The author or of the Mekhilta cannot be definitely ascertained. Nissim ben Jacob and Samuel ibn Naghrillah refer to it as the "Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael", thus ascribing the authorship to Ishmael. Maimonides likewise says: "R. Ishmael interpreted from 've'eleh shemot' to the end of the Torah, and this explanation is called 'Mekhilta.' R. Akiva also wrote a Mekhilta." This Ishmael, however, is neither an amora by the name of Ishmael as Zecharias Frankel assumed, nor Judah ha-Nasi's contemporary, Ishmael ben Jose, as Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya thought. He is, on the contrary, Ishmael ben Elisha, Rabbi Akiva's contemporary, as is shown by the passage of Maimonides quoted above.