Me'ir Nativ, which was a primary source for this book, was the first Hebrew biblical concordance. The author, R. Mordecai Nathan, was a physician in Avignon in the fifteenth century, was also, possibly, a teacher, or correspondent, of the famed R. Joseph ben Solomon Colon (Maharik, c. 1420B1480), who refers to Nathan with great respect. There is some confusion as to the author=s name. R. Isaac Eisak’s statement that it was printed one time only is incorrect, for it was reprinted, but he, obviously, was unaware of the reprints. Mordecai Nathan wrote that until he was fifteen his only knowledge of Bible came from his talmudic studies. However, contact with Christians, awareness of their anti-Semitic writings, and being compelled to engage in disputes with them, where he observed the value of the Latin concordance (prepared in the thirteenth century) to his opponents, caused him to write Me'ir Nativ (also called Ya'ir Nativ) as a polemic tool. It took ten years, even with assistance, from 1437 to 1448, to complete the work. Me'ir Nativ is organized alphabetically, with little consideration to the order of verbs and nouns, while other parts of speech, such as prepositions, are omitted entirely. The books of the Bible are in the order of the Vulgate (Latin) rather than the order of the Hebrew Bible, indicative of its purpose in disputations.

דף א-ב, א: הקדמה מספר אהלי יהודא; "ראשי התבות הבאים בחבור הזה", הועתקו משם. "מאיר נתיב" נדפס ראשונה בויניציאה רפ"ג-רפ"ד ואחר-כך כמה פעמים. עיין: נתן, יצחק בן קלונימוס.