Nathaniel
Nathaniel [1]
called in Arabic Abul-Barkat Hibat Allah bar-Malka, was one of the medical coryphsei of the Mohammedan dominions in the 12th century, and was also distinguished as a philosopher and Hebraist, on which account he was designated Wachidal-Zeman, i.e., "the only one of his time." He tried his skill on the Book of Ecclesiastes (Koheleth), but his commentary, which is written in Arabic, has never been published; the MS. is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Isaac ibn-Ezra, son of the great commentator, celebrated Abul-Barkat's commentary on Koheleth in a poem (see Dukes, Kokbe Jizchak, 1848, page 21 sq.), in which he declares that this Solomonic book m i11 henceforth (A.D. 1143) go by the name of him who has so successfully unlocked its meaning. Comp. Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 6:280 sq.; Zeitschrift der Morgenlandischen Gesenschaft, 1859, page 711 sq.; Ginsburg, Historical and Critical Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, page 58; Pocock, Notte Miscellaneae ad Portam Mosis (London, 1740), 1:196, where a specimen of this commentary is given. (B.P.)
