Moses ben Abraham

Moses ben Abraham (fl. 1244) was a French Jewish author and translator.

His only known work, the Chroniques de la Bible, is an Old French historical and prophetic compilation based on Hebrew sources. It contains a partial translation of the Sefer Yosippon. Based on this and biblical sources, it gives an overview of ancient history down to 8 BC. Its prophetic section is based on the Bible and Moses' own interpretations. He predicts the coming of the Messianic age in 1290–1335.

The Chroniques is known from a single illuminated manuscript of the late thirteenth century.

Biography Moses is known solely from the single manuscript of his Chroniques. He refers to himself as "moyses fils abraham, le rous le yuif", "Moses, the son of Abraham, the redhead and Jew". He gives the date of his writing as 1244.

Moses was triliterate. The Chroniques is an original composition in Old French that contains extensive translation from Hebrew. In a few places Moses quotes from the Latin Psalter before providing a translation and gloss, indicating that he had knowledge of Latin also. Although a few passages have a "Christian ring", there is no evidence that Moses was a convert.

Moses is depicted in the manner of a philosopher in a historiated initial at the start of his work. His face and hands are partially erased, perhaps by rubbing. He is wearing a pink bonnet and a white rouelle (roundel) on his robe, both indicators of his Jewishness. The rouelle is a distinctly French badge introduced by Bishop Eudes de Sully of Paris .

Chroniques Patronage The prologue begins by naming the patron who commissioned the work:

The count of Auvergne in 1244 was William X , who is generally taken to have commissioned the work. Maria Theresa Rachetta, however, suggests that the Chroniques is "too eccentric for a layman of modest means who lived most of his life on a restricted territorial allowance" and proposes that the word "quens" (count) is an interpolation. In her view, the original patron was William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris, and the work was produced for or in response to the Trial of the Talmud (1240).

Content Title and purpose The title Chroniques de la Bible is found in a colophon. The explicit labels the text "la bible en franchois" ('the Bible in French'). An addition made to the manuscript in lettre bâtarde in the fifteenth century describes it as "la descricion veritable de Josephus par forme de chroniques" ('the true description of Josephus in the form of chronicles'). Moses, in the prologue and in a few other places, refers to his work only as the Livre, 'book', which is the title adopted by Maria Theresa Rachetta.

The purpose of the Chroniques is given in the prologue. Moses' patron wanted "to know the beginning and the unfolding of the lineages since the creation of the world, as well as the battles which were fought in ancient times." To this Moses has added much speculation on the future of the world. Chronologically, the work begins with the generations of Noah and ends in 8 BC during the reign of Herod the Great.

Descendants of Japheth The beast with ten horns (The Hague, Royal Library of the Netherlands, 131 A 3, fol. 34r)

The first part of the work, which is derived from the Sefer Yosippon, describes the descendants of Japheth. According to Moses, Francion, the founder of the Frankish nation, was a son of Gomer, son of Japheth. This contradicts the then popular legend of the Franks' Trojan origins. He also provides a novel interpretation of the origin of the Mongols (Tatars). They are descended from the ten lineages of Alaam, son Togarmah, son of Japheth. These lineages were confined in the mountains by Alexander the Great. Alaam stands for the Alans. Among Togarmah's other sons were Resar (Khazars) and Pechunaus (Pechenegs).

Moses next discusses the histories of the ancient Babylonian and Persian empires, drawing mainly from the biblical books of Daniel and Esther.

Descendants of Ham and Shem The second part of the work, which is not derived from the Sefer Yosippon, describes the descendants of Ham and Shem, the Bible (with short interpretations) and Islam.

He follows this with a description of 27 books of the "donated testament" (i.e., the Jewish Bible), a brief description of Christianity based on the books of the New Testament and a brief irenic description of Islam. He claims that the 38 books of the Hebrew Bible are accepted as truth by not just Jews and Christians, but Muslims, Albigensians and Mongols. Combining an interpretation of prophecies in the books of Ezekiel (27:14, 38:2–6) and Zechariah (13:8–9) with contemporary reports, Moses concludes that the Mongols were harbingers of the end of time.

Interpretation of Daniel The preceding historical sections are followed by a long exposition of the visions of Daniel. Moses' interpretation of the four beasts follows Jerome's Commentary on Daniel. Interpreting the prophecy of seventy weeks, he predicts the dawn of the Messianic age in 1290, coming to fruition in 1335. The year 1290 is also found in the prediction of his contemporary, Abraham Abulafia, although there is no evidence that he knew of it.

In his interpretation of Daniel 11, Moses records an episode that took place at Herk-de-Stad sometime after the Battle of Legnica in April 1241. A Cuman hostage from the Mongol army sent by the kings of Hungary and Rus' testified before Duke Henry II of Brabant. Moses writes that "We wrote them down exactly as he recounted them in Herk" (nous les escreimes si comme il les retrait par sa bouche a Herke), which may indicate that he was present or that he is quoting a transcript. He uses the testimony of the hostage to buttress his interpretation of Zechariah and Daniel that the end times are at hand.

Hellenistic history Illustration of the visions of the four winds and four beasts from Daniel 7 (The Hague, Royal Library of the Netherlands, 131 A 3, fol. 26r)

The final two thirds of the text covers the reign of Alexander the Great and his successors down to Herod. Moses repeats the story that Alexander found the Ten Lost Tribes trapped beyond a raging river. Having already identified Magog, the people shut in by Alexander, with the Alans, he argues that the Mongols must be a totally distinct people from the Israelites. Rachetta argues that this careful line of argument is the main purpose of the Chroniques: to correct the erroneous notion, found in the Historia scholastica of Petrus Comestor, that the Mongols were Jews and that Jews would naturally ally with them.

Moses occasionally suppresses information in his source that he regards as legendary, such as Alexander's being the son of Pharaoh Nectanebo II. The Chroniques ends abruptly with the story of King Archelaus of Cappadocia reconciling Herod to his son Alexander.