Moses Kimhi

Moses Kimhi (c. 1127 – c. 1190) was a medieval Jewish biblical commentator and grammarian.

Birth and early life

Kimhi was born around 1127, the eldest son of Joseph Kimhi and the brother of David Kimhi, known as the RaDaK. He was born and lived in the Provence region of southern France, an area that was heavily under the influence of the Spanish-Jewish community of that time. Little else is known of his early life.

Adulthood

He apparently raised his younger brother David following the death of their father, and was a major influence in his commentaries.

Career as a commentator

Like his father, he wrote a number of commentaries on the Bible, basing himself on the literal meaning of the text. His surviving works include commentaries on the books of Proverbs, Job, Ezra, and Nehemiah. He also wrote a book of essays on Hebrew grammar, in which he described the underlying principles of his commentaries, combined with tangential discussions of medieval philosophy.