PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

Abarbanel, in his First Response, discusses the Transmigration of Souls original Greek: Metempsychosis. This is the belief that a soul is reborn into a new body after death. which, according to most, was first devised by the Pythagoreans and Platonists and from there nurtured by the Pharisees and Kabbalists. It is nothing but a most absurd fiction, which is exploded by the Jesuit commentators of Coimbra original: Conimbricenses, referring to the influential 16th-century Aristotelian commentaries from the University of Coimbra. in their second book on the Soul, chapter 1, question 7, article 1, and by the learned Dr. Dannhauer in his Psychological Collections, Dissertation 1, controversy 5. And I do not know what the Jews will answer to the following doubt: Since, according to the Kabbalists, the soul is numerically one and informed the bodies of Adam and David, and is destined to inform the body of the Messiah, how can these three eventually rise again in the resurrection such that no one lacks his own soul? Let them break their teeth on this problem. original Latin: Frangant hic genuinos suos, a metaphorical way of saying "let them struggle with this difficult point." Compare L’Empereur on Isaiah 53, page 231. If such fabrications are considered arguments, we might as well assert that the soul of Balaam’s donkey migrated into Abarbanel—just as Empedocles, who was also accustomed to thinking such trifles were significant, used to say that he himself was once a fish.

And what does that wretched anagram of the name Jesus original Hebrew: ישו (Yeshu) into "vanity" or "lie" original Hebrew: שוי (shav), though the author notes it is spelled incorrectly without the letter Yod. mean? In this way, anything can be made out of anything. For example, by doubling the letter Bet in the name Abarbanel original: אברבנאל, I could produce: A son who brings shame upon his father original Hebrew/Aramaic: בר נבל אבא (Bar naval aba), citing the Targum on Micah 7:6 or The foolish Master has come original Hebrew: בא רבא נבל (Ba raba naval), and what not?

Furthermore, if living in the wilderness makes one an Edomite original Latin: Idumæum. Abarbanel argued that Jesus's followers or origins were linked to Edom, a traditional enemy of Israel., then tell me, Don Abarbanel, were not your ancestors—who wandered for 40 years in the desert—Edomites? Was not Elijah (1 Kings 19:4) actually Esau? But it is also claimed that our Savior was contentious? I hear the same old song that was sung against all the Prophets. In truth, the Jews themselves are the greatest "Edomites," since they are described everywhere as litigious and quarrelsome (Exodus 17:2, 2 Samuel 19:9, Isaiah 41:12, Jeremiah 15:10). Our Savior was most gentle (Isaiah 42:1, 4). That he occasionally rebuked the Pharisees will surprise no one who knows that to maintain peace with the wicked is to declare war on the godly.

XI. Jerome, in his fifth book on Isaiah, reports that some of the Hebrews read "Rome" original Hebrew: רומה (Roma) instead of "Dumah" original Hebrew: דומה (Duma) in Isaiah 21:11, applying that prophecy to the Roman Empire. Truly, that was a malicious perversion of the text, regarding which see Cornelius à Lapide and Francisco Ribera on this passage, note 3.

XII. Thus, we are not moved by the "witnesses from the house"—the Talmudists and Targumists—brought forward by Abarbanel. We are well aware that the Jews' hatred for the Romans began when the Romans' rule over them began. This hatred then boiled over into mere slanders; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). original Greek: ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας τὸ στόμα λαλεῖ. This hatred was later transferred to all Christians, who were held in the same low regard. Hence that "criminal charge" regarding their Edomite origin, which could however be more rightfully thrown back at the authors themselves. For the Edomites, under John Hyrcanus, merged into one people with the Jews, and from that time began to be counted among the Jews—