1. Of Protestant Commentators.
Joannis Marthii Commentarius in præcipuas quæsdam partes Pentateuchi, Lug. Batav. ann. 1713. in 4to. This is a kind of exegetical Analysis of Prophecies by Moses, Balaam, and the Patriarch Jacob. For he wrote only on certain Places of the Pentateuch. He was a Fleming, a Calvinist, and Minister at Leyden.
James Altingius put out likewise an Exegetical Analysis of the first four Books, and a Comment upon Deuteronomy; the whole in the first Volume of his Works, printed at Amsterdam, 1687, five Vols. in fol. He was a Calvinist, born at Heidelburg in 1618, and died in 1679. The five hundred Letters written by him are sufficient Specimens of his Wit and Conduct.
Augustus Varenius’s Comment was printed at Rostock, in 1676, in 4to. There would be Pleasure in reading this and the others made by him, says Crovæus, if there were as much Perspicuity as there is Learning in them.
He was born at Hitziger, in the Dutchy of Lunenburg, was Disciple to Grave, taught Hebrew at Rostock, and died in 1684, in the 64th Year of his Age. He was a Poet, Orator, Divine, and Interpreter of the Holy Scripture among the Lutherans.
We should not omit John le Coq,or Cocceius, who wrote so much on the Scripture. He began with a Comment upon several Chapters of Genesis, Observations upon Exodus and Leviticus, upon some Passages of Numbers and Deuteronomy; at Franekar, 1650, in 4to. separately, and since inserted in the Body of his Works, printed at Amsterdam, 1701, eight Vols. in fol. the third Edit. and two other Vols. ibid. 1706. in fol.
His Style is either that of Scripture itself, or altogether popular, being very easy to be understood: He is averse to the School Method, and his way of explaining Scripture is very pleasing to M. Simon; he however lays down abundance of Hypothesis which he does not prove, and which it would be hard for him to prove. He excels particularly in the Explication of the Prophets.
He was a German, born at Bremen in 1603, and died in 1669, at 66 Years of Age, after having form’d a kind of Sect, from him called Cocceian, which comes very near to Socinianism. He understood perfectly the Oriental Languages.
Herman Vander-Hardt published Philological Journals, in twelve Discourses, wherein he clears some Places of the Pentateuch, at Helmstadt, 1703, in 4to. the third Edition. We shall have Occasion to speak of him in another Place.
Sebastian Edzard, in opposition to John le Clerc, examined, whether the Pentateuch was written by a Samaritan Priest? at Wittemburg, 1695, in 4to. He has also composed other Works, which we shall take notice of hereafter.
Paul Fagius is one of the most celebrated of all the Protestants who have put out Notes upon the Pentateuch: His are printed in the Great Criticks of London, tom. I. They are not made from the Hebrew Text, but from Onkelos’s Chaldee Paraphrase, which he translated into Latin, as we have already taken notice. However, they illustrate the Text as much as the Paraphrase. They are according to the Rules of Criticism, because it is his particular Care to give the most natural Signification of the Hebrew Words, and make the literal Sense of Moses understood.
He was a German, born at Saverne in 1504, was first a Lutheran, then a Calvinist, and died in 1550, at forty-five Years of Age. He was a good Critick, and made use of the Rabbins very much to the purpose; which is the Cause of his falling too much into the Rabbinical way of writing.
Herman Deusing published Moses Evangelizans, wherein he explains several Places in the Books of Moses, at Utrecht on the Rhine, 1719, in 4to. The Passages here explain’d by him are taken notice of in the Philological Library, tom. 2. p. 752, 758. We shall have another Opportunity of speaking of him in the Sequel of this Work. He was born at Groninguen, in the Year 1654. lost his Father in 1666, studied at Leyden and other Places, and died in 1722, in the 68th Year of his Age. See his Life, in the same Collection, tom. 5. p. 925, 935. in the Catalogue of his Works, p. 936, 940.
Pentateuchus Mosis, ex translatione Joannis Clerici, cum Paraphrasi perpetuâ, Commentario Philologico, Dissertationibus criticis quinque, Amstelodami, 1710, 2 Vols. in fol. This is the second Edition of this Work, the first having been published in the Year 1693, 1696, two Vols. in fol. The Author declares that he has reformed his Style in many Places, and made some Additions more considerable for the Number than the Length of them. There are three Dissertations prefixed to it; the first whereof treats of the Hebrew Tongue, the second is upon the Translators, and the third upon the Author of the Pentateuch; wherein he answers the Objections which are generally made to prove that it was not written by Moses. In the Body of the Work, every Page presents the Reader with the Latin Version, the Paraphrases, and Comment. There are two Dissertations at the End of Genesis; one upon the Destruction of Sodom, the other upon Lot’s Wife changed into a Pillar of Salt. The Author, rather than believe this Miracle, understands the Words of Moses in a figurative Sense. Sometimes he inserts such Conjectures and Ideas in his Paraphrase as are not much to the purpose. At the End of Deuteronomy there is a Dissertation on the Passage of the Red Sea. He explains how this happened according to his own particular Ideas, and acknowledges that there is something miraculous in it. There is likewise a Translation of Selden’s Treatise of Tythes, and some Geographical and Chronological Tables.
2. Of Jewish Commentators.
Among the Jews, Obadiah Sphorno, an Italian, and a Physician, who died in 1550, put out an Explanation, under the Title of The Light of the Lord, printed at Ferrara in 1567, in 4to. second Edit.
Abraham the Son of David, who lived in 1605, wrote upon the Targum of the Pentateuch, printed at Frankfort upon the Oder, 1681, in fol. second Edition. He published also in Latin three ways of explaining the Law, according to the Jews, at Cambridge, 1597, in 8vo.
Rabbi Babbie, or Bebhai, the Son of Asher, a Spaniard of Sarragossa, and a Philosopher, in 1291, wrote a Literal, Allegorical, and Cabalistical Explanation of the Pentateuch, in Hebrew, printed several times; the last Edition was of Cracow, 1610, in fol. Simon says that this Comment is very large.
Beer the Son of Israel Leifer, of Bohemia, and Director of the Synagogue at Eulemberg, in 1624, put out an Exposition of several Explanations on the Pentateuch at Prague, 1629. in fol.
David the Son of Solomon Physician of Toledo, Musician and Poet, in 1467, published The Crown of the Law: These are six hundred and thirteen Precepts taken from the Pentateuch, and printed in Hebrew at Constantinople, 1516, in 4to.
Elias Misdrabbi, or Orientalis, Rector of the Synagogue of Constantinople in 1490, put out a Comment, printed at Cracow, 1595, in fol. the fourth Edition. Isaac Cohen made an Abridgment of it, which was printed at Prague, 1604, in fol. and 1609 in two Vols.
Eliezer, a German Jew, wrote an Hebrew Exposition of the several Historical Relations in the Pentateuch, at Cracow, 1584, in fol. the second Edition.
Ephraim the Son of Aaron, Principal of the Synagogue of Leopol, about 1580. We have four different Works under his Name; but we are not certain that they are all his. They have been printed in different Places. See F. le Long, tom 2.
Hezekiah the Son of Manoah wrote a Literal and Mystical Comment printed together with the Hebrew Text, and Targum, at Basil 1606, in fol.
Hbaum the Son of Joshua of the Family of Horwitz composed Observations in two Parts, printed at Dyrenfort, 1690, and 1703, two Vols. in 4to.
Jacob Baal Hatturim, who died in 1328, wrote Marginal Notes, printed at Venice, in 1607, in 4to. the third Edition, and in the Rabbinical Bibles. There are several others of the same Name; such as Joseph, Isaac, Moses, Solomon, Simeon, and Samuel, whom we cannot take notice of in this Place.
If any one desires an exact List of such Jewish Authors as have written upon the whole Scripture, or any Part of it, or upon the Books relating to it, he may consult the Bibliotheca Rabbinica, by Bartolocci, and Imbonati a Cistercian Monk, in 5 Vols. in fol. and in particular the Catalogue of all the Books mentioned in this Bibliotheca Rabbinica, which is to be found at the Beginning of the fourth Tome, p. 21, &c. F. le Long’s Bibliotheca Sacra, tom. 2. p. 1079, 1083.