Ibn Bilia, David ben Yom Tov
IBN BILIA, DAVID BEN YOM TOV
IBN BILIA, DAVID BEN YOM TOV (first half of 14th century), Portuguese Hebrew scholar, translator, philosopher, exegete, and poet. Ibn Bilia wrote Me'or Enayim, a commentary on the Pentateuch quoted by Samuel Zarza, based upon his own research, with magical and astrological elements, of which only a fragment has been published. In his Ta'amei ha-Otiyyot he explains certain biblical letters in a philosophical-allegorical way. Ha-Shi'urim also has allegoric commentaries to the Bible beside philosophical sections and a philosophical poem. In addition, he wrote books on medicine, astrology, logic, polemics (Ma'amar Magen David), and theology. He translated from Latin a work on the skin of snakes by Johannes Paulinus. Of his works, only two have been printed: a treatise on the 13 principles of Judaism, called Yesodot ha-Maskil (in the anthology Divrei Ḥakhamim, edited by R. Eleazar Ashkenazi, Metz, 1849), and a composition, "Derekh La'asot Ḥaruzim," published by N. Allony, containing among other things, a list of Hebrew meters with illustrations taken chiefly from his own poems.
bibliography:
N. Allony, in: Aresheth (1943/44), 377–86; idem, in: Koveẓ 'al Yad, 6 (1966), 225–44; M. Steinschneider, Die hebraeischen Handschriften, Muenchen (18952), 105; Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 499, 806. add. bibliography: C. del Valle, El Divan poético de Dunash ben Labrat (1988), 344–8; D. Schwartz, in: Kiryat Sefer, 63 (1990–91), 637–45 (Heb.); idem, in: Koveẓ al Yad, 12 (1994), 171–206 (Heb.); A. Ackerman, in: Kabbalah, 1 (1996), 73–80.