Hayyim ibn Musa’s Shield and Spear: A Late Medieval Intellectual Polemic and Its Context

Hayyim ibn Musa’s Shield and Spear (Magen va-Romah, 1456) is a masterpiece of the Jewish polemical literature against Christianity in late medieval Spain. This work consists of a fictional dialogue with Nicholas of Lyra (c.1270–1349), a prominent Franciscan who studied Rashi’s biblical exegesis. This intellectual dialogue between the two scholars over a century is based on their plentiful knowledge of Jewish and Christian literature. When he worked as a physician of the Kingdom of Castille, ibn Musa sometimes discussed religious issues with Christian polemists. In his days, he was also confronted anti-Jewish condemnations in the Christian society and missions toward the Jews by Jewish converts. Thus, his work aimed to defend the Jews from the social and religious pressures through the polemical discussion with Nicholas.

In spite of its significance in various aspects, Shield and Spear has been not studied enough. Although we have insightful studies, most of them treat it only partially. Therefore, my lecture will clarify the discourse of this work through consideration on three examples. First example is his argument against Nicholas’s Christological reading of certain midrashic texts. Studies of the rabbinic literature by Christian friars had been a new trend since 13th century in Spain, and ibn Musa responds to Nicholas through careful examination on the same texts. Second, I will treat ibn Musa’s evaluation of Jewish folktale on Jesus (Toledot Yeshu). When the tale is referred by Nicolas, ibn Musa expresses his negative attitude toward it and refutes to put its elements into his polemical argument. Finally, I will consider ibn Musa’s eschatological idea based on his dialogue on the Jewish messianism with Nicholas. In his letter to his son, ibn Musa refers to a messianic tradition in the Babylonian Talmud. Then, through the discussion in Shield and Spear, ibn Musa explains an interesting view on the true “monotheistic” faith at the messianic age.