Commentary on Obadiah and a Philological Study of Enoch

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3

Nachmanides Moses ben Nachman (1194–1270), a leading medieval Jewish scholar and commentator and Bahya Bahya ben Asher (13th century), a Spanish rabbi known for his Torah commentary [conclude] that he fled only after the death of Joseph—that is, 54 years after the death of Jacob. However, they all cite Josippon A 10th-century history of the Jews, often falsely attributed to Josephus (Gorionides), whom perhaps none of them actually saw when they were writing these things. Furthermore, the timeline itself is contradictory, making it impossible for Zepho to be Janus (whom Abarbanel ignorantly confuses with Saturn). On this point, Hülfius Antonius Hulsius (1615–1685), a Dutch theologian and professor of Hebrew has exposed Abarbanel’s notable deception (in the place cited, page 135). 4. Abarbanel himself, in the same work, admits that the Italians were established by Kittim, the grandson of Japheth; how, then, can they be derived from Zepho, the grandson of Esau, from the descendants of Shem? He responds that Zepho and his followers "changed" the Italians into Idumeans. What a wondrous metamorphosis! original Greek: μεταμόρφωσις (metamorphōsis) And what if the Italians had changed those few incoming Idumeans into Italians? Far be it! original Greek: ἄπεγε (apege) 5. Finally, the entire fable is slaughtered by Abarbanel's own kinsmen. For in the Yalkut The Yalkut Shimoni, a major medieval collection of Jewish midrashic traditions (Part 1, page 50, middle of column 1), the Beth Israel from the Sotah A tractate of the Talmud (chapter 1, commentary 46), and the Tze'enah Ure'enah A popular Yiddish commentary for laypeople in the section Vayechi original Hebrew: ויחי, the Torah portion covering the end of Genesis (folio 65, column 3), it is related that the sons of Ishmael, Esau, and Keturah came to fight Joseph, but when they saw Joseph's crown placed upon Jacob's coffin, they each took the crowns from their own heads and placed them on the same coffin. Therefore, no one fought, no one was captured, and no one escaped in flight to Italy. The Cadmean brothers A classical reference to siblings or kin who destroy one another in internal strife are mixing battles among themselves!

II. Abarbanel proposes a similar fabrication from Josippon (at the place cited): namely, that Magdiel One of the chiefs of Edom listed in Genesis 36:43, from the descendants of Esau, was the first founder of the Roman district. Therefore, the Romans are Idumeans.
Response: 1. This, whatever it is worth, is asserted without proof. We wish to be given reasons, not mere words. Indeed, one must wonder with what audacity this reckless Rabbi can contradict the Jerusalem Talmud, in which (Tractate Avodah Zarah, chapter 1) original Hebrew: ע"ז (Abodah Zarah), the tractate concerning 'Foreign Worship' Remus and Romulus are quite clearly said to have laid the first foundations of the city of Rome. These are the words: On the day that Jeroboam erected the two calves, Remus and Romulus came and built two huts at Rome, etc. But perhaps Magdiel is Romulus? Or perhaps he is not. Certainly, for Abarbanel later on, Magdiel is Rome itself. For a long time now, the Jews have ruined their own credibility with these most trifling fables about the origin of Rome, which you may see, if you wish, in Buxtorf’s Talmudic Lexicon (column 2230). 2. But even if the story being told were true for a moment—even if Magdiel were both Rome herself and the first founder and inhabitant of Rome—would all Romans and Italians therefore be Idumeans? By that logic, would not the Israelites who occupied Canaan have been Canaanites, since those were the first founders of their dwellings? But the Idumeans could have later led colonies into Italy: Indeed, and they also could not have. Even if they had, I ask you, how many times has Italy changed its inhabitants? How many times has it been brought under subjection by other peoples, with the old residents driven out and the colonists ordered to migrate? I could cite the Greeks,