Tanchum

Tanchum (OF JERUSALEM) BEN-JOSEF, also called "R. Tanchum Jerushalmi" of Haleb, flourished about A.D. 1265-80. The first who made Tanchum's name known to the learned world was the famous scholar Schnurrer, who in 1791 published ch. 1-12 of Tanchum's Arabic commentary on Judges: R. Tanchumi Hierosolymitani ad Libros V. T. Commentarii Arabici Specimen una cum Annotationibus ad aliquot Loca Libri Judicum (Tübingen, 1791). Since that time his exegetical works have been brought to light, though nothing of his life is known except that he must have lived shortly after the devastation of Palestine by the Mongolians, A.D. 1260. He wrote a commentary in Arabic on the whole Old Test., entitled כתאב אלביאן, i.e. The Book of Exposition, of which the following are still extant in MS. at the Bodleian Library: a. the commentary on the earlier prophets, i.e. Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (Cod. Pocock 314); b. commentaries on Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the minor prophets (Cod. Pocock 344); c. commentaries on the five Megilloth (i.e. Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations. Ecclesiastes, and Esther) and Daniel (Cod. Pocock 320); d. כתאב אלשרח אלהפטרות, i.e. The Haphtaroth, or Lessons from the Prophets, translated into Arabic (Cod. Hunt. 607). These commentaries are preceded by elaborate introductions treating on the general import of Holy Writ. Besides the commentary on Lamentations, שרח ספר קינות מן כתאב אלביאן, which has been edited by W. Cureton, Tanchumi Hierosolymitani Comm. Arabicus in Lamentationes e Codice unico Bodleiano Literis Hebraicis exarato. Descripsit Charactere Arabico et edidit (Lond. 1843), the following portions have been published: 1. Commentary on Joshua, edited by Haarbrücker, in the Wissenschtciliche Blatter aus der Veitel-Heine-Ephraim'schen Lehranstalt (Berlin, 1862); 2. on Judges, in part by Schnurrer, ch. 1-12, and ch. 13-21 by Haarbrucker (Halle, 1847); 3. on Samuel and Kings, by Haarbrücker (Leipsic, 1844); 4. on Habakkuk, with a French translation by Dr. Munk (Paris, 1843, in Cahen's Bible, vol. 13). "R. Tanchum's contributions to Biblical exegesis," says Dr. Ginsburg, "are very important to its history. His commentaries are based upon the literal and grammatical meaning of the text. He frequently avails himself of the labors of Hai Gaon, Danash ibn-Librat, Ibn-Chajug, Ibn-Ganach, Ibn-Ezra, Maimonides, etc.; rejects the traditional interpretations (comp. comm. on Jg 12:7; Jg 20:28); transposes sundry portions of the sacred narratives, so as to point out their chronological order (comp. Jg 18:1; Jg 20:28), and, like Maimonides, distinguishes different degrees and kinds of prophecy (comp. Jg 6:34; Jg 13:1; Jg 20:28)." He also wrote an Arabic Lexicon to the Mishna, entitled אלמרשד אלכאפי, i.e. A Sufficient Guide, treating on the relation of the language of the Mishna and of Maimonides ald ha-Chazaka. There are four different MSS. of this work in the Bodleian Library, viz. Cod. Pocock 297, written by Saadia ben-Jacob in 1388; Cod. Hunt. 129, by Saadia ben-David in 1451; Cod. Hunt. 621, by Solomo ben-David ben- Binjamin in 1393; and Cod. Pocock 215. 216, 229, written in 1449. He also wrote a Grammar of the Old Test. Hebrew, quoted by Tanchum himself, but which has not yet come to light. See De Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), p. 145 sq.; Kitto, Cyclop. s.v.; Furst, Bibl. Jud. 2, 56 sq.; Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibl. Bodl. col. 2666- 2669; Ewald, Beitrdge zur Gesch. d. dltesten Aisleguig u. Spracherklirung des A. Test. (Stuttgart, 1844), 1, 151 sq.; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden (Leipsic, 1873), 7:144 sq.; Etheridge, Introd. to Heb. Literature, p. 44; Keil, Introd. to the Old Test. 2, 384 sq.; Bleek, Eiznleitugn in das Alte Test. p. 106; Goldziher, Studien über Tanchuns Jeruschalmi (Lei psic, 1870), Geiger, Judische Zeitschriff, 1862, p. 193; 1871, p. 199; Gratz, Monatsschrift, 1870, p. 239, 285; Zuchold, Bibliotheca Theologica, 2, 1306. (B. P.)