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10. THE RELATION OF PHILO TO OTHER BOOKS now comes up for consideration. The author's knowledge of the Old Testament literature is
apparent on every page. There are obvious borrowings from all the books to the end of 2 Kings; of Chronicles he seems to be a definite imitator. He knows the story of job, and quotes a Psalm; he draws from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. With the Wisdom literature he has not much in common, and traces of the use of the Minor Prophets, of Ezra, Nehemiah, or Tobit, are hard to find, though I will not deny their presence. 1 If he lived, as I believe he did, near the end of the first century, we should naturally credit him with a knowledge of the whole Jewish canon.
It is more important to determine his relation to the apocryphal books--the literature to which he was himself a contributor. Four of these, Enoch, Jubilees, the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, and the Fourth Book of Esdras, afford interesting material.
(a) Certain affinities with the Book of Enoch are traceable in Philo. It is true that Enoch is not one of his heroes; in fact, he tells us no more of him than is found in Genesis, but I believe that the Book was known to him, though it is only in the first part of it that I find any striking parallels.
In the first place, his view of the stars and other heavenly bodies is like that of Enoch. They are sentient beings, who receive commands from God and move about to execute them. See the story of Sisera, and the hymn of Deborah, and compare in Enoch 6, etc., the punishment of the errant stars.
Again, a passage in Enoch (148) seems to be the model of some in Philo. "Behold, clouds called me in my vision, and mists cried to me, and runnings of stars and lightnings hastened me, and in the vision winds gave me wings and lifted me
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up." Compare Philo XI. 5: "The heavens were folded up, and the clouds drew up water . . . and the thunders and lightnings were multiplied, and the winds and tempests sounded; the stars were gathered together, and the angels ran before " (XIII. 7); "the winds shall sound and the lightnings run on," etc. (XV. 2); "the lightnings of the stars shone, and the thunders followed, sounding with them" (XXXII. 7); "the lightnings hasted to their courses, and the winds gave a sound out of their storehouses," etc. The phrase in Enoch 14 8, 10, 11 is διαδρομαὶ ἀστέρων καὶ ἀστραπαί. In 161 we have ὁ αἰὼν ὁ μέγασ, which may be the source of the immensurabilis mundus (seculum tempus) of Philo IX. 3, XXXII. 3, XXXIV. 2.
In Enoch 173, τόξον πυρὸσ καὶ βέλη. Philo XIX. 16, praecedebant eum fulgura et lampades et sagittae omnes unanimes.
Enoch 181, Εῖ᾽δον τοὺσ θησαυροὺσ τῶν ἀνέμων; cf. Philo XXXII. 7, above. The winds gave a sound out of their storehouses (promptuariis).
In Enoch 186 seq. we hear something of precious stones which reminds us of those of Kenaz in Philo XXVI. seq.
The words of 212: "I saw neither heaven above nor earth founded, but a place imperfect and terrible" recall the vision of Kenaz in Philo XXVIII. 6 seq.
So also the description of the sweet plants of Paradise in Enoch 24 may have suggested the words of Moses in Philo XII. 9.
In Enoch 252 "to Visit the earth" has more than one parallel in Philo, e. g. XIX. 12, 13, visitare seculum, orbem: and Enoch 257 (Then I blessed the God of glory . . . who hath prepared such things for righteous men, etc.) is like Philo XXVI. 6: Blessed be God who hath wrought such signs for
the sons of men, and 14: Lo, how great good things God hath wrought for men.
(b) The Book of Jubilees is perhaps most nearly comparable to Philo, in that it follows the form of a chronicle of Bible history. Its spirit and plan are, to be sure, wholly different; it is regulated by a strict system of chronology, and its chief interest is in the ceremonial law. It is also far earlier in date, belonging to the last years of the second century B.C.
Our author has read Jubilees, and to a certain extent supplements it in the portions which are common to both books. Thus Jubilees supplies us with the names of the wives of the early patriarchs: Philo omits these, but gives the names of their sons and daughters. It is true that he gives other names for the daughters of Adam, and that in the one case in which he supplies the name of a wife he also differs from Jubilees: with him Cain's wife is Themech, in Jubilees it is Awân (daughter of Adam and sister of Cain, which Philo may have wished to disguise). In the same way Philo devotes much space to the names and number of the grandsons of Noah and their families, which are wanting in Jubilees; and whereas Jubilees gives full geographical details of the provinces which fell to Shem, Ham and Japhet, Philo indulges only in a series of bare names of places, now for the most part hopelessly corrupt. There is a small and seemingly intentional contradiction of Jubilees in this part of his history: Jubilees 118, says that Serug taught Nahor to divine, and worshipped idols. Philo agrees that divination began in the days of Terah and Nahor, but adds that Serug and his sons did not join in it, or in idolatry.
Then, whereas the bulk of Jubilees is occupied with the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Philo
tells in detail one episode--the rescue of Abram from the fire--which Jubilees omits, and passes over the rest of the period in a single page. Anything else that he has to say about Abraham and the rest is introduced into the speeches of later personages (Joshua, Deborah, etc.) by way of illustration. The two books agree in giving the names of the seventy souls who went down into Egypt.
All this seems to me to show a consciousness of Jubilees, and an intentional avoidance, in the main, of the ground traversed by that book. Very rarely is there any coincidence of thought, but two possible examples can be cited. Philo has surprisingly little to say about Satan or evil spirits, as we have seen: but suddenly (in XLV. 6) he says: Et dixit Dominus ad anticiminum: And the Lord said to the Adversary. This must surely be the equivalent of the "prince Mastema" whom we meet so frequently in Jubilees. There is also a difficult passage (XIII. 8) which may go back to Jubilees. God is speaking to Moses, and says: "And the nights shall yield their dew, as I spake after the flood of the earth, at that time when I commanded him (or Then he commanded him) concerning the year of the life of Noah, and said to him: These are the years which I ordained," etc. The words, which may be corrupt, at least remind me of the stress laid in Jubilees 6, upon the yearly feast that is to be kept by Noah after the Flood.
Upon the whole Philo's knowledge of Jubilees is to be inferred rather from what he does not say than from what he does.
(c) The Syriac APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH has, as I have elsewhere shown (JTS 1915, 403), certain very marked resemblances to Philo. It will be
right to repeat and expand the list of them here. We will take the passages in the order in which they appear in the Apocalypse, in Dr. R. H. Charles's last translation (Pseudepigrapha of O.T.).
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Bar. IV. 3. The building now built in your midst is not that which is revealed with Me, that which was prepared beforehand here from the time when I took counsel to make Paradise and shewed it to Adam before he sinned, but when he transgressed the commandment it was removed from him, as also Paradise. |
Ph. XIII. 8. And he said: This is the place which I showed the first-made man, saying: If thou transgress not that which I have commanded thee, all things shall be subject unto thee. But he transgressed my ways. . . . And the Lord further shewed him (Moses) the ways of Paradise, and said to him: These are the ways which men have lost because they walked not in them. XXVI. 6. Kenaz says: Blessed be God who hath wrought such marvels for the sons of men, and made the protoplast Adam and shewed him all things, that when Adam had sinned therein, then, he should deprive him of all things . . . |
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IV. 4. And after these things I shewed it to my servant Abraham by night among the portions of the victims. |
XXIII. 6. (of Abraham) And sent a sleep upon him and compassed him about with fear, and set before him the place of fire wherein the deeds of them that work wickedness against me shall be expiated, etc. |
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IV. 5. And again also I shewed it to Moses on Mount Sinai when I shewed to him the likeness of the tabernacle and all its vessels. |
XI. 15. (on Sinai) He charged him concerning the tabernacle and the ark . . . and the candlesticks and the laver and the base, and the breastplate and the oracle and the precious stones, and shewed him the likeness of them. |
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XIX. 10. (on Pisgah) He shewed him the place whence the manna rained upon the people, even up to the paths of paradise; and he shewed him the manner of the sanctuary and the number of the offerings ... (See also XIII. 8 above.) |
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V. 5. Jabish, an unknown person, summoned with others by Baruch. |
XXVIII. 1. Kenaz summons the prophets Jabis and Phinees. |
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VI. 7. The forty-eight precious stones. |
See below, p. 64. |
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X. Baruch's lamentation generally resembles that of Jephthah's daughter. |
XL. 5. |
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X. 11. And do ye, O heavens, withhold your dew and open not the treasures of rain. |
XLIV. 10. I will command the heaven, and it shall deny them rain. XI. 9. I will command the heaven, and it shall give its rain. XIII. 7. The nights shall yield their dew. XXIII. 12. I will command the rain and the dew. XXXII. 7. the storehouses of the wind. XV. 5. the treasuries of darkness. |
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XI. 4. The righteous sleep in the earth in tranquillity. |
III. 10. I will raise up them that sleep from the earth. |
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XXI. 24. Abraham, etc., who sleep in the earth. |
XI. 6. I will recompense the sins of them that sleep. XIX. 12. I will raise up thee and thy fathers from the earth (of Egypt intrusive) wherein ye shall sleep. XXXV. 3. because of them that are fallen asleep. LI. 5. when the righteous shall fall asleep, then shall they be delivered. |
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XI. 6, 7. That ye might go and announce in Sheol and say to the dead: Blessed are ye more than we who live. |
XXIV. 6. Who shall go and tell the righteous Moses (that Joshua is dead)? XXXI. 7. (To Sisera) Go and boast thyself to thy father in hell. XXXII. 13. Go, ye angels, tell the fathers in the treasuries of souls. LXI. 6. (To Goliath) then shall ye tell your mother (after death). |
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XV. 5. Unless he had accepted my law. |
Emphasized in XLIV. 6 seq. (Cf. XI. 2). |
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XVII. 4. brought the law to the seed of Jacob and lighted a lamp for the nation of Israel (cf. LIX.). |
IX. 8. I will light for (Moses) my lamp. XV. 6. I came down to light a lamp for my people. |
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LIX. 2. the lamp of the eternal law. |
XIX. 4. kindling among you an eternal lamp. Besides repeated references to the Law as a light. |
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XIX. 1. (Moses) called heaven and earth to witness against them; also LXXXIV. 2. |
Occurs 4 times, of Moses (twice), Joshua, Jonathan. |
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XX. 1. The times shall hasten more than the former, and the seasons shall speed on . . . the years shall pass more quickly. LIV. 1. Thou dost hasten the beginnings of the times. LXXXIII. 1. The most High will assuredly hasten his times and . . . bring on his hours. |
XIX. 13. When I shall draw near to visit the world, I will command the times and they shall be shortened, and the stars shall be hastened, and the light of the sun shall make haste to set, etc. |
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XX. 2. That I may the more speedily visit the world in its season. |
XIX. 12. Until I visit the world. (See also III. 10, XXVI. 12, XLVIII. 1.) |
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XXI. 23. Let Sheol be sealed, so that from this time forward it may not receive the dead, and let the treasuries p. 50 of souls restore those which are enclosed in them (Cf. XXX. 2). |
III. 10. Hell shall pay its debt and destruction restore its deposit . . . hell shall shut its mouth. p. 50 XXXIII. 3. Death is now sealed up. |
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XLII. 7, 8. the dust shall be called, and there shall be said to it: Give back that which is not thine, and raise up all that thou hast kept until this time (cf. L. 2). |
Hell will not restore its deposit unless it be required of him who gave it. |
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XXI. 9. our fathers in the hidden places of souls. XXXII. 13. the fathers in the treasuries of their souls. |
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XXV. 4. The Mighty one doth no longer remember the earth. XXVIII. 2. The measure and reckoning of that time are two parts a week of seven weeks. |
XXVI. 13. until I remember the world. The phrase occurs at least five times. (See the Note on Ph. XIX. 15.) |
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XXIX. 8. the treasury of manna shall again descend from on high. |
XIX. 10. the place whence the manna rained upon the people. |
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XXX. 4. the souls of the wicked . . . shall then waste away the more. |
XVI. 3. Korah shall pine away until I remember the world. XLIV. Micah's mother is to waste away in his sight. So also Doeg LXIII. 4. |
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XLIV. 15. the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire. |
XXXVIII. 4. (of Jair) in the fire wherein thou shalt die, therein shalt thou have thy dwelling-place. |
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LXIV. 7. (Manasseh) finally his abode was in the fire. |
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LXIII. 4. (of Doeg) his dwelling shall be with Jair in unquenchable fire for ever. |
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L. 3, 4. it will be necessary to show to the living that the dead have come to life again . . . and . . . when they have severally recognized those whom they now know. |
XXIII. 1. until I restore you to the fathers and the fathers to you. LXII. 9. (Jonathan) Even if death part us, I know that our souls will recognize each other. |
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LI. 11. the armies of the angels. |
militiae, of angels, occurs five times. |
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LIV. 1. the inhabitants of the earth. |
one of Philo's most frequent catchwords. |
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5. thou breakest up the enclosure (of the ignorant). |
XXXIII. 6. Deborah closed up the hedge of her generation. |
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9. What am I amongst men? |
Cf. Gideon XXXV. 5, Saul LVI. 6. |
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11. I will not be silent in praising. |
Cf. Deborah and Hannah. |
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LV. 3. Ramiel who presides over true visions. |
XVIII. 6. the angel who was over the praises. XXVII, 10. Gethel set over hidden things. Zeruel, over strength (LXI. 5). XXXIV. 2. angels are sorcerers. XXXVIII. 3. Nathaniel who is over fire. |
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LVI. 6. The list of disasters that followed the Fall is much in Philo's manner. |
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LIX. 2. The law which announced to them that believe the promise of their reward, and to them that deny, the torment of fire which is reserved for them. |
XXIII. 6. I set before (Abraham) the place of fire wherein the deeds of them that work wickedness against me shall be expiated, and showed him the torches of fire whereby the righteous that have believed in me shall be enlightened. |
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3. but also the heavens at that time were shaken from their place. |
XI. 5. at Sinai. The heavens were folded up. I bared the heavens (XV. 6), XXIII. 10. I stopped the courses of the stars, etc. There are several lists of the portents which accompanied the giving of the law. |
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4-11. He showed him the pattern of Zion and its measures, "the measures of the fire, the number of the drops of rain," etc., c. p. 52 4-11. The greatness of Paradise . . . the number of the offerings. |
XIX. 10. He showed him the place whence the clouds draw up water, the place whence the river takes its watering the place p. 52 whence the manna rained . . . up to the paths of Paradise . . . the measures of the sanctuary and the number of the offerings. |
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The splendour of the lightnings. |
Very frequent in Philo. |
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LX. 1. The works which the Amorites wrought and the spells of the incantations which they wrought, and the wickedness of their mysteries. 1 |
XXV. 10. seq. The Amorites figure as great idolaters in the story of Kenaz the first judge: their idols are called the holy Nymphs. The episode of Kenaz is almost the longest in Philo. XXXIV. A wizard Aod came from Midian who sacrificed to fallen angels, and made the sun appear at night and seduced Israel. |
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2. But even Israel was then polluted by sins in the days of the Judges, though they saw many signs which were from Him who made them. |
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LXVI. 2. Josiah removed the magicians and enchanters and necromancers from the land. |
LXIV. 1. Saul said: I will surely remove the wizards out of the land of Israel (though for unworthy motives). |
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LXXI. 1. The holy land will . . . protect its inhabiters at that time. |
Compare the statement (VII. 4) that the holy land was not touched by the Flood. |
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LXXVI. 2. Baruch is to be taken up (cf. XIII. 3; XXV. 1) and is to go up into a certain mountain, and the whole world will be shown to him. (See on LIX.) |
XLVIII. Phinehas is to go and live in a named mountain till be has fulfilled his destiny in the person of Elijah and then is to be taken up into the place where those before him have p. 53 been taken up. These "priores tui" are the "others like thee" who are mentioned in Bar. II. 1; XIII. 5; (LVII.; LIX. 1); XXI. 24; LXVI. 7. |
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LXXVII. 6. if ye direct your ways. |
At least five times. |
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13. shepherds of Israel. |
XIX. 3. Of Moses. |
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20. he sends a letter by an eagle. |
XLVIII. An eagle is to feed Phinehas. |
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25. Solomon's mastery over birds. |
LX. 3. David predicts Solomon's mastery over evil spirits. |
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LXXXII. 3-5. The Gentiles will be like a vapour ... like a drop . . . as spittle. |
VII. 3; XII. 4. like a drop and like spittle. |
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9. as a passing cloud. |
XIX. 13. like a running cloud. |
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LXXXIV. 4. after Moses' death ye cast them (the precepts) away from you. |
XXX. 5. Moses (and others) commanded you . . . while they lived ye shewed yourselves servants of God; but when they died, your heart died also. |
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7. (let this epistle) be for a testimony between me and you. |
At least nine times. |
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10. that he may not reckon the multitude of your sins, but remember the rectitude of your fathers. |
XXXV. 3. God will have mercy, not for your sakes, but because of those that have fallen asleep (cf. XXXIX. 11). |
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11. for if He judge us not according to the multitude of His mercies, woe unto all us who are born. |
XIX. 9. What man hath not sinned against thee? How shall thine heritage be stablished if thou have not compassion, etc. XXVIII. 5. Is it not he that shall spare us according to the abundance of His mercy (cf. XXXIX. 7; LV. 2). |
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LXXXV. 9. That we may rest with our fathers. |
XXVIII. 10. The rest of the righteous after they are dead. |
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12. There will be no place . . . for prayer . . . nor intercessions of the fathers, nor prayer of the prophets, nor help of the righteous. |
XXXIII. 5. While a man yet liveth he can pray for himself and for his sons, but after the end he will not be able to pray . . . Put not your trust therefore in your fathers. |
It will be seen that these resemblances (not all of which, of course, are supposed by me to be equally strong) are scattered over the whole text of Baruch. To me they seem to constitute one among a good many weighty arguments against the hypothesis that Baruch is a composite work but this is not the place to discuss that matter.
(d) We will examine 4 ESDRAS in the same fashion, only here it will be better to cite the Latin of both texts. We must keep in mind the difference between coincidences of vocabulary and parallels in matter. The versions of the two books are extraordinarily alike in their Latinity. One is tempted to say that they are by the same hand; but it will be safer to regard them as products of the same school and age.
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4 Esdr. III. 13. Et factum est cum iniquitatem facerent coram te, elegisti ex his unum (Abraham) . . . et demonstrasti ei temporum finem solo secrete noctu et disposuisti ei testamentum aeternum et dixisti et ut non unquam derelinqueres semen eius. |
Philo XXIII. 5. Et cum seducerentur habitantes terram singuli quique post praesumptiones suas credidit Abraham mihi . . . et dixi ei in uisu dicens: semini tuo dabo terram hanc. VII. 4. Et ante onmes hos eligam puerum meum Abram . . . et disponam testamentum meum cum eo, etc. |
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17. Et adduxisti eos super montem Sina. |
XV. 3. et adduxi eos sub montem Sina. p. 55 XXIII. 10. et adduxi eos in conspectu meo usque ad montem Sina. XXXII. 7. et duxit in montem Sina. |
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18. et inclinasti coelos. |
XV. 3; XXIII. 10. et inclinaui coelos. |
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et statuisti terram et commouisti orbem et tremere fecisti abyssos et conturbasti saeculum. |
XXIII. 10. mouebantur in descensu meo omnia . . . obturaui uenas abyssi. XXXII. 7. terra mota est de firmamento suo et tremuerunt montes et rupes, etc. |
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22. permanens. 24. oblationes. 27. tradidisti ciuitatem. |
All very common words in Philo. |
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34. pondera in statera. |
XL. 1. quis dabit cor meum in statera et animam meam in pondere. |
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momentum puncti. |
XIX. 14. momenti plenitudo. |
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IV. 7. quantae uenae sunt in principio abyssi. |
uena five to six times; abyssus nine times. |
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exitus paradisi. |
uiae, semitae paradisi XIII. 9; XIX. 10. |
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12. (and elsewhere) melius erat nos . . . quam. |
At least seven times. |
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16. factus est in uano. |
Fourteen times. |
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18. incipiebas (iustificare) = μέλλειν. |
Three times at least. |
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35. animae iustorum in promptuariis suis. |
XXXII. 13. patribus in promptuariis animarum eorum. |
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42. festinant reddere ea quae commendata sunt. |
III. 10. reddet infernus debitum suum et perditio restituet paratecem suam. XXXIII. 3. mensura et tempus et anni reddiderunt depositum tuum infernus accipiens sibi deposita non restituet nisi reposcetur ab eo qui deposuit ei. |
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44. si possibile est et si idoneus sum. |
LIII. 7. si possibilis sum. |
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si plus quam praeteriit habet uenire, etc. |
XIX. 14. quanta quantitas temporis transiit, etc.? . . . |
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IV. 50. superhabundauit quae transiuit mensura; superauerunt autem guttae et fumus. |
cyathi guttum, et omnia compleuit tempus. Quatuor enim semis transierunt et duae semis supersunt. |
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V. 4. relucescet sol noctu. |
XXXIV. Nunquid aliquando uidistis solem noctu? . . . ostendit populis solem noctu. |
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12. non dirigentur uiae eorum. |
Frequent. |
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16. quare uultus tuus tristis. |
L. 3. quare tristis es, etc. |
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18. pastor. |
XIX. 3. of Moses. |
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23. elegisti uineam unam (also IX. 21). |
Israel as vine or vineyard occurs six times. |
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26. columbam. |
Israel as dove thrice. |
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29. sponsionibus. |
Seven times. |
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42. adsimilabo. |
Very common. |
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VI. 2. coruscuum. |
Six times in varying forms (coruscus -atio -ans). |
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3. militiae (angelorum). |
Five times. |
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8-10. manus Jacob tenebat calcaneum Esau, etc. |
XIX. 13. apex ma(g)nus remains. |
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16. finem eorum oportet commutari. |
XXVIII. 9. cum completum fuerit tempus . . . pausabit uena et sic mutabuntur. |
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VI. 18. quando adpropinquare incipio ut uisitem habitantes in terra. |
XIX. 13. cum appropinquauero uisitare orbem. |
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IX 2. uisitare saeculum. |
12. donec uisitem seculum. XXVI. 13. et uisitabo habitantes terram. |
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VI. 26. qui recepti sunt homines qui mortem non gustauerunt. |
XLVIII. eleuaberis . . . ubi eleuati sunt priores tui . . . et adducam uos et gustabitis quod est mortis. |
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39. tenebrae circumferebantur et silentium. |
LX. 2. Tenebrae et silentium erant antequam fieret seculum. |
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41. ut pars quidem sursum recederet, pars uero deorsum maneret. |
Both the song of David and the vision of Kenaz (XX VIII.) dwell on the division of the firmaments. |
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42. imperasti aquis congregari, etc. |
XV. 6. nihil simile factum est uerbo huic ex qua die dixi congregentur aquae sub caelo, etc. |
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56. gentes saliuae adsimilatae sunt, et sicut stillicidium de urceo. |
VII. 3. et tanquam stillicidium arbitrabor eos et in scuto (sputo) approximabo eos. XII. 4. erit mihi hominum genus tanquam stillicidium urcei et tanquam sputum aestimabitur. |
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VII. 32. terra reddet qui in ea dormiunt. |
III. 10. erigam dormientes de terra. XIX. 12. excitabo te et patres tuos de terra [Aegypti] in qua dormietis, etc. |
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74. non propter eos, sed. |
About five times. |
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75. creaturam renouare. |
XVI. 3. ero innouans terram (cf. III. 10). XXXII. 17. ut in innouatione creaturae. |
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87. detabescent . . . marcescent. |
XVI. Korah, etc., tabescent. XLIV. Micah's mother, erit marcescens. |
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92. cum eis plasmatum cogitamentum malum. |
XXXIII. 3. plasmatio iniqua perdet potestatem suam. |
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102. etc. Si iusti impios excusare poterint, etc. |
5. Adhuc uiuens homo potest orare . . . post finem autem non poterit, etc. |
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VIII. 15. tu magis scis. |
tu plus scis, tu prae omnibus scis two or three times. |
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53. Radix signata est a uobis. |
XXXIII. 3. signata est iam mors. |
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IX. 22. cum multo labore perfeci haec. |
XXVIII. 4. tu uidisti . . . quantum laborauerim populo meo: also XIX. 5. |
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XII. 20. anni citati. |
XIX. 13. iubebo annis . . . et breuiabuntur. |
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XIII. 26. liberabit creaturam suam. |
LI. 5. cum dormierint iusti tunc liberabuntur. |
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52. scire quid sit in profundo maris. |
XXI. 2. tu scis . . . quid agat cor maris (cf. XXIX. 4) |
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53. inluminatus es. |
Twelve times in this sense. |
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XIV. 3. Reuelans reuelatus sum super rubum. |
LIII. 8. Illuminans illuminaui domum Israel. |
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et locutus sum Moysi. |
et elegi tunc mihi prophetam Mosen. |
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et adduxi eum super montem Sina. |
See above on III. 17. |
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et detinui eum apud me . . . et enarraui ei mirabilia et ostendi ei temporum finem. |
Cf. XIII. and XIX. quoted above on Bar. LIX. 4. |
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9. Tu enim recipieris ab hominibus et conuerteris . . . cum similibus tuis. |
XLVIII. non descendes iam ad homines . . . eleuaberis in locum ubi eleuati sunt priores tui. |
In the later chapters of Esdras, which are taken up with visions, we--perhaps naturally--find fewer parallels than in the earlier.
Other instances of words and phrases common to the two books, which are stylistic rather than anything else, are--
Ecce dies uenient, qui inhabitant terram, sensus, delere orbis, sustinere, adinuentio, renuntiare, in nouissimis temporibus, odoramentum, in nihilum deputare, requietio, aeramentum, corruptibilis, plasmare, uiuificare, mortificare, conturbare, exterminare, humiliare, fructus uentris, apponere or adicere (loqui, etc.), oblatio, pessimus in the positive sense, a minimo usque ad maximum, expugnare, scintilla.
With the Assumption of Moses I find no community of ideas. Moses' intercession for the people and Joshua's lament are rather like those of the people over Joshua and Deborah. But Philo discards the story of the Assumption proper. Nor do I find illustrative matter in the Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs.
My general conclusion is that Philo is a product of the circle from which both Baruch and 4 Esdras emanated: and it seems to me clear that the writer of Baruch at least was acquainted with Philo. Let it be noted once more that a feature common to all three books is a remarkable want of
interest in the subject of Satan and evil spirits: Esdras never mentions them, Baruch very seldom, Philo rather oftener, but not often, and always vaguely.
(e) What points of contact are there, it will be asked, between Philo and the NEW TESTAMENT?
My answer is that there are not many direct resemblances. There are a few coincidences of language, and one or two illustrations of beliefs. That the author, living at the date to which I assign him, was conscious of the existence of Christianity, I do not doubt: whether he allows his consciousness to find expression in his book, I do doubt. He is not a speculative theologian or a controversialist; he sticks very close to the language of the Old Testament, and steers clear of disputed questions. I see no veiled polemic in his stories of the idolatry under Kenaz, or of Aod the Magician and Micah. The persecution under Jair may very well be an imitation of the Maccabæan martyrdoms, or of the story of the Three Children. The stress laid on the eternity of the Law may as well be a prophylactic against heathenism as against Christianity. Paganism is, I think, a more formidable adversary in his eyes than heresy.
The tradition of the "rock that followed them" (X. 7, XI. 15: see the notes) and of the identity of Phinehas with Elijah (XLVIII.) are the chief that bear on New Testament thought. With reference to the latter it should be noted that the words of St. Mark (ix. 13), "as it is written of him," are specially interesting, as showing that Elijah upon his return to earth was to suffer death (in which Philo agrees), and that there was written teaching to that effect.
Among coincidences of language I reckon: new heavens and earth, III. 10; they that sleep, ibid. and elsewhere;
justified, ibid.; fiat uoluntas dei, VI. ii; that which shall be born of thee, IX. 10; I will judge all the world, XI. 2; the law shall not pass away, XI. 5; Thou art all light, XII. 9; we shall be the sons of God, XVI. 5; gnashing of teeth, XVIII. 12; the end of the world, XIX. 4, etc.; uerbum (dei) uiuum, XXI. 4; God which knowest before the hearts of all men, XXII. 7 (Acts i. 24); eye hath not seen, etc., XXVI. 13; the righteous have no need of the light of the sun, etc., XXVI. 13; qui tenet (cf. ὁ κατέχων, 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7), LI. 5; lumen genti huic, LI. 6.
43:1 Esther and Judith seem to be quoted, pp. 173,
52:1 I see that this parallel is noticed by a writer in the Jewish Encyclopædia, s. v. Amorites. He quotes Philo through the medium of Jerahmeel only.