KIMHI, DAVID. - Rabbi (called Radaq = RDQ), grammarian, lexicographer and exegete, b. at Narbonne ca. 1160, d. there in 1235. His father, JOSEPH BEN ISAAC (ca. 1105-70), who came from Spain to Provence, to Narbonne, and published the first Hebrew grammar for schools (Sefer Zikkaron, "Book of Memorial," edited by W. Bacher in 1888), was also distinguished as a grammarian; as was his elder brother MOSES, d. ca. 1190 at Narbonne, whose grammar Mahdalakh Shevile ha-da'at "Way of the Paths of Knowledge" was printed at Pesaro in 1508 and commented on by Elijah (v.) Levita under the title 'Oßomopía (Leiden 1631).
In his grammatical studies he follows Judah Hayyuj, Jonah ibn Janah, and his father, Joseph. His grammatical work is entitled Mikhlol ("Completeness"); the first part concerns morphology, the second is a list of verbal roots. The lexicographical part also gives etymological indications and comparisons with later Hebrew and Aramaic. In the 16th century J. Reuchlin follows Q.'s work in his Rudimenta linguae Hebraicae (1506). In the writing 'Et sofer ("The Scribe's Pen") he gives instructions for the scribes of the sacred Scrolls and treats of punctuation. Q. took an active part in the defense of the works of Maimonides.
Exegetical works: Commentaries on Chronicles, on the Psalter, on the 12 Minor Prophets, on the Pentateuch, of which only a part has been preserved. In the commentaries he refers to Maimonides (v.) and interprets certain accounts of prodigies in the Bible as prophetic visions; he denies the bodily assumption of the prophet Elijah (II Kings 2:1); Adam (in Genesis) means the human species; the vision of Ezekiel is interpreted philosophically. Excommunication was pronounced against him for having maintained that in the messianic era the controversies contained in the Talmud (v.) would have lost all practical value. The commentary on the Psalms contains some anti-Christian excursuses.
Bibliography3 works
Eugenio Zolli