and his
mannerisms are provoking. Thus, he always introduces his commentaries
with a long string of questions, which he then proceeds to answer. It
was jokingly said of him that he made many sceptics, for not one in a
score of his readers ever got beyond the questions to the answers.
There is this truth in the sarcasm, that Abarbanel, despite his
essential lucidity, is very hard to read. Though Abarbanel has obvious
faults, his good qualities are equally tangible. No predecessor of
Abarbanel came so near as he did to the modern ideal of a commentator on
the Bible. Ibn Ezra was the father of the "Higher Criticism," i.e. the
attempt to explain the evolution of the text of Scripture. The Kimchis
developed the strictly grammatical exposition of the Bible. But
Abarbanel understood that, to explain the Bible, one must try to
reproduce the atmosphere in which it was written; one must realize the
ideas and the life of the times with which the narrative deals. His own
practical state-craft stood him in good stead. He was able to form a
conception of the politics of ancient Judea. His commentaries are works
on the philosophy of history. His more formal philosophical works, such
as his "Deeds of God" (_Miphaloth Elohim_), are of less value, they are
borrowed in the main from Maimonides. In his Talmudical writings,
notably his "Salvation of his Anointed" (_Yeshuoth Meshicho_), Abarbanel
displays a lighter and more original touch than in his philosophical
treatises. But his works on the Bible are his greatest literary
achievement. Besides the merits already indicated, these books have
another important excellence. He was the first Jew to make extensive use
of Christian commentaries. He must be credited with the discovery that
the study of the Bible may be unsectarian, and that all who hold the
Bible in honor may join hands in elucidating it.

A younger contemporary of Abarbanel was also an apostle of the same
view. This was Elias Levita (1469-1549). He was a Grammarian, or
Massorite, i.e. a student of the tradition (_Massorah_) as to the
Hebrew text of the Bible, and he was an energetic teacher of
Christians. In the sixteenth century the study of Hebrew made much
progress in Europe, but the Jews themselves were only indirectly
associated with this advance. Despite Abarbanel, Jewish commentaries
remained either homiletic or mystical, or, like the popular works of
Moses Alshech, were more or less Midrashic in style. But the Bible was