philosophical work is the aforementioned Jēšōdh mārā' ("The foundation of fear"). I. 'E. is a follower of Ibn Gēbhirōl. In psychology one finds the influence of al-Fārābī, of the Neoplatonists, of the Pythagoreans, reflected in Arabic philosophy. God is creator inasmuch as he transforms prime matter by emanation. The world of the celestial bodies occupies an intermediate place between the primal basis of all things and the sensible world, in which three spheres must be distinguished: that of minerals, that of plants and that of living beings. At the head of the last sphere stands man, whose soul is an emanation. Divine Providence extends over the laws that govern the universe, so that man can exercise his own will. The sensible world depends on the constellation of the celestial bodies, and only the soul of one who has overcome sensual nature depends directly on God.
Bibliography5 works
Eugenio Zolli