Thomas in Romania;David Simon Blondheim in Les Parlers judéo-romans et la Vetus
latina;and Lazar Sâineanu in Autour des sources indigènes.Citations of the Astrological Treatises of Ibn Ezra
In the introduction to Beginning of Wisdom,Raphael Levy writes:
The number of citations of the astrological treatises of Abraham ibn
Ezra is legion. The Hebraists who cited them from the twelfth to the
seventeenth century include: Samuel Abu Nasr ibn Abbas, Eleazer ben
Juda ben Kalonymos, Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi, Levi ben Abra-
ham ben hayyim, Estori Farhi, Mordecai Comtino, Moses ibn Habib,
Leon Mosconi, Joseph ben Eliezer of Saragossa, Samuel ibn Seneh
Zarza, Samuel ben Saadia ibn Motot, Shem-Tob ben jehudah ibn
Mayor, Immanuel ben Jacob Bonfils, Hayyim of Briviesca, Joseph Albo,
Moses ben Elijah of Greece, Abraham ben Solomon of Torrutiel, Hayy-
im Vital, Eliezer of Germany, Joseph Solomon Delmedigo.
In Latin literature, a list of references to these astrological treatises
made in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
is also quite imposing: John of Saxony, Firminus de Bellavalle, Nicolas
de Cues, William Raymond Moncada, John of Glogau, Pico della
Mirandola, Symon de Phares, Christopher Columbus, Abraham Zacu-
to, Augustinus Ricius, Johann Stoeffler, Luca Gaurico, Francesco
Giuntini, Joseph Scaliger, Johann Bayer, Robert Fludd, Manasseh ben
Israel, Athanasius Kircher, Aegidius Strauch.
In modern scientific literature, one finds these treatises mentioned by
the leading historians of astronomy and kindred science: R. H. Allen,
F. Boll, P. Duhem, C. de la Ronciere, C. A. Nallino, Dr. George Sarton,
D. E. Smith, L. Thorndike, E. Tiede.Astrology and Religion
Ibn Ezra’s Hebrew editors are usually apologetic when it comes to his involve-
ment with astrology and the publication of these works, explaining it by the need to
properly understand his Biblical commentaries, in which he extensively resorts to
astrological concepts and imagery.
Ibn Ezra was a profoundly religious man, but astrology did not seem to cause
any conflict with his faith. Throughout his work it is evident that he fully embraced
astrology, in a hard-nosed and intelligent way, with no doubts, no hesitations and no
religious dilemmas. Yet, there is hardly any cross-over of religious thought into his
astrological writings. Some reconciliation, however, is found in his theological writ-
ings and also in the opening of The Beginning of Wisdom:
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, for it is the instruction.
For when a man does not follow his eyes and heart to fulfill his [world-
ly] desire, then wisdom will rest in him. Moreover, the fear of God will
protect him from the laws and decrees of the heavens all the days of hisIbn Ezra, Avraham
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