Exegese

Conciliator sive De convenientia locorum S. Scripturae quae pugnare inter se videntur On the Harmonization of Places in the Holy Scriptures that Seem to Conflict with One Another

1633 · rif. 55772 — Amsterdam: by the Author 1633. First edition. Modern calf. Good-. Quarto 19 by 14.6 cm. Collation: asterisk4 A-2G4. 8 240 pp. Woodcut printer's device at title; 4 half-titles; printed marginalia. Text in Latin. Recent full polished calf to style spine with raised bands. Text lightly toned with damstaining/spotting especially at outermost leaves; occasional slight chips or small tears at margins; one leaf with perforation resulting in loss of several letter on each side of page; small perforation in blank field at title. A fairly good copy. First part only of the first Latin edition of this classic work on Jewish apologetics written by the celebrated rabbi religious thinker and printer-publisher Menasseh ben Israel 1604-1657. The work was first published in Spanish at Amsterdam in four parts between 1632 and 1651. By providing a harmonization of all the apparent contradictions within the Hebrew Scriptures he hoped to encourage converso Jews of Iberian descent who had lost touch with their religious heritage to make the return to rabbinic Judaism. The present volume deals with the Pentateuch Five Books of Moses; the second volume treats the Prophetic books and the Hagiographa Writings. The work was first published a year earlier in a Spanish language edition. The work attempts resolution to no less than 180 seeming discrepancies in the Pentateuch. The breadth of Menasseh's encyclopedic knowledge is vast the Conciliador contains citations from 221 Jewish and 54 non-Jewish authorities. "No reader could fail to be impressed by the amazing range of titles which the author proudly appended to the work" Roth. References: Kayserling p. 69; C. Roth A Life of Menasseh ben Israel: Rabbi Printer and Diplomat Philadelphia 1945 p. 88. Silva Rosa 16. Full title and imprint: Conciliator sive De convenientia locorum S. Scripturae quae pugnare inter se videntur. Opus ex vetustis & recentioribus omnibus Rabbinis magnâ industriâ ac fide congestum. Amstelodami. Auctoris typis & impensis. M.D C XXXIII. by the Author unknown