Shrine of Wisdom Magazine 52 (1932)
Philo Judæas
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the most interesting developments in the latter part of the pre-Christian period and the early years of the Christian era was the growth in Egypt of a school of thought which infused into the Jewish religious system certain valuable elements of Greek philosophy and thus prepared the way for the spread of Christianity in the West. The most famous exponent of this teaching was Philo.
In order to understand the conditions which made this development possible it is necessary to review the position of the Jews in Egypt. Their return from exile in Babylonia had been followed by a dispersion to the East and to the West. One section, settling in Palestine, had become extremely exclusive, adhering strictly to the letter of the sacred traditions, while the other, migrating to the various centres of Greek culture, was deeply influenced by the Greek tradition and outlook. This section became merged in the life of these cities, speaking the language and becoming familiar with the customs and ideals of Greece. In time many of their descendants were completely ignorant of Hebrew, and Greek translations of the Scriptures and Liturgy were made for general use. The better-educated among the people studied philosophy, and would find little difficulty in accepting the basic principles embodied in Greek philosophy as being also the foundation of their own traditional teachings.
The largest and most influential centre of Greek culture in the time of Philo was at Alexandria in Egypt. Here, in accordance with the privileges granted by Alexander, and continued by succeeding emperors, the Jews, who numbered about one-quarter of the whole population, shared equal rights with the other citizens, and consequently had access to the finest university and libraries of the world. They controlled the chief trades, and were prosperous and contented. A great synagogue was built in the centre of the city, and smaller ones in various quarters. These conditions were most favourable for the development of a system which interpreted the Jewish Scriptures in terms of Greek thought.
The earliest work in which this was attempted was a commentary on the Pentateuch by a Jewish Philosopher, Aristobulus. Other writers followed him, and a school of Hellenestic Judaism arose which recognised and adopted certain laws of symbolic interpretation, and which aimed at proseletyzing among non-Jewish races.
Philo was the last and greatest leader of this school. During his lifetime the Jews were severely and systematically persecuted, and soon after his death they abandoned the Hellenistic form of Judaism, which was preserved and embodied to some extent in Christianity, Philo being given a rank almost equal to that of the Fathers of the Church.
II THE LIFE OF PHILO
Philo was born at Alexandria between 40 and 20 BC. According to Jerome he was of priestly descent, and his parents were wealthy and influential. His brother Alexander, also a lover of religion and philosophy, gained the responsible position of Alabarch or chief magistrate of the Jews, and was also in close touch with imperial affairs through his wife Berenice, whom St. Paul mentions. The brothers had received a sound education in the usual Greek curriculum, and the wide scope of Philo’s interests is evident from his writings which display a thorough knowledge of Hebrew tradition as well as of Greek literature and philosophy. He entered into the social activities of the city and took part in the political life of his day with such distinction that he was elected as representative of the Jewish community on various occasions, the most notable of which was the embassy to Caligula at Rome, when, a short time after the sacking of the Jewish quarters and the massacre and torture of many of the inhabitants, a protest was made against the emperor’s claim to receive from the Divine honours. But even in the midst of such occupations, Philo never lost touch with the inner life.
His writings reveal the beauty of his character, the loftiness of his ideals, his balance and discipline, and an unquenchable enthusiasm in the pursuit of the things of God. His love of philosophy is frequently expressed. In his work, Quod Omnis Liber Probus ii, he speaks of “That sweetest of all writers, Plato”, and in De Specialibus Legibus III i, describes his own pursuit of wisdom. “There was once a time when, devoting my leisure to philosophy and to the contemplation of the world and the things in it, I reaped the fruit of excellent, desirable, and blessed intellectual experiences, always living among the Divine Oracles and doctrines, on which I fed insatiably and incessantly to my great delight, never entertaining any low or grovelling thoughts, nor ever wallowing in the pursuit of glory, or wealth, or the delights of the body, but I appeared to be raised on high and borne aloft by a certain inspiration of the Soul.” He goes on to describe how he was “hurled into the vast sea of the cares of public politics, in which I was and still am tossed about.” But whenever there was a respite from State affairs he could “rise aloft and float above the troubled waves, soaring, as it were, in the air.... I open the eyes of my Soul... and am irradiated with the light of Wisdom, since I am not given up for the whole of my life to darkness.” (The translation used is mainly that of C.D.Yonge)
The date of the death of Philo is unknown, but he mentions the embassy to Caligula in A.D. 40 as taking place when he was an old man.
III HIS AIM AND INFLUENCE
From a consideration of the work of Philo as a whole it appears that his aim was not to expound a system of philosophy, but to demonstrate the complete adequacy of the Hebrew Scriptures, when rightly interpreted, as a guide to life. This he did by showing that they had a reasonable and philosophical foundation in first principles. The books of the Pentateuch were interpreted in an allegorical manner, careful attention being given to the meaning of names as well as to the symbolism of number.
Philo had but little permanent influence upon Jewish thought. Although in his lifetime he was regarded as an orthodox Jew, and was held in great honour by his countrymen, there are only a few conceptions to be found in the Midrashim and the Talmud which can be traced to his teachings. Soon after the introduction of Christianity into the Roman Empire, Hellenistic Judaism began to disentegrate, and the Jews, almost without exception, returned to the Palestinian form. It is supposed that the Hellenistic doctrines were regarded as unsuited to withstand the opposing influences of Christianity on the one hand, and Paganism on the other. It may also be due in part to a reaction produced by the persecutions at the hands of the western races.
On the other hand the work of Philo had prepared the way for Christian missionaries who found the Hellenistic proselytes to the Jewish faith very receptive to their doctrines. The Christian leaders, who had also been deeply influenced by the ideas of Plato, found in the symbolical method introduced by Philo a valuable means for the interpretation of the spirit of the Old Testament, and in his universality of outlook an aid to its reconciliation with the spirit of the New Testament. Thus he formed an important link in the transmission of Greek ideas through Christianity. Origen and Clement made great use of his works, embodying in their schools his theory of education, and in their writings his symbolic method of interpretation, and he was held in great regard by other leaders of the Church.
“The Christian Church was the last great creative achievement of the classical culture....Outwardly the continuity with Judaism seems to be unbroken: in reality the opposite is the fact.... The Church was half Greek from the first, though the original Gospel was not.... St. Paul was a Jew of the Dispersion, not of Palestine.... His later epistles are steeped in the phraseology of the Greek Mysteries. The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Fourth Gospel are unintelligible without some knowledge of Philo, whose theology was more Greek than Jewish.” (W.R. Inge, “Hellenism in Christianity”, The Church in the World)
IV. HIS WORKS AND TEACHINGS
No complete works remain, but a number of short treatises exist, which in many cases formed parts of larger works. One group deals with the events related in the Book of Genesis, which are interpreted mainly in terms of states of Soul. This group may have been included under the title, The Allegories of the Sacred Law, and contains also the treatises, The Sacrifices of Abel and Cain, The Confusion of Tongues, The Tilling of the Earth by Noah, The Migration of Abraham, The Giants, Fugitives, The Indestructibility of the World, and others. In another group is a systematic exposition of the Mosaic Law, the details of which are explained in terms of the discipline of the Soul. Some of the subjects dealt with are The Decalogue, Rewards and Punishments, Monarchy. He also wrote the lives of Moses, Abraham and Joseph, and treatises On the Creation of the World, On Providence, On the Freedom of the Virtuous Man, and On the Contemplative Life. In all there are sixty-four treatises and parts of treatises.
Throughout his works the Platonic influence is unmistakeable, and although certain views held by Heraclitus and by the Stoics are introduced, they are such as are implied in the Platonic philosophy. Philo, however, does not always present them in their original form, but frequently adopts modifications resulting from his own reflections upon the subjects concerned. Thus he sometimes presents a particular and lower aspect of the more universal and higher truth expressed by Plato. Some of the points in which he follows Plato are:
(i) The doctrine of and Absolute God, the Cause of Divine Ideas.
(ii) The doctrine of Archetypal Ideas, and of Divine Intelligence or Nous.
(iii) The subsistence not only of the Divine Unity, but also of the Divine Plurality, from Which proceed intermediary Principles through which the multiplicity of the world is produced and is connected to the One.
(iv) The Immanence of God.
(v) The conception of matter as that which is passive, unformed, potential, and essentially unchanged although receiving a variety of forms.
(vi) The descent and ascent of Souls. In this connection he adopts Plato’s classification of the threefold activities of the rational, irascible, and concupiscible powers of man, all of which when wrongly used bind the Soul to transitory interests and pursuits. The remedy for this condition is given in terms of the four cardinal virtues of Plato, symbolized, according to Philo, by the four rivers of Eden , which ordinate and unify the activities of the Soul.
(vii) The two modes of approach to knowledge of God.
(a) The affirmative mode which conceives of Him as possessing all excellencies, yet surpassing them all.
(b) The negative mode, which denies of Him all attributes, since He is unnameable, Unlimited, and Absolute.
These views can be considered under the headings, God, the Universe, and Man.
1. GOD: Of the Transcendent God, Philo writes: “God is not as man, but neither is He as Heaven, nor as the world.... He is not even comprehensible by the Intellect except as to His Being, for beyond the fact of His Being we can understand nothing.” (Quod Deus Sit Immut. iii.)
His own love of God spontaneously springs up in such passages as: “O, Mighty Lord, how shall we praise Thee, with what lips, what tongue, what speech, what governing power of the Spirit? Can the stars, blended in single chorus, chant Thee a worthy anthem? Can the whole heaven, melted into sound, declare even a fragment of Thine Excellence? (De Vita Mos. xi.)
Philo refers to an aspect of God prior to the Divine Creative Unity, that of Divine Intelligence or Nous, Which embraces the Archetypal Idea of the Cosmos, and imparts to the Creative Intellect the Divine Paradigm of the Universe. In De Opif Mund. iv and x, he writes: “Since God, in virtue of His Deity, realized that a beautiful copy could not come into being apart from a beautiful pattern, and that none of the things perceived by the senses could be flawless which was not made after the image of an Archetype, or Spiritual Idea, when He purposed to create this visible world He first formed the Ideal World.” And again: “The Incorporeal World, then, was already completed, having its seat in the Divine Nous.”
Of the Divine plurality, and the Powers posterior to the Creator, Philo writes: “Of created things, some are created by God, and through Him, some not indeed by God, but yet through Him” (Leg. Alleg. I. xiii). He mentions elsewhere a triad proceeding from God, “In the Living and One God I understand that there were two supreme and primary Powers, Goodness and Authority,.... and the third Power that was between these two and had the effect of connecting them, was Intellect, for it is according to Intellect that God is both a Ruler and God” (De Cherub. ix). Of these Powers the three guests of Abraham are symbols of those things which are conceived in the mind. When therefore the Soul is shone upon by God, as if at noonday and when it is entirely filled with that Light which is appreciable only by Intellect, and being wholly surrounded with its brilliancy is free from all shade or darkness, it then perceives a threefold image of one subject; one image of the Living God, and others of the other two.... The One in the middle is the Father of the universe, Who in the sacred scriptures is called by his proper Name, I Am Who I Am; and those on either side are the most ancient Powers which are always close to the Living God, one of which is called His Creative Power, and the other His Royal Power.... Therefore the One in the middle of the Three....presents to the mind a vision at one time of One Being, and at another time of Three; of One when the Soul, being completely purified,.... hastens onward to that Idea which is devoid of all mixture, free from all combination, and by Itself in need of nothing whatever; and of Three when not being yet perfect as to the highest virtues, it still seeks for initiation in the lesser virtues” (De Abrahamo xxiv).
In this symbolism Philo represents the Word or Logos of God, Which in various aspects and modes is the Cause from which the infinite Divine gifts are imparted to secondary natures, and tempered, through the mediation of lesser powers, to the limited capacity of finite beings. He therefore uses the terms “Word,” “Logos” “Reason”, of God, in many different connotations, but these are never really contradictory, since they all represent the operations of Divine Intelligence and Energy in different spheres. “The Father of the Divine Logos is God, and His Mother Wisdom, by means of Which the universe arrived at creation” (De Fug. xx). “The Creative Power and Ruling Power flow out from the Logos as from a spring....Moses teaches that this universe is held together by invisible Powers which the Creator has extended from the extreme foundations of the earth to the bounds of heaven, making a beautiful provision to prevent that which He has joined together from being dissolved, for the indissoluble chains which bind the universe are His Powers (De Migr. Abr. xxxii).
The Immanence of God is brought out in the passage, “Can a man, then, hide himself from God? Where can he hide himself from that One Who pervades all places, Whose look reaches to the very boundaries of the world, Who fills the whole universe?” (De Cherub. ix).
Though obliged to use terms suggestive of human attributes, Philo makes it clear that he has no anthropomorphic conceptions or God. He points out that the attribution to God of human passions must not be taken literally. “Now some persons when they hear such expressions imagine that the Living God is here giving way to anger and passion; but God is utterly inaccessible of any passion whatsoever. Such things are spoken by the great lawgiver (Moses).... for the sake of admonishing those persons who could not otherwise be corrected” (Quod Deus Sit Immut. xi). “You will take away, therefore, O my mind, whatever is created, or mortal, or changeable, or unconsecrated, from your conceptions regarding the Uncreate God, Immortal, Unchangeable, Holy, the Only God, Blessed for ever (De Sac. Abelis et Caini. Xxx).
2. THE UNIVERSE. Following Plato, Philo describes the creation of a twofold universe, spiritual and corporeal. “In the first place, from the model perceptible only by Intellect, the Creator made an incorporeal heaven and an invisible earth, and the form of air and empty space, the former of which He called darkness, and the latter He called the abyss. Then He created the incorporeal substance of water and air, and above all He spread light, being the seventh thing made. This again was incorporeal and modelled from the sun perceptible only by Intellect.... And the invisible Divine Nous, perceptible only by Intellect, Moses calls the Image of God. And the image of the Image is that Light perceptible only by Intellect, which is the image of the Divine Nous.” (De Opif Mund. iv – vii). And in the same treatise he says: “It is manifest that the Archetypal Seal which we call that world perceptible only by Intellect, must itself be the Archetypal Pattern, the Idea of ideas, the Nous of God.” Philo also takes the view of Plato with regard to the indestructibility of the universe as a whole, for he considers that there is nothing by which it could be destroyed, since the cause of its destruction must be either within or outside it, and because it is a complete unity embracing all creation, there can be nothing external to it, while on the other hand it could not be destroyed by a part of itself unless the part could be greater or more powerful than the whole. The unity of the universe, however, integrates and moves all its parts. He also uses Plato’s argument concerning time, for since time is the interval of the motion of the material universe, the world must be coeval with time, and the conclusion follows that there could never be a time when the material universe did not exist.
3. MAN. The chief object of Philo’s writings was to point out to humanity the significance of the Hebrew Scriptures as a means to the knowledge of God and of themselves, and to a realization of their Divine sonship. He teaches that man must seek to know his Father by uplifting the mind to Divine things, for it is in his mind that man is most like to God. “God, because of His tenderness and love for man, desiring to establish a Shrine among us, found none on earth more fitting than our Intellect”(De Virtut. i). “Man is the noblest of all animals by reason of the higher element, the Soul, closely akin to heaven, which is most pure in its essence, and to the Father of the universe, as having received Nous; of all things on earth the most faithful image and copy of the Eternal and Blessed Idea.” (De Decal. xxxv).
In his conception of the origin of mankind in the Divine Idea, Philo is again in agreement with Plato. “There is an immense difference between the man now formed (Gen.ii.7) and him who had previously come into being according to the image of God (Gen.i.27). For the man now formed was perceptible by sense, already participating in quality, composed of body and Soul, man or woman, mortal by nature; while he who was made after the Divine Image was, as it were, an Idea, or generic type, or Soul, apprehensible only by thought, incorporeal, neither male nor female, immortal by nature.” According to this Eternal Idea were formed particular men and women. “The primeval founder of our race appears to have been most excellent in all particulars, both in Soul and body, and very far superior to all men of subsequent ages.... For he in truth was really good and perfect.... for our generation has been from men, but he was formed from God.” In the treatise De Confus. Ling.xiv, Philo refers to man’s Archetype in whom shines the Light of God, and who is an aspect of the Divine Logos connecting man to God, and imparting the Divine gifts to man. “I have also heard of the companions of Moses having spoken thus, “Behold a man whose name is the East.” A very novel appellation indeed if you consider it as spoken of a man compounded of body and Soul, but happily chosen if regarded as applied to the incorporeal Being who in no respect differs from the Divine Image. For the Father of the universe has caused Him to spring up as the eldest Son, Whom in another passage he calls the First-born; and He Who is thus born, imitating the ways of His Father, has formed a certain species, looking to His Archetypal Pattern.”
The first duty of man, according to Philo, is to seek God, and the importance of the mind as a means of approach to Him is frequently emphasised. “Those men act worthily who have resolved to dedicate their whole youth to education, in which it is well for a man to spend both his youth and age; for as they say that vessels, when empty, still retain the odour of whatever was originally poured into them, so also the Souls of the young are deeply impressed with the indelible nature of the conceptions which were first offered to their mind, which cannot be altogether washed away by the torrent of any ideas which flow afterwards over the mind.” The consummation of intellectual development and the goal of philosophy is the mystical life of communion with the Divine. “It befits those who would company with knowledge to strive after a vision of Him Who Is. And if they cannot attain this, at least of His Image, the most sacred Logos, and next in order, that most sacred of His works, this universe of ours.” This is possible because “The Soul of man has been fashioned in accordance with the Archetypal Word of the Great Cause of all things....” In the ascent to God, man begins by knowing the visible world, and then travels beyond it. “Man has received this extraordinary gift, Intellect, (Nous).... For as in the body the sight is the most important thing, and as in the universe light is the pre-eminent thing, so that part in use which ranks highest is the Intellect, which is the sight of the Soul, shining transcendently with its own rays by which the great darkness of ignorance is dissipated.” (Quod Deus Sit Immut. x). “The human mind is.... in some sort the god of that body which bears its image within it....For it is invisible, though it sees everything itself; and it has an essence which is undiscernable, though it can discern the essences of other things. And making for itself by art and science all kinds of paths in various directions it traverses land and sea, investigating everything which contained in either element. And again, raised up on wings, and surveying and contemplating the air, it is borne upwards to the higher firmament and to the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. And so being itself involved in the revolutions of the planets and fixed stars according to the perfect laws of music, and being led on by love, which is the guide to Wisdom, it proceeds onwards till, having surmounted all essence intelligible to the external senses, it aspires to such as is perceptible only by Intellect: and perceiving in That the original models and Ideas of those things perceptible by external senses, which it sees here full of surpassing beauty, it becomes seized with a kind of sober intoxication, like the ecstasy of the Corybantes and, yielding to inspiration, becomes filled with another desire and a more excellent longing by which it is conducted onwards to the very summit of the things perceptible only to the Intellect, till it appears to be reaching the Great King Himself. And while it is eagerly longing to behold Him pure and unmingled, rays of Divine Light are poured forth upon it like a torrent, dazzling the eyes of the Intellect with their splendour” (De Mund. Opif. xxiii).
Philo, in De Confus Ling. iv ascribes the cause of error and wickedness to the mastery of the rational nature by passion and appetite. “Each of these has its own peculiar evils, while they have in addition diseases in common. For the mind reaps the harvest which folly, cowardice, intemperance, and injustice sow; and passion brings forth frantic and insane strife and conflict and all the numerous evils with which it is pregnant; and appetite dominates the impetuous and fickle loves of youth which descend upon every object, animate or inanimate, which it meets. But the heaviest of all evils is the unanimous energy of all the parts of the Soul agreeing to commit sin, not one being able to act with soundness. Of this great evil the great deluge described by Moses is an image.” And again, “If the Soul is driven to and fro by appetite, or if it is irresistibly attracted by pleasure , or driven from the path by fear, or contracted by grief, or tortured by desires, it then makes itself a slave, and makes him who has such a Soul the slave of ten thousand masters. But if it has resisted and subdued ignorance by prudence, intemperance by temperance, cowardice by fortitude, and covetousness by justice, it then adds to its indomitable free spirit power and authority” (Quod Omnis Prob. Lib. xxii).
The study of philosophy is pre-eminently valuable, for by it the mind is purified, and in such a mind the Lord of all “silently, unseen, alone, sojourns”; while “with the Souls of those who are still being cleansed, and have not yet completely washed away the stained and defiled life, angels may dwell, Divine Logoi, making them bright and pure by doctrines of high virtue” (De Somnis xii). “If anyone were able to live in all his parts to God rather than to himself,... he would have a happy and blessed life.” (Quis Rer. Div. Haer. xxii).
Philo tells frequently of the bliss experienced by those who behold the Divine Vision, and points to this blessed consummation as the goal of each individual Soul. In one of his works, De Vita Contemplativa, is described a Jewish order of men and women dedicated to God, whom he calls Theraputae, whose manner of life is regarded by his as a model for all to follow who wish to “see” God. But there is also a consummation for humanity as a whole, which corresponds to what may be called the return of the Golden Age, foreshadowed already by Plato, and referred to by Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures. “This is the only wise and truly learned race of men whose wisdom consists in carrying out the Divine commands by corresponding praiseworthy actions. This class of men lives not far from God, keeping always before its eyes the beautiful things of heaven, and being guided in all its ways by heavenly love: so that if anyone were to inquire what a great nation is, one might very properly answer that it is a nation whose most sacred prayers God hears, and to whose invocations, proceeding as they do from a pure conscience, He gladly draws near. But since there are also two classes of enemies (of such a nation), the one being men who are so deliberately out of covetousness, the other being beasts who are so as having a nature alien from ours, we will take first the beasts which are our natural enemies, for these are hostile to the whole race of mankind.... And no mortal can terminate this war, but only the One Uncreated God, when He selects some persons as worthy to be the saviours of their race; men who are peaceful in disposition, lovers of unity and fellowship, ever free, liberated from envy, and ready to give their private goods for the use and enjoyment of all in common.
“For long before the savage animals can become manageable, if they do so at some future time, the wild passions in the Soul must be tamed, and it is not possible to imagine a greater blessing than that: for is it not extreme folly to imagine that we can ever avoid injuries from wild beasts when we are continually rousing up the passions within us to a terrible degree of savageness? On which account we must not despair that when the passions of our minds are tamed and subdued, then the wild beasts will also become gentle,... among all of which the virtuous man will be sacred and unhurt, since God honours virtue, and as its due reward has given it immunity from all designs against it. Thus the most ancient war will be ended. But the more modern war which has arisen out of the deliberate purposes of men from their covetousness will likewise easily be put an end to, it seems to me, since men will be ashamed to be more savage than even the wild beasts, after they have ceased to be injured by the beasts... And even if some men are in their frenzy driven to quarrel... they will find that they are unable to gain the victory (over the virtuous man) for ... God sends that assistance which is suitable for pious men – an intrepid hardihood of Soul and an irresistible strength of body – so that a hundred will flee before five, and some will flee when no on pursues except fear.” The righteous man will have an unconquerable power of dominion so as to be able to benefit all who are subject to him, for “he will have dignity, causing others to respect him; majesty, causing them to venerate him; and beneficence, causing them to venerate him” (De Praem et Poen. xiv and xv). In De Gigantibus xlvii Philo gives his readers an injunction to this end: “Let us keep still from wrongdoing, that the Divine Spirit of Wisdom may not easily remove and depart, but may continually abide with us, as with Moses, the wise man.” And in a fragment of unknown context, “Since God penetrates invisibly the region of the Soul, let us prepare that region in the best manner possible to us, that it may be a habitation fit for God.”
One of the most interesting developments in the latter part of the pre-Christian period and the early years of the Christian era was the growth in Egypt of a school of thought which infused into the Jewish religious system certain valuable elements of Greek philosophy and thus prepared the way for the spread of Christianity in the West. The most famous exponent of this teaching was Philo.
In order to understand the conditions which made this development possible it is necessary to review the position of the Jews in Egypt. Their return from exile in Babylonia had been followed by a dispersion to the East and to the West. One section, settling in Palestine, had become extremely exclusive, adhering strictly to the letter of the sacred traditions, while the other, migrating to the various centres of Greek culture, was deeply influenced by the Greek tradition and outlook. This section became merged in the life of these cities, speaking the language and becoming familiar with the customs and ideals of Greece. In time many of their descendants were completely ignorant of Hebrew, and Greek translations of the Scriptures and Liturgy were made for general use. The better-educated among the people studied philosophy, and would find little difficulty in accepting the basic principles embodied in Greek philosophy as being also the foundation of their own traditional teachings.
The largest and most influential centre of Greek culture in the time of Philo was at Alexandria in Egypt. Here, in accordance with the privileges granted by Alexander, and continued by succeeding emperors, the Jews, who numbered about one-quarter of the whole population, shared equal rights with the other citizens, and consequently had access to the finest university and libraries of the world. They controlled the chief trades, and were prosperous and contented. A great synagogue was built in the centre of the city, and smaller ones in various quarters. These conditions were most favourable for the development of a system which interpreted the Jewish Scriptures in terms of Greek thought.
The earliest work in which this was attempted was a commentary on the Pentateuch by a Jewish Philosopher, Aristobulus. Other writers followed him, and a school of Hellenestic Judaism arose which recognised and adopted certain laws of symbolic interpretation, and which aimed at proseletyzing among non-Jewish races.
Philo was the last and greatest leader of this school. During his lifetime the Jews were severely and systematically persecuted, and soon after his death they abandoned the Hellenistic form of Judaism, which was preserved and embodied to some extent in Christianity, Philo being given a rank almost equal to that of the Fathers of the Church.
II THE LIFE OF PHILO
Philo was born at Alexandria between 40 and 20 BC. According to Jerome he was of priestly descent, and his parents were wealthy and influential. His brother Alexander, also a lover of religion and philosophy, gained the responsible position of Alabarch or chief magistrate of the Jews, and was also in close touch with imperial affairs through his wife Berenice, whom St. Paul mentions. The brothers had received a sound education in the usual Greek curriculum, and the wide scope of Philo’s interests is evident from his writings which display a thorough knowledge of Hebrew tradition as well as of Greek literature and philosophy. He entered into the social activities of the city and took part in the political life of his day with such distinction that he was elected as representative of the Jewish community on various occasions, the most notable of which was the embassy to Caligula at Rome, when, a short time after the sacking of the Jewish quarters and the massacre and torture of many of the inhabitants, a protest was made against the emperor’s claim to receive from the Divine honours. But even in the midst of such occupations, Philo never lost touch with the inner life.
His writings reveal the beauty of his character, the loftiness of his ideals, his balance and discipline, and an unquenchable enthusiasm in the pursuit of the things of God. His love of philosophy is frequently expressed. In his work, Quod Omnis Liber Probus ii, he speaks of “That sweetest of all writers, Plato”, and in De Specialibus Legibus III i, describes his own pursuit of wisdom. “There was once a time when, devoting my leisure to philosophy and to the contemplation of the world and the things in it, I reaped the fruit of excellent, desirable, and blessed intellectual experiences, always living among the Divine Oracles and doctrines, on which I fed insatiably and incessantly to my great delight, never entertaining any low or grovelling thoughts, nor ever wallowing in the pursuit of glory, or wealth, or the delights of the body, but I appeared to be raised on high and borne aloft by a certain inspiration of the Soul.” He goes on to describe how he was “hurled into the vast sea of the cares of public politics, in which I was and still am tossed about.” But whenever there was a respite from State affairs he could “rise aloft and float above the troubled waves, soaring, as it were, in the air.... I open the eyes of my Soul... and am irradiated with the light of Wisdom, since I am not given up for the whole of my life to darkness.” (The translation used is mainly that of C.D.Yonge)
The date of the death of Philo is unknown, but he mentions the embassy to Caligula in A.D. 40 as taking place when he was an old man.
III HIS AIM AND INFLUENCE
From a consideration of the work of Philo as a whole it appears that his aim was not to expound a system of philosophy, but to demonstrate the complete adequacy of the Hebrew Scriptures, when rightly interpreted, as a guide to life. This he did by showing that they had a reasonable and philosophical foundation in first principles. The books of the Pentateuch were interpreted in an allegorical manner, careful attention being given to the meaning of names as well as to the symbolism of number.
Philo had but little permanent influence upon Jewish thought. Although in his lifetime he was regarded as an orthodox Jew, and was held in great honour by his countrymen, there are only a few conceptions to be found in the Midrashim and the Talmud which can be traced to his teachings. Soon after the introduction of Christianity into the Roman Empire, Hellenistic Judaism began to disentegrate, and the Jews, almost without exception, returned to the Palestinian form. It is supposed that the Hellenistic doctrines were regarded as unsuited to withstand the opposing influences of Christianity on the one hand, and Paganism on the other. It may also be due in part to a reaction produced by the persecutions at the hands of the western races.
On the other hand the work of Philo had prepared the way for Christian missionaries who found the Hellenistic proselytes to the Jewish faith very receptive to their doctrines. The Christian leaders, who had also been deeply influenced by the ideas of Plato, found in the symbolical method introduced by Philo a valuable means for the interpretation of the spirit of the Old Testament, and in his universality of outlook an aid to its reconciliation with the spirit of the New Testament. Thus he formed an important link in the transmission of Greek ideas through Christianity. Origen and Clement made great use of his works, embodying in their schools his theory of education, and in their writings his symbolic method of interpretation, and he was held in great regard by other leaders of the Church.
“The Christian Church was the last great creative achievement of the classical culture....Outwardly the continuity with Judaism seems to be unbroken: in reality the opposite is the fact.... The Church was half Greek from the first, though the original Gospel was not.... St. Paul was a Jew of the Dispersion, not of Palestine.... His later epistles are steeped in the phraseology of the Greek Mysteries. The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Fourth Gospel are unintelligible without some knowledge of Philo, whose theology was more Greek than Jewish.” (W.R. Inge, “Hellenism in Christianity”, The Church in the World)
IV. HIS WORKS AND TEACHINGS
No complete works remain, but a number of short treatises exist, which in many cases formed parts of larger works. One group deals with the events related in the Book of Genesis, which are interpreted mainly in terms of states of Soul. This group may have been included under the title, The Allegories of the Sacred Law, and contains also the treatises, The Sacrifices of Abel and Cain, The Confusion of Tongues, The Tilling of the Earth by Noah, The Migration of Abraham, The Giants, Fugitives, The Indestructibility of the World, and others. In another group is a systematic exposition of the Mosaic Law, the details of which are explained in terms of the discipline of the Soul. Some of the subjects dealt with are The Decalogue, Rewards and Punishments, Monarchy. He also wrote the lives of Moses, Abraham and Joseph, and treatises On the Creation of the World, On Providence, On the Freedom of the Virtuous Man, and On the Contemplative Life. In all there are sixty-four treatises and parts of treatises.
Throughout his works the Platonic influence is unmistakeable, and although certain views held by Heraclitus and by the Stoics are introduced, they are such as are implied in the Platonic philosophy. Philo, however, does not always present them in their original form, but frequently adopts modifications resulting from his own reflections upon the subjects concerned. Thus he sometimes presents a particular and lower aspect of the more universal and higher truth expressed by Plato. Some of the points in which he follows Plato are:
(i) The doctrine of and Absolute God, the Cause of Divine Ideas.
(ii) The doctrine of Archetypal Ideas, and of Divine Intelligence or Nous.
(iii) The subsistence not only of the Divine Unity, but also of the Divine Plurality, from Which proceed intermediary Principles through which the multiplicity of the world is produced and is connected to the One.
(iv) The Immanence of God.
(v) The conception of matter as that which is passive, unformed, potential, and essentially unchanged although receiving a variety of forms.
(vi) The descent and ascent of Souls. In this connection he adopts Plato’s classification of the threefold activities of the rational, irascible, and concupiscible powers of man, all of which when wrongly used bind the Soul to transitory interests and pursuits. The remedy for this condition is given in terms of the four cardinal virtues of Plato, symbolized, according to Philo, by the four rivers of Eden , which ordinate and unify the activities of the Soul.
(vii) The two modes of approach to knowledge of God.
(a) The affirmative mode which conceives of Him as possessing all excellencies, yet surpassing them all.
(b) The negative mode, which denies of Him all attributes, since He is unnameable, Unlimited, and Absolute.
These views can be considered under the headings, God, the Universe, and Man.
1. GOD: Of the Transcendent God, Philo writes: “God is not as man, but neither is He as Heaven, nor as the world.... He is not even comprehensible by the Intellect except as to His Being, for beyond the fact of His Being we can understand nothing.” (Quod Deus Sit Immut. iii.)
His own love of God spontaneously springs up in such passages as: “O, Mighty Lord, how shall we praise Thee, with what lips, what tongue, what speech, what governing power of the Spirit? Can the stars, blended in single chorus, chant Thee a worthy anthem? Can the whole heaven, melted into sound, declare even a fragment of Thine Excellence? (De Vita Mos. xi.)
Philo refers to an aspect of God prior to the Divine Creative Unity, that of Divine Intelligence or Nous, Which embraces the Archetypal Idea of the Cosmos, and imparts to the Creative Intellect the Divine Paradigm of the Universe. In De Opif Mund. iv and x, he writes: “Since God, in virtue of His Deity, realized that a beautiful copy could not come into being apart from a beautiful pattern, and that none of the things perceived by the senses could be flawless which was not made after the image of an Archetype, or Spiritual Idea, when He purposed to create this visible world He first formed the Ideal World.” And again: “The Incorporeal World, then, was already completed, having its seat in the Divine Nous.”
Of the Divine plurality, and the Powers posterior to the Creator, Philo writes: “Of created things, some are created by God, and through Him, some not indeed by God, but yet through Him” (Leg. Alleg. I. xiii). He mentions elsewhere a triad proceeding from God, “In the Living and One God I understand that there were two supreme and primary Powers, Goodness and Authority,.... and the third Power that was between these two and had the effect of connecting them, was Intellect, for it is according to Intellect that God is both a Ruler and God” (De Cherub. ix). Of these Powers the three guests of Abraham are symbols of those things which are conceived in the mind. When therefore the Soul is shone upon by God, as if at noonday and when it is entirely filled with that Light which is appreciable only by Intellect, and being wholly surrounded with its brilliancy is free from all shade or darkness, it then perceives a threefold image of one subject; one image of the Living God, and others of the other two.... The One in the middle is the Father of the universe, Who in the sacred scriptures is called by his proper Name, I Am Who I Am; and those on either side are the most ancient Powers which are always close to the Living God, one of which is called His Creative Power, and the other His Royal Power.... Therefore the One in the middle of the Three....presents to the mind a vision at one time of One Being, and at another time of Three; of One when the Soul, being completely purified,.... hastens onward to that Idea which is devoid of all mixture, free from all combination, and by Itself in need of nothing whatever; and of Three when not being yet perfect as to the highest virtues, it still seeks for initiation in the lesser virtues” (De Abrahamo xxiv).
In this symbolism Philo represents the Word or Logos of God, Which in various aspects and modes is the Cause from which the infinite Divine gifts are imparted to secondary natures, and tempered, through the mediation of lesser powers, to the limited capacity of finite beings. He therefore uses the terms “Word,” “Logos” “Reason”, of God, in many different connotations, but these are never really contradictory, since they all represent the operations of Divine Intelligence and Energy in different spheres. “The Father of the Divine Logos is God, and His Mother Wisdom, by means of Which the universe arrived at creation” (De Fug. xx). “The Creative Power and Ruling Power flow out from the Logos as from a spring....Moses teaches that this universe is held together by invisible Powers which the Creator has extended from the extreme foundations of the earth to the bounds of heaven, making a beautiful provision to prevent that which He has joined together from being dissolved, for the indissoluble chains which bind the universe are His Powers (De Migr. Abr. xxxii).
The Immanence of God is brought out in the passage, “Can a man, then, hide himself from God? Where can he hide himself from that One Who pervades all places, Whose look reaches to the very boundaries of the world, Who fills the whole universe?” (De Cherub. ix).
Though obliged to use terms suggestive of human attributes, Philo makes it clear that he has no anthropomorphic conceptions or God. He points out that the attribution to God of human passions must not be taken literally. “Now some persons when they hear such expressions imagine that the Living God is here giving way to anger and passion; but God is utterly inaccessible of any passion whatsoever. Such things are spoken by the great lawgiver (Moses).... for the sake of admonishing those persons who could not otherwise be corrected” (Quod Deus Sit Immut. xi). “You will take away, therefore, O my mind, whatever is created, or mortal, or changeable, or unconsecrated, from your conceptions regarding the Uncreate God, Immortal, Unchangeable, Holy, the Only God, Blessed for ever (De Sac. Abelis et Caini. Xxx).
2. THE UNIVERSE. Following Plato, Philo describes the creation of a twofold universe, spiritual and corporeal. “In the first place, from the model perceptible only by Intellect, the Creator made an incorporeal heaven and an invisible earth, and the form of air and empty space, the former of which He called darkness, and the latter He called the abyss. Then He created the incorporeal substance of water and air, and above all He spread light, being the seventh thing made. This again was incorporeal and modelled from the sun perceptible only by Intellect.... And the invisible Divine Nous, perceptible only by Intellect, Moses calls the Image of God. And the image of the Image is that Light perceptible only by Intellect, which is the image of the Divine Nous.” (De Opif Mund. iv – vii). And in the same treatise he says: “It is manifest that the Archetypal Seal which we call that world perceptible only by Intellect, must itself be the Archetypal Pattern, the Idea of ideas, the Nous of God.” Philo also takes the view of Plato with regard to the indestructibility of the universe as a whole, for he considers that there is nothing by which it could be destroyed, since the cause of its destruction must be either within or outside it, and because it is a complete unity embracing all creation, there can be nothing external to it, while on the other hand it could not be destroyed by a part of itself unless the part could be greater or more powerful than the whole. The unity of the universe, however, integrates and moves all its parts. He also uses Plato’s argument concerning time, for since time is the interval of the motion of the material universe, the world must be coeval with time, and the conclusion follows that there could never be a time when the material universe did not exist.
3. MAN. The chief object of Philo’s writings was to point out to humanity the significance of the Hebrew Scriptures as a means to the knowledge of God and of themselves, and to a realization of their Divine sonship. He teaches that man must seek to know his Father by uplifting the mind to Divine things, for it is in his mind that man is most like to God. “God, because of His tenderness and love for man, desiring to establish a Shrine among us, found none on earth more fitting than our Intellect”(De Virtut. i). “Man is the noblest of all animals by reason of the higher element, the Soul, closely akin to heaven, which is most pure in its essence, and to the Father of the universe, as having received Nous; of all things on earth the most faithful image and copy of the Eternal and Blessed Idea.” (De Decal. xxxv).
In his conception of the origin of mankind in the Divine Idea, Philo is again in agreement with Plato. “There is an immense difference between the man now formed (Gen.ii.7) and him who had previously come into being according to the image of God (Gen.i.27). For the man now formed was perceptible by sense, already participating in quality, composed of body and Soul, man or woman, mortal by nature; while he who was made after the Divine Image was, as it were, an Idea, or generic type, or Soul, apprehensible only by thought, incorporeal, neither male nor female, immortal by nature.” According to this Eternal Idea were formed particular men and women. “The primeval founder of our race appears to have been most excellent in all particulars, both in Soul and body, and very far superior to all men of subsequent ages.... For he in truth was really good and perfect.... for our generation has been from men, but he was formed from God.” In the treatise De Confus. Ling.xiv, Philo refers to man’s Archetype in whom shines the Light of God, and who is an aspect of the Divine Logos connecting man to God, and imparting the Divine gifts to man. “I have also heard of the companions of Moses having spoken thus, “Behold a man whose name is the East.” A very novel appellation indeed if you consider it as spoken of a man compounded of body and Soul, but happily chosen if regarded as applied to the incorporeal Being who in no respect differs from the Divine Image. For the Father of the universe has caused Him to spring up as the eldest Son, Whom in another passage he calls the First-born; and He Who is thus born, imitating the ways of His Father, has formed a certain species, looking to His Archetypal Pattern.”
The first duty of man, according to Philo, is to seek God, and the importance of the mind as a means of approach to Him is frequently emphasised. “Those men act worthily who have resolved to dedicate their whole youth to education, in which it is well for a man to spend both his youth and age; for as they say that vessels, when empty, still retain the odour of whatever was originally poured into them, so also the Souls of the young are deeply impressed with the indelible nature of the conceptions which were first offered to their mind, which cannot be altogether washed away by the torrent of any ideas which flow afterwards over the mind.” The consummation of intellectual development and the goal of philosophy is the mystical life of communion with the Divine. “It befits those who would company with knowledge to strive after a vision of Him Who Is. And if they cannot attain this, at least of His Image, the most sacred Logos, and next in order, that most sacred of His works, this universe of ours.” This is possible because “The Soul of man has been fashioned in accordance with the Archetypal Word of the Great Cause of all things....” In the ascent to God, man begins by knowing the visible world, and then travels beyond it. “Man has received this extraordinary gift, Intellect, (Nous).... For as in the body the sight is the most important thing, and as in the universe light is the pre-eminent thing, so that part in use which ranks highest is the Intellect, which is the sight of the Soul, shining transcendently with its own rays by which the great darkness of ignorance is dissipated.” (Quod Deus Sit Immut. x). “The human mind is.... in some sort the god of that body which bears its image within it....For it is invisible, though it sees everything itself; and it has an essence which is undiscernable, though it can discern the essences of other things. And making for itself by art and science all kinds of paths in various directions it traverses land and sea, investigating everything which contained in either element. And again, raised up on wings, and surveying and contemplating the air, it is borne upwards to the higher firmament and to the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. And so being itself involved in the revolutions of the planets and fixed stars according to the perfect laws of music, and being led on by love, which is the guide to Wisdom, it proceeds onwards till, having surmounted all essence intelligible to the external senses, it aspires to such as is perceptible only by Intellect: and perceiving in That the original models and Ideas of those things perceptible by external senses, which it sees here full of surpassing beauty, it becomes seized with a kind of sober intoxication, like the ecstasy of the Corybantes and, yielding to inspiration, becomes filled with another desire and a more excellent longing by which it is conducted onwards to the very summit of the things perceptible only to the Intellect, till it appears to be reaching the Great King Himself. And while it is eagerly longing to behold Him pure and unmingled, rays of Divine Light are poured forth upon it like a torrent, dazzling the eyes of the Intellect with their splendour” (De Mund. Opif. xxiii).
Philo, in De Confus Ling. iv ascribes the cause of error and wickedness to the mastery of the rational nature by passion and appetite. “Each of these has its own peculiar evils, while they have in addition diseases in common. For the mind reaps the harvest which folly, cowardice, intemperance, and injustice sow; and passion brings forth frantic and insane strife and conflict and all the numerous evils with which it is pregnant; and appetite dominates the impetuous and fickle loves of youth which descend upon every object, animate or inanimate, which it meets. But the heaviest of all evils is the unanimous energy of all the parts of the Soul agreeing to commit sin, not one being able to act with soundness. Of this great evil the great deluge described by Moses is an image.” And again, “If the Soul is driven to and fro by appetite, or if it is irresistibly attracted by pleasure , or driven from the path by fear, or contracted by grief, or tortured by desires, it then makes itself a slave, and makes him who has such a Soul the slave of ten thousand masters. But if it has resisted and subdued ignorance by prudence, intemperance by temperance, cowardice by fortitude, and covetousness by justice, it then adds to its indomitable free spirit power and authority” (Quod Omnis Prob. Lib. xxii).
The study of philosophy is pre-eminently valuable, for by it the mind is purified, and in such a mind the Lord of all “silently, unseen, alone, sojourns”; while “with the Souls of those who are still being cleansed, and have not yet completely washed away the stained and defiled life, angels may dwell, Divine Logoi, making them bright and pure by doctrines of high virtue” (De Somnis xii). “If anyone were able to live in all his parts to God rather than to himself,... he would have a happy and blessed life.” (Quis Rer. Div. Haer. xxii).
Philo tells frequently of the bliss experienced by those who behold the Divine Vision, and points to this blessed consummation as the goal of each individual Soul. In one of his works, De Vita Contemplativa, is described a Jewish order of men and women dedicated to God, whom he calls Theraputae, whose manner of life is regarded by his as a model for all to follow who wish to “see” God. But there is also a consummation for humanity as a whole, which corresponds to what may be called the return of the Golden Age, foreshadowed already by Plato, and referred to by Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures. “This is the only wise and truly learned race of men whose wisdom consists in carrying out the Divine commands by corresponding praiseworthy actions. This class of men lives not far from God, keeping always before its eyes the beautiful things of heaven, and being guided in all its ways by heavenly love: so that if anyone were to inquire what a great nation is, one might very properly answer that it is a nation whose most sacred prayers God hears, and to whose invocations, proceeding as they do from a pure conscience, He gladly draws near. But since there are also two classes of enemies (of such a nation), the one being men who are so deliberately out of covetousness, the other being beasts who are so as having a nature alien from ours, we will take first the beasts which are our natural enemies, for these are hostile to the whole race of mankind.... And no mortal can terminate this war, but only the One Uncreated God, when He selects some persons as worthy to be the saviours of their race; men who are peaceful in disposition, lovers of unity and fellowship, ever free, liberated from envy, and ready to give their private goods for the use and enjoyment of all in common.
“For long before the savage animals can become manageable, if they do so at some future time, the wild passions in the Soul must be tamed, and it is not possible to imagine a greater blessing than that: for is it not extreme folly to imagine that we can ever avoid injuries from wild beasts when we are continually rousing up the passions within us to a terrible degree of savageness? On which account we must not despair that when the passions of our minds are tamed and subdued, then the wild beasts will also become gentle,... among all of which the virtuous man will be sacred and unhurt, since God honours virtue, and as its due reward has given it immunity from all designs against it. Thus the most ancient war will be ended. But the more modern war which has arisen out of the deliberate purposes of men from their covetousness will likewise easily be put an end to, it seems to me, since men will be ashamed to be more savage than even the wild beasts, after they have ceased to be injured by the beasts... And even if some men are in their frenzy driven to quarrel... they will find that they are unable to gain the victory (over the virtuous man) for ... God sends that assistance which is suitable for pious men – an intrepid hardihood of Soul and an irresistible strength of body – so that a hundred will flee before five, and some will flee when no on pursues except fear.” The righteous man will have an unconquerable power of dominion so as to be able to benefit all who are subject to him, for “he will have dignity, causing others to respect him; majesty, causing them to venerate him; and beneficence, causing them to venerate him” (De Praem et Poen. xiv and xv). In De Gigantibus xlvii Philo gives his readers an injunction to this end: “Let us keep still from wrongdoing, that the Divine Spirit of Wisdom may not easily remove and depart, but may continually abide with us, as with Moses, the wise man.” And in a fragment of unknown context, “Since God penetrates invisibly the region of the Soul, let us prepare that region in the best manner possible to us, that it may be a habitation fit for God.”