Jacques Bonfrère (1573–1642) was a Flemish Jesuit exegete and one of the most distinguished Catholic biblical scholars of the seventeenth century. His monumental commentaries on the Pentateuch (Pentateuchus Moysis Commentario Illustratus, 1625) and on Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Iosue, Iudices et Ruth Commentario Illustratus, 1631) are encyclopedic works of sacred philology, patristics, and theological exegesis. Throughout both works, Bonfrère engages extensively with the Jewish question from a traditional Catholic perspective — addressing Jewish corruption of Scripture, the guilt of the Jews in the Crucifixion, the supersession of the Synagogue by the Church, the character of the Talmud and post-biblical Judaism, divine punishment visited upon the Jewish people, and the duty of Christians to avoid Jewish religious assemblies.
The passages below are translated directly from the original Latin. Page and section references follow the original folio editions. All quotations are genuine; none are paraphrased.
I. Jewish Malice in Corrupting the Hebrew Scripture
On Jews Corrupting Scripture Out of Hatred for the Christian Religion
“Restat igitur, ut si deprauata sit malitiose Scriptura Hebraica, id factum sit a Iudaeis in odium Christianae Religionis.”
“It remains, therefore, that if the Hebrew Scripture has been maliciously corrupted, this was done by the Jews out of hatred for the Christian Religion.”
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Sectio IV (Loca Scripturae a Iudaeis deprauata)
On Jewish Corruption of Psalm 21:17 — “They Pierced My Hands and Feet”
“Iudaei autem in Hebraeo impie illius loco substituerunt יִרֲאָל caari, sicut leo, litera una interposita, et in commutato, idque nullo sensu, vel certe alieno: esto enim id ad fortitudinem referri possit, id tamen a totius Psalmi contextu nimis quam alienum est.”
“The Jews, however, impiously substituted in the Hebrew text in its place caari, ‘like a lion,’ with one letter inserted and another changed — and this with no sense, or certainly with an alien one: for even if it could be referred to strength, it is nonetheless far too foreign from the context of the entire Psalm.”
Context: Bonfrère is commenting on Psalm 21:17 (Vulgate; 22:16 in modern numbering), where the Septuagint and St. Jerome read foderunt manus meas et pedes meos (“they have pierced my hands and feet”), the clearest prophetic reference to the Crucifixion. Bonfrère identifies this as a deliberate Jewish falsification of the Messianic prophecy.
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Sectio IV
On Jewish Corruption of Genesis 49:10, Psalm 18:5, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 53:8, and Zechariah 9:9
Bonfrère catalogues six principal locations where the Jews corrupted the Hebrew text:
Genesis 49:10 (Shiloh): “ut ex eo loco reuinci non possent iam Messiam aduenisse” — “so that from that passage they could not be convicted that the Messiah had already come.”
Psalm 18:5 (Their sound): Jews substituted kauuam (“their line”) for kolam (“their sound”), which St. Paul cites (Romans 10:18) — “ne ex hoc loco reuinci possent ex Euangelii per totum mundum praedicatione, Messiae aduentum et regnum aduenisse” — “lest from this passage they be convicted by the preaching of the Gospel through the whole world that the Messiah’s coming and kingdom had arrived.”
Isaiah 9:6 (He shall be called): “quod videntur Iudaei substituisse … quia ex hoc loco manifeste probatur Diuinitas Messiae” — “which the Jews appear to have substituted … because from this passage the Divinity of the Messiah is manifestly proved.”
Isaiah 53:8: Jews substituted lamo (“to them”) for lo (“to him”), “ut non ad Christum, sed ad populum haec percussio referatur” — “so that this smiting would be referred not to Christ but to the people.”
Zechariah 9:9 (Saving himself): Jews substituted noshchah (“saved”) for moshchah (“saving”), “ut non Christus ipse rex et saluator, sed aliunde salutem accipiens significetur” — “so that not Christ Himself as king and savior, but one receiving salvation from elsewhere, would be signified.”
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Sectio IV
The Jews as Perfidious Witnesses: The Conclusion of Section V
“In his enim malitiosa deprauatio locum habere potuit. Praeter loca tamen assignata, nescio an locus sit alius alicuius momenti, in quo Iudaeorum perfidia perspicue notari possit.”
“For in these passages malicious corruption could have taken place. Besides the passages already assigned, I do not know whether there is any other passage of any importance in which the perfidy of the Jews can be clearly noted.”
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Sectio V (Quae auctoritas sit Hebraici textus)
On the Perfidy of Jewish Interpreters of Scripture (Against Protestants Who Follow Them)
“Respondebunt, se a Iudaeis id habere. At ego dico, nihil imperitius, nihil perfidius esse Iudaeis in hoc genere, maxime recentioribus, quibus omnibus iunctis ego unum Hieronymum multis nominibus ausim praeferre.”
“They will answer that they have this from the Jews. But I say, nothing is more ignorant, nothing more perfidious than Jews in this matter, especially the more recent ones; taken all together, I would dare to prefer a single Jerome to all of them on many grounds.”
Context: Bonfrère is refuting Protestant exegetes who prefer Jewish over Catholic (Hieronymian) scriptural interpretation, specifically regarding Genesis 3:15 and the reading ipsa (“she shall crush”).
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Cap. XV
Aquila the Jewish Translator Concealing Messianic Prophecy
“… eo tamen loco, qui de Christo est, et Iudaeorum perfidiam notat, ipse vel simulari imperitiam, vel Pharisaeorum peruersa expositione decipi se sit passus.”
“… yet in that very passage, which concerns Christ and notes the perfidy of the Jews, he [Aquila] either feigned ignorance, or allowed himself to be deceived by the perverse exposition of the Pharisees.”
Context: Bonfrère quotes St. Jerome’s remark that Aquila, despite being highly learned in Hebrew, chose to mistranslate at Isaiah 49 — precisely the passage that concerns Christ and convicts the Jews of perfidy.
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Cap. XVII (De auctoritate harum trium Versionum)
On the Talmud as a Later Invention of the Jews
“Haec enim omnia quo alio nomine quam nomine Cabalae appellemus, cum Talmud et cetera Iudaeorum inuenta posterioribus temporibus prodierint.”
“For all these things, by what other name shall we call them than by the name of Cabala, seeing that the Talmud and the other inventions of the Jews appeared in later times.”
Context: Bonfrère distinguishes the authentic oral tradition (Cabala vera) received by Moses from the later Rabbinic fabrications, of which the Talmud is the chief example.
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia, Cap. XIII (De Cabala)
II. Jewish Guilt in the Crucifixion of Christ (Deicide)
The Synagogue Crucified Christ and Apostatized from God
“… fortasse alius sit literalis sensus, scilicet de Christi cruce, quae per malum intelligatur, et Synagoga, quae matris nomine intelligatur, quaeque Christum crucifigendo, corrupta est et uiolata, hoc est, grauissime peccauit, et a Deo apostauit.”
“… perhaps there is another literal sense, namely concerning the Cross of Christ, which is understood by ‘the apple tree,’ and the Synagogue, which is understood by the name of ‘the mother,’ which by crucifying Christ was corrupted and violated — that is, grievously sinned and apostatized from God.”
Context: Commenting on Canticles 8:5 — “Sub arbore malo suscitaui te: ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi uiolata est genitrix tua” (“Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was deflowered that bore thee”).
— Pentateuchus, In Genesim, Cap. II, ad v. 9
The Red Heifer as a Type of Christ: Israelites Bringing Christ to Pilate
“Hanc uaccam ex legis praescripto adducebant Israelitae; similiter et iidem Christum ad Pilatum occidendum adduxerunt: quin et uideri uoluerunt secundum legem agere, ad mortem Christum deposcendo.”
“The Israelites brought this heifer according to the prescription of the Law; and in like manner the same Israelites brought Christ to Pilate to be killed — and indeed they wished to appear to act according to the Law in demanding Christ’s death.”
Context: Bonfrère’s allegorical exposition of the red heifer (Numbers 19), in which the animal’s being led to slaughter is a type (figura) of Christ being delivered to Pilate.
— Pentateuchus, In Numeros, Cap. XIX
Samson as a Type of Christ: the Jews as His Tormentors
“Mystice iuxta Diuum Hieronymum is Christus est uerbo et ore suo Iudaeos et milites in horto Gethsemani prosternens, Daemones uerbo et imperio eiiciens, morbos omnes fugans.”
“Mystically, according to St. Jerome, he [Samson] is Christ, who with His word and mouth prostrates the Jews and soldiers in the garden of Gethsemane, casts out demons by His word and command, and puts all diseases to flight.”
— Iosue, Iudices et Ruth, In Iudicum, Cap. XV
The Philistines Tormenting Samson as a Type of the Jews Tormenting Christ
“Philisthaei Samsone omni afficiunt ignominia, excaecant, illudunt, protrudunt, alapis caedunt. Qua apte haec Christi ignominias et tormenta praemonstrarent a Iudaeis inflicta nemo non uidet; siquidem illa excaecatio annum uelata Christi facie refert, cum dicerent: Prophetiza nobis Christe, quis est qui te percussit? Ignominiae cetera anno Christum flagellatum, spinis coronatum, alapis caesum, consputum, ut stultum irrisum expresserunt?”
“The Philistines afflict Samson with every ignominy — they blind him, mock him, push him about, and strike him with blows. No one fails to see how aptly these things foreshadowed the ignominies and torments inflicted on Christ by the Jews; for that blinding corresponds to the veiling of Christ’s face, when they said: ‘Prophesy to us, O Christ: who is it that struck thee?’ Did not the other ignominies aptly represent Christ scourged, crowned with thorns, struck with blows, spat upon, and mocked as a fool?”
— Iosue, Iudices et Ruth, In Iudicum, Cap. XV (Allegoria de Samsone)
Judas and Sinners Sell Christ to the Jews
“Christum Iudas et peccatores, quos tamen idem amat Christus, et pro quibus moritur, Iudaeis tradunt et uendunt.”
“Judas and sinners — whom Christ nevertheless loves and for whom He dies — betray and sell Christ to the Jews.”
Context: From the extended allegorical interpretation of Samson and Delilah, where Delilah figures Judas and the sinful soul, and the Philistines figure the Jews.
— Iosue, Iudices et Ruth, In Iudicum, Cap. XVI (Allegoria de Samsone et Dalila)
III. Supersessionism: The Church Replacing the Synagogue
Jacob Seeking a Bride Figures Christ Repudiating the Synagogue and Seeking the Church of the Gentiles
“Coincidit sere haec allegorica ratio cum ea quam habet S. Augustinus Sermone de Tempore 79, nisi quod sponsam a Christo quaesitam faciat Ecclesiam Gentilium, repudiata Synagoga: tu illum uide.”
“This allegorical interpretation nearly coincides with that which St. Augustine gives in Sermon 79 on the Seasons, except that he makes the bride sought by Christ to be the Church of the Gentiles, the Synagogue having been repudiated: see him on this point.”
Context: Commenting on the allegory of Jacob traveling abroad to find a bride, which Bonfrère expounds as Christ leaving the angels to assume human nature, and then ascending to heaven “with two companies of Jews and Gentiles.”
— Pentateuchus, In Genesim, Cap. XXVIII, ad v. 12
Leah the Elder Sister = the Synagogue; Rachel the Younger = the Church of the Gentiles
“Allegorice Lia senior soror, multorumque liberorum parens, Synagogam designat; Rachel iunior, sed sterilis, Ecclesiam e Gentibus conflam, quae quamdiu senior fecunda fuit, ueroque Dei cultum retinuit, nullos ipsa habuit liberos, hoc est, Dei ueros cultores, sed sterilis absque Deo et uero Dei cultu permanfit: postquam autem et iunior coepit habere liberos, hoc est, Gentilitas coepit Christi fidem admittere, ipsa idola furata est, hoc est, idololatriam omnem exterminauit.”
“Allegorically, Leah, the older sister and mother of many children, designates the Synagogue; Rachel, the younger but barren, the Church gathered from the Gentiles — which, so long as the elder was fruitful and retained the true worship of God, had no children of her own, that is, no true worshippers of God, but remained barren, without God and without the true worship of God. But after the younger also began to have children — that is, after the Gentiles began to receive the faith of Christ — she herself stole the idols, that is, exterminated all idolatry.”
— Pentateuchus, In Genesim, Cap. XXXI, ad v. 19 (Allegoria duarum sororum Liae et Rachelis)
Benjamin as a Type of Christ: Son of the Synagogue That Slew Him
“Allegorice Beniamin typus fuit Christi … Christus matri suae Synagogae filius fuit Benoni, hoc est, doloris filius, utpote quam tandem poenis et doloribus ob ingratitudinem afflixit et interemit: at Patri caelesti fuit Beniamin, hoc est filius dextrae seu fortitudinis, utpote per quem idololatriam, peccatum, diabolum, tartareasque potestates debellauit et eueruit.”
“Allegorically, Benjamin was a type of Christ … Christ was a son of His mother the Synagogue as Ben-Oni, that is, a son of sorrow — as the one whom she at last afflicted and put to death with pains and sorrows on account of her ingratitude. But to His heavenly Father He was Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand or of strength — as the one through whom He overcame and overturned idolatry, sin, the devil, and the powers of hell.”
— Pentateuchus, In Genesim, Cap. XXXV, ad v. 18 (Allegoria de Beniamino)
Joseph Fleeing the Egyptian Woman: Christ Fleeing the Synagogue to the Gentiles
“Nota hic pulchram Ruperti Allegoriam, qui per mulierem Aegyptiam intelligit Synagogam Iudaicam, quae credidit quidem in Christum ueniturum, et Prophetias quae de eo erant recepit; sed quia nimis carnaliter eas intellexit, non retinuit nisi litterae corticem et pallium, quo hactenus obuoluti manserunt Iudaeorum oculi, at Christus per Ioseph figuratus ab eis fugit ad Gentilem populum.”
“Note here the beautiful allegory of Rupert [of Deutz], who by the Egyptian woman understands the Jewish Synagogue, which indeed believed that Christ would come and received the Prophecies about Him; but because it interpreted them too carnally, it retained nothing but the cortex and veil of the letter, beneath which the eyes of the Jews have remained veiled to this day; and Christ, figured by Joseph, fled from them to the Gentile people.”
— Pentateuchus, In Genesim, Cap. XXXIX, ad v. 12 (Allegoria de Iosepho fugiente)
IV. Divine Punishment upon the Jewish People
God Provokes the Jews by Taking the Gentiles as His People
“Sensus igitur est: Et ego indignari eos faciam super Gentium populo, qui nunc non est meus populus, uel quem ne populi quidem appellatione dignantur, quem ego tandem reiectis Iudaeis in populum meum assumam, idque ipsis frendentibus ac ringentibus ob beneficia quibus eos ego afficiam.”
“The sense therefore is: ‘And I will cause them to feel indignation at the Gentile people, who is not now my people, or whom they do not even deign to honor with the name of a people — whom I will at last, the Jews being rejected, take as my own people,’ and this while they gnash and grind their teeth at the blessings with which I will enrich them.”
“Porro quam inde a primis Ecclesiae temporibus ad hoc usque tempus inuiderint Iudaei Gentilium populo et Ecclesiae suam prosperitatem, et florentem bonorum omnium tum spiritualium tum temporalium statum, et etiamnum inuideant, ac quodammodo inuidia distabescant, manifestius est quam ut probatione indigeat, nec tamen in se hanc prophetiam compleri animaduerterunt.”
“Moreover, how much the Jews have envied the Gentile people and the Church their prosperity — and the flourishing condition of all goods both spiritual and temporal — from the earliest times of the Church even to the present day, and how they still envy and in a certain manner waste away with envy, is more manifest than to stand in need of proof; yet they have not perceived that this prophecy is being fulfilled in themselves.”
Context: Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:21, cited by St. Paul in Romans 10:19.
— Pentateuchus, In Deuteronomium, Cap. XXXII, ad v. 21
“God Has Sold Them”: On the Utter Rout of the Jews by Their Enemies
“Et subdit, Nonne ideo quia Deus suus uendidit eos, et Dominus conclusit illos? Hoc est, nonne ideo, quia Deus suus decreuit eos inimicis tradere, et ipsos ita constrinxit et alligauit ut uideantur se mouere non posse siue ad fugam siue ad resistendum inimicis?”
“And [Moses] adds: ‘Is it not because their God sold them, and the Lord shut them in?’ That is: Is it not because their God decreed to deliver them to their enemies, and has so bound and fettered them that they seem unable to stir, either to flee or to resist their enemies?”
Context: Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:30, on the prophetic curse by which one enemy shall put a thousand Israelites to flight, and two shall rout ten thousand.
— Pentateuchus, In Deuteronomium, Cap. XXXII, ad v. 30
The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus: Fulfillment of the Mosaic Curses
“Ita in urbis excidio per Titum praeter undecies centena millia Iudaeorum caesa, legimus apud Iosephum et Hegesippum nonaginta septem captiuorum fuisse millia, de quibus et haec Hegesippus lib.5. Excidii cap. 47. Plurimi uenales, sed pauci emptores: quia Romani habere in seruitutem Iudaeos dedignabantur, nec Iudaei supererant qui redimerent suos.”
“Thus, in the destruction of the city by Titus, beyond eleven hundred thousand Jews slain, we read in Josephus and Hegesippus that there were ninety-seven thousand prisoners; of whom Hegesippus in Book 5 of the Excidium, chapter 47, writes as follows: ‘Very many were put up for sale, but few were buyers: because the Romans disdained to hold Jews in servitude, and no Jews remained who could ransom their own.'”
Context: Commenting on the curse of Deuteronomy 28:68 — “There thou shalt be sold to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you” — as fulfilled in the Jewish captivity after Titus’s destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
— Pentateuchus, In Deuteronomium, Cap. XXVIII, ad v. 68
A Prophecy of the Devastation and Destruction of the Hebrews Under Titus and Vespasian
“Vastabuntque Hebraeos. Haud dubie de excidio sub Tito et Vespasiano hoc intelligendum … nec ante illa, quae a Romanis facta, truculenta fuit et horrida, maxime cum haec de omnimoda uastatione, et ad internecionem deletione uideantur intelligenda.”
“‘And they shall devastate the Hebrews.’ This without doubt is to be understood of the destruction under Titus and Vespasian … nor was [any prior devastation] as savage and horrible as that wrought by the Romans, especially since this text seems to speak of an utter devastation and extermination.”
Context: Commentary on Numbers 24:24 (Balaam’s oracle), identifying the ships from the coast of Chittim with the Romans.
— Pentateuchus, In Numeros, Cap. XXIV, ad v. 24
The Jews Dispersed Under Sennacherib, Then Under the Babylonians
“Itaque dispersio illa et captiuitas, cuius fit mentio Iudith 5, non est illa qua in Babyloniam abducti sunt Iudaei, urbe Temploque destructo, sed partim ea qua Iudaei multi dispersi a Sennacherib Assyriorum Rege sub Rege Ezechia, partim altera, eaque praecipua, cum a Babyloniis uexati …”
“Therefore that dispersion and captivity mentioned in Judith 5 is not that by which the Jews were carried away to Babylon with the city and Temple destroyed, but partly that by which many Jews were dispersed by Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians, under King Hezekiah; and partly the other, and principal one, when they were afflicted by the Babylonians…”
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia (de dispersione Iudaeorum in libro Iudith)
The Jews in Egypt, Obstinate in Perfidy
“… praesertim cum apud Iudaeos, qui in Aegypto erant, in perfidia obstinatissimos nihil proficeretur.”
“… especially since among the Jews who were in Egypt, most obstinate in perfidy, nothing was being accomplished.”
Context: Bonfrère notes that after the death of Jeremiah, those who went to Egypt had become utterly hardened in their infidelity, rendering further prophetic ministry fruitless.
— Pentateuchus, Praeloquia (de libro Ieremiae)
V. The Duty of Christians toward the Jewish Synagogue
The Apostolic Canon Against Christians Attending Jewish Feasts
“Hinc inter Apostolorum canones hic legitur: Si quis Christianus oleum tulerit ad sacra Gentilium, uel synagogam Iudaeorum festis ipsorum diebus, aut lucernas accenderit, de societate pellatur.”
“Hence among the Apostolic Canons the following is read here: ‘If any Christian has brought oil to the sacred rites of the Gentiles, or to the Synagogue of the Jews on their feast days, or has lit candles, let him be expelled from fellowship.'”
Context: Bonfrère cites this canon while commenting on the use of oil in pagan and Jewish worship, to show that Christians are strictly forbidden from any participation in Jewish religious observance.
— Iosue, Iudices et Ruth, In Iudicum, Cap. IX
The Perpetual Enmity Between Jews and the Samaritans
“… Samaritani, qui translatis in Assyrios Israelitis in eorum locum ab Israelitica gente exteri suffecti sunt, cum quibus perpetuas inimicitias coluere Iudaei.”
“… the Samaritans, who — foreigners substituted in the place of the Israelites by the Israelite nation when the Israelites were deported to Assyria — were those with whom the Jews cultivated perpetual enmity.”
— Iosue, Iudices et Ruth, Index (de Samaria)
Cajetanus Gives Too Much Weight to a Single Perfidious Jew
“Mirumque est tantum apud Caietanum ualere unius Iudaei perfidi auctoritatem, Hieronymi uiri piissimi iuxta ac doctissimi, totiusque Ecclesiae eius uersionem probantis tam parum.”
“And it is remarkable that the authority of a single perfidious Jew carries so much weight with Cajetanus, while he gives so little weight to Jerome — a man most pious as well as most learned — and to the whole Church, which approves his translation.”
Context: Bonfrère rebukes Cardinal Cajetanus for preferring a Rabbinic interpretation of haiarim (Judges 12:14; cf. Zechariah 9:9) — that the foals were those of horses rather than donkeys — on the authority of a single Jewish commentator, over against St. Jerome and the entire Catholic exegetical tradition.
— Iosue, Iudices et Ruth, In Iudicum, Cap. XII, ad v. 14
Sources
- Jacques Bonfrère, S.J., Pentateuchus Moysis Commentario Illustratus (Antwerp, 1625). Google Books
- Jacques Bonfrère, S.J., Iosue, Iudices et Ruth Commentario Illustratus (Antwerp, 1631). Google Books