Philo Volume I (588 hits)

For those interested in knowing a little more about Philo of Alexandria, I have decided to transcribe a few excerpts from the first volume of his works, published in the Loeb Classical Library in ten volumes. Philo wrote in Greek, and this edition contains the original Greek along with an English translation. He quotes Genesis from a Greek, not Hebrew text, and his interpretation depends on Greek, not Hebrew words. First published in 1929, the translation may seem a little archaic to some.

From the GENERAL INTRODUCTION, by the translators:

It has probably seldom happened that the characteristics of a man's home and birthplace have been so faithfully reflected in his writings as they are in the writings of Philo of Alexandria. A citizen of the place which was at once the chief home of the Jewish Dispersion and the chief centre of Hellenistic culture, he owes his position in the history of religious thought mainly to that remarkable fusion of Hellenism and Judaism which we find in his voluminous writings. He has many other claims on our consideration---he is one of the most spiritually-minded of thinkers---but this is the first and most obvious.

It is not necessary to discuss the little that is known of Philo's life. It will be enough to say that he came of a rich and influential Jewish family and was trained in Greek as well as Jewish learning. The one public event in his life was his taking part in an embassy sent by the Jews of Alexandria to Caligula to complain of the persecutions which they had been suffering. This is dated A.D. 39-40, and as Philo in writing his account of the mission at some time later speaks of himself as an old man, it has been generally held that he was born about 20 B.C. The date of his death is uncertain, but it will be seen that his lifetime covers the lifetimes of Jesus Christ and John Baptist, and much of that of St. Paul. There is no intimation that he knew anything of their life or work.

Now from Philo:

ON THE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S CREATION GIVEN BY MOSES (DE OPIFICIO MUNDI)

III. He says that in six days the world was created, not that its Maker required a length of time for His work, for we must think of God as doing all things simultaneously, remembering that "all" includes with the commands which He issues the thought behind them. Six days are mentioned because for the things coming into existence there was need of order. Order involves number, and among numbers by the laws of nature the most suitable to productivity is 6, for if we start with 1 it is the first perfect number, being equal to the product of its factors (i.e 1 x 2 x 3), as well as made up of the sum of them (i.e. 1 + 2 + 3), its half being 3, its third part 2, its sixth part 1. We may say that it is in its nature both male and female, and is a result of the distinctive power of either. For among things that are it is the odd that is male, and the even female. Now of odd numbers 3 is the starting-point, and of even numbers 2, and the product of these two is 6. For it was requisite that the world, being most perfect of all things that have come into existence, should be constituted in accordance with a perfect number, namely six; and, inasmuch as it was to have in itself beings that sprang from a coupling together, should receive the impress of a mixed number, namely the first in which odd and even were combined, one that should contain the essential principle both of the male that sows and of the female that receives the seed.

Now to each of the days He assigned some of the portions of the whole, not including, however, the first day, which He does not even call "first," lest it should be reckoned with the others, but naming it "one" He designates it by a name which precisely hits the mark, for He discerned in it and expressed by the title which He gives it the nature and appellation of the unit, or the "one."

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS II., III. (LEGUM ALLEGORIA)
BOOK I.

XIX. "A river goes forth from Eden to water the garden: thence it is separated into four heads; the name of the one is Pheison; this is that which encircles all the land of Evilat, there where the gold is; and the gold of that land is good; and there is the ruby and the emerald. And the name of the second river is Geon; this encompasses all the land of Aethiopia. And the third river is Tigris; this is that whose course is in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates" (Gen. ii. 10-14). By these rivers his purpose is to indicate the particular virtues. These are four in number, prudence, self-mastery, courage, justice. The largest river, of which the four are effluxes, is generic virtue, which we have called "goodness." The four effluxes are the virtues of the same number. Generic virtue takes its start from Eden, the wisdom of God, which is full of joy, and brightness, and exultation, glorying and priding itself only upon God its Father; but the specific virtues, four in number, are derived from generic virtue, which like a river waters the perfect achievements of each of them with an abundant flow of noble doings.

Let us look too at the particular words used. "A river," it says "issues forth from Eden to water the garden." "River" is generic virtue, goodness. This issues forth out of Eden, the wisdom of God, and this is the Reason of God; for after that has generic virtue been made. And generic virtue waters the garden, that is, it waters the particular virtues. "Heads" he takes not in the sense of locality but of sovereignty. For each of the virtues is in very deed a sovereign and a queen. "Is separated" is equivalent to 'has boundaries to define it.' Prudence, concerned with things to be done, sets boundaries round them; courage round things to be endured; self-mastery round things to be chosen; justice round things to be awarded.

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS II., III. (LEGUM ALLEGORIA)
BOOK II.

VII. "And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he fell asleep; and He took one of his sides" and what follows (Gen. ii. 21). These words in their literal sense are of the nature of a myth. For how could anyone admit that a woman, or a human being at all, came into existence out of a man's side? And what was there to hinder the First Cause from creating woman, as He had created man, out of the earth? For not only was the Maker the same Being, but the material too, out of which every particular kind was fashioned, was practically unlimited. And why, when there were so many parts to choose from, did He form the woman not from some other part but from the side? And which side did He take? For we may assume that only two are indicated, as there is in fact nothing to suggest a larger number of them. Did He take the left or the right side? If He filled up with flesh (the place of) the one which He took, are we to suppose that the one which He left was not made of flesh? Truly our sides are twin in all their parts and are made of flesh. What then are we to say? "Sides" is a term of ordinary life for "strength." To say that a man has "sides" is equivalent to saying that he is strong, we say of a powerful athlete "he has stout sides," and to say that a singer has "sides" is as much as to say that he has great lung power in singing. Having said this, we must go on to remark that the mind when as yet unclothed and unconfined by the body (and it is of the mind when not so confined that he is speaking) has many powers. It has the power of holding together, of growing, of conscious life, of thought, and countless other powers, varying both in species and genus. Lifeless things, like stones and blocks of wood, share with all others the power of holding together, of which the bones in us, which are not unlike stones, partake. "Growth" extends to plants, and there are parts in us, such as our nails and hair, resembling plants; "growth" is coherence capable of moving itself. Conscious life is the power to grow, with the additional power of receiving impressions and being the subject of impulses. This is shared also by creatures without reason. Indeed our mind contains a part that is analogous to the conscious life of a creature without reason. Once more, the power of thinking is peculiar to the mind, and while shared, it may well be, by beings more akin to God, is, so far as mortal beings are concerned, peculiar to man. This power or faculty is twofold. We are rational beings, on the one hand as being partakers of mind, and on the other as being capable of discourse. Well, there is also another power or faculty in the soul, closely akin to these, namely that of receiving sense-impressions, and it is of this that the prophet is speaking. For his immediate concern is just this, to indicate the origin of active sense-perception. And logical sequence leads him to do so.
Posted By: Steve Williams
Friday, May 27th 2011 at 11:54PM
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