Eliezer of Beaugency

Eliezer of Beaugency, from northern France, apparently composed Hebrew commentaries on the entire Torah and many other biblical books, but only his writings on Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets survive. Nothing about Eliezer’s education or, indeed, his life is known for certain. He had a knowledge of Latin and the Vulgate version of the Bible. Although he thought highly of Rashi, Eliezer was more committed to the peshat (plain meaning) sense of scripture and paid much less attention to rabbinic midrash. Eliezer was also less interested in grammar than Rashi and others were. He attacked Christian interpretations of the Hebrew Bible and generally looked for rationalist interpretations of biblical events.