What is the meaning of the expression: " But for Adam there was not found a helper like to him?"* 23. Every thing was helping and assisting the prince of the human race: the earth, the rivers, the ses, the air, the * Genesis ii. *20.
2Q6 PHILO JUDiEUS.
light, the heaven. Moreover, every species of fruit and plant co-operated with him, and every herd of cattle, and every beast which was not savage. Nevertheless, of all these things which were assisting him, there was nothing like himself, inasmuch as they were none of them human beings. Therefore, God gave a certain indication that he might show that man ought to be an assistant to and co- operator with man, being endowed with perfect similarity to one another in both body and soul.
What is the meaning of the statement, " And God sent a trance upon Adam, and caused him to sleep?"* 24. How it is that man sleeps is a question which has caused an extraordinary amount of perplexity to philo- sophers. But yet our prophet has distinctly explained this question; for sleep is in itself properly a trance, not of that kind which is more nearly allied to insanity, but of that which is in accordance with the dissolution of the senses and the absence of counsel; for then the senses withdraw from those things which are their proper object, and the intellect withdraws from the senses, not strengthening their nerves, nor giving any motion to those parts which have received the power of action, inasmuch as they are with- drawn from the objects perceptible by the outward senses.
"What the rib is which God took from the man whom he had formed out of the earth, and which he made into a woman?
25. The letter of this statement is plain enough; for it is expressed according to a symbol of the part, a half of the whole, each party, the man and the woman, being as sections of nature co-equal for the production of that genus which is called man. But with respect to the mind, man is under- stood in a symbolical manner, and his one rib is virtue, proceeding from the senses; but woman, who is the sensation of counsel, will be more variable.
But some think that the rib means valour and vigour, on which account men call a boxer who has strong loins eminently strong.
Therefore, the lawgiver relates that the woman was * Genesis ii. 21.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 297 formed out of the rib of the man, indicating by that expres- sion, that one half of the body of the man is woman. And this is testified to by the formation of the body, by the way in which it is put together, by its motions and vigour,' by the force of the soul, and its strength; for all things are regarded as in a twofold light; since, as the formation of the man is more perfect, and, if one may so say, more double than the formation of the woman, so also it required half the time, that is to say forty days; when, for the imperfect, and, if I may so call it, half section of the man, that is to say the woman, there was need of a double allowance, that is to say, of eighty days, so that the doubling of the time required for the nature of the man might be changed, in order to the formation of the peculiar properties of the woman; for that body, and that soul, the nature of which is in a twofold ratio, the body and soul, that is, of the man, require but half of the delineation and formation: but that body of which the nature and construction is in the ratio of one half, namely, that of the woman, her formation and delineation is in a twofold ratio.
"Why Moses calls the form of the woman a building?* 26. The union and plenitude of concord formed by the man and woman is symbolically called a house; but every thing is altogether imperfect and destitute of a home, which is deserted by a woman; for to the man the public affairs of the state are committed, but the particular affairs of the house belong to the woman; and a want of the woman will be the destruction of the house; but the actual presence of the Woman shows the regulation of the house.
"Why, as other animals and as man also was made, the woman was not also made out of the earth, but out of the rib of the man?
27. This was so ordained in the first place, in order that the woman might not be of equal dignity with the man. In the second place, that she might not be of equal age with him, but younger; since those who marry wives more advanced in years than themselves deserve blame, as having * Genesis ii. 22. The margin of our bible points out that the Hebrew word translated " made," means strictly " builded."
293 PHILO JUDiEUS.
overturned the law of nature. Thirdly, the design of God was that the husband should take care of his wife, as ot a necessary part of himself; but that the woman should requite him in turn with service, as a portion of the universe. In the fourth place, he admonishes man by this enigmatical intimation, that he should take care of his wife as of his daughter; and he admonishes the woman that she should honour her husband as her father. And very rightly, since the woman changes her habitation, passing from her own offspring to her husband. On which account, it is altogether right and proper that he who has received should take upon himself the liability in respect of what has been given; and that she who has been removed should worthily give the same honour to her husband which she has pre- viously given to her parents; for the husband receives his wife from her parents, as a deposit which is entrusted to him; and the woman receives her husband from the law.
Why when the man saw the woman who had been formed in this manner, he proceeded to say: "She" (or "this" rovro) "is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she has been taken out of man?"
28. He might have been amazed at what he had seen, and have said in a negative manner: How can this exquisite and desirable beauty have been derived from bones and from flesh which are endowed with neither beauty nor elegance, bein" of a form so far more beautiful, and endowed with such* excessive life and grace? The matter is incredible because she is like; and yet it is credible, because God him- self has been her creator and painter.
Again, he might have said affirmatively: Truly she is a living being, my bone and my flesh, for she exists by having been taken from that bone and flesh of mine. But he makes mention of his bone and flesh in a very natural manner; for the human or corporeal tabernacle is the com- bination of bones, and flesh, and entrails, and veins, and nerves, and ligaments, and blood-vessels, and breathing tubes, and blood. And she is called woman (in Greek 7uv»j) with great correctness, as the power of producing * Genesis ii. 23. Woman, virgo, or virago, is here looked upon as derived from vir, " man;" he also derives yvvq from ytvvdut.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 299 with fertility, either because she becomes pregnant through the reception of the seed, and so brings forth; or, as the prophet says, because she was made out of man, not out of the earth, as he was; nor from seed, as all mankind after them; but of a certain intermediate nature; and like a branch, brought out of one vine to produce another vine.
Why he says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh?"* 29. He here orders man to behave himself towards his wife with such excess of affection in their intercourse, that he is willing to leave his parents, not in order that by that means it may be more suitable, but as they would scarcely be a motive for his fidelity to his wife. And we must remark, that it is very excellent and prudently done, that he has avoided saying that the woman is to leave her parents and cleave to her husband, since the character of the man is bolder than the nature of the woman; but he says that the man ought to do this for the sake of the woman; for he is borne on by a cheerful and willing impulse to the concord of knowledge, to which, becoming wholly devoted, he re- strains and regulates his desires, and clings to his wife alone like bird-lime. Especially because he himself, delighting in his master-like authority, is to be respected for his pride: but the woman, being in the rank of a servant, is praised, for assenting to a life of communion.
And when it is said that the two are one flesh, that indi- cates that the flesh is very tangible and fully endowed with outward senses, on which it depends to be afflicted with pain and delighted with pleasure, so that both the man and woman may derive pleasure and pain from the same sources, and may feel the same; aye, and may still more think the same.
Why both of them, the man and the woman, are said to have been naked, and not to have been ashamed?f 30. They were not ashamed, in the first place, because they were in the neighbourhood of the world, and the different parts of the world are all naked, each of them * Genesis ii. 24. f Genesis ii. 25.
300 PHILO JUD.EUS.
indicating some peculiar qualities, and having peculiar coverings of their own. In the second place, on account of the sincerity and simplicity of their manners and of their natural disposition, which had no taint of pride about it. For ambition had as yet no existence. Thirdly, because the climate and the mildness of the atmosphere was a sufficient covering for them, so as to prevent either cold or heat from hurting them. In the fourth place, because they, by reason of the relationship existing between themselves and the world, could not receive injury from any part of it whatever, as being related to them.
Why does Moses say that the serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field?# 31. One may probably affirm with truth that the ser- pent in reality is more cunning than any beast whatever. But the reason why he appears to me to be spoken of in these terms here is on account of the natural proneness of mankind to vice, of which he is the symbol. And by vice I mean concupiscence, inasmuch as those who are devoted to pleasure are more cunning, and are the inventors of stra- tagems and means by which to indulge their passions. Being, forsooth, very crafty in devising plans, both such as favour pleasure and also such as procure means of enjoying it. But it appears to me that since that animal, so superior in wisdom, was about to seduce man, it is not the whole race that is here meant to be spoken of as so exceedingly wise, but only that single serpent, for the reason above mentioned.
Did the serpent speak with a human voice?f 32. In the first place, it may be the fact that at the beginning of the world even the other animals besides man were not entirely destitute of the power of articulate speech, but only that man excelled them in a greater fluency and perspicuity of speech and language. In the second place, when anything very marvellous requires to be done, God changes the subject natures by which he means to operate. Thirdly, because our soul is entirely filled with many errors, and rendered deaf to all words except in one or two lan- guages to which it is accustomed; but the souls of those who * Genesis iii. 1. f Genesis iii. 2.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 301 were first created were rendered acute to thoroughly under- stand every voice of every kind, in order that they might be pure from evil and wholly unpolluted. Since we indeed are not endowed with senses in such perfection, for those which we have received are in some degree depraved, just as the construction of our bodies too is small; but the first created men, as they received bodies of vast size reaching to a gigantic height, must also of necessity have received more accurate senses, and, what is more excellent still, a power of examining into and hearing things in a philosophical manner. Tor some people think, and perhaps with some reason, that they were endowed with such eyes as enabled them to behold even those natures, and essences, and operations, which exist in heaven, as also ears by which they could comprehend every kind of voice and language.
"Why did the serpent accost the woman, and not the man?* 33. The serpent, having formed his estimate of virtue, devised a treacherous stratagem against them, for the sake of bringing mortality on them. But the woman was more accustomed to be deceived than the man. For his counsels as well as his body are of a masculine sort, and competent to disentangle the notions of seduction; but the mind of the woman is more effeminate, so that through her softness she easily yields and is easily caught by the persuasions of falsehood, which imitate the resemblance of truth.
Since therefore, in his old age, the serpentf strips himself of his scales from the top of his head to his tail, he, by his nakedness, reproaches man because he has exchanged death for immortality. His nature is renewed by the beast, and made to resemble every time. The woman, when she sees this, is deceived; when she ought* rather to have looked upon him as an example, who, while showing his ingenuity towards her, was full of devices, but she was led to desire to acquire a life which should be free from old age, and from all decay.
* Genesis iii. 2.
+ The ancients believed that the serpent became young again by casting his skin. Ovid says — Anguibus exuitur tenui cum pelle vetustas.
302 PHILO JUDiEUS.
Why the serpent tells the woman lies, saying, " God has said, Ye shall not eat of every tree in the Paradise," when, on the contrary, what God really had said was, " Te shall eat of every tree in the Paradise, except one? "* 34. It is the cnstom for contending arguers to speak falsely in an artful manner, in order to produce ignorance of the real facts, as was done in this case, since the man and woman had been commanded to eat of all the trees but one. But this insidious prompter of wickedness coming in, says that the order which they had received was that they should not eat of them all. He brought forward an ambiguous statement as a slippery stumbling-block to cause the soul to trip. Eor this expression, " Ye shall not eat of every tree," means in the first place either, not even of one, which is false; or, secondly, not of every one, as if he intended to say, there are some of which you may not eat, which is true. Therefore he asserts such a falsehood more explicitly.
Why, when it was commanded them to avoid eating of one plant alone, the woman made also a further addition to this injunction, saying, " He said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it? "f 35. In the first place she says this, because taste and every other sense after its kind consists in the touch appro- priate to it. In the second place she says it that it may seem to condemn them themselves, who did what they had been forbidden. For if even the mere act of touching it was prohibited, how could they who, besides touching the tree, presumed to eat of the fruit, and so added a greater transgression to the lesser one, be anything but condemners and punishers of themselves?
What is the meaning of the expression, " Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil? " % 36. Whence was it that the serpent found the plural word "gods," when there is only one true God, and when this is the first time that he names him? But perhaps this arises from there having been in him a certain prescient wisdom, by which he now declared the notion of the multi- tude of gods which was at a future time to prevail amongst * Genesis iii. 4. t Genesis iii. 3. £ Genesis iii. 5 QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 303 men; and, perhaps, history now relates this correctly at its first being advanced not by any rational being, nor by any creature of the higher class, but as having derived its origin from the most virulent and vile of beasts and serpents, since other similar creatures lie hid under the earth, and their lurking places are in the holes and fissures of the earth.
Moreover, it is the inseparable sign of a being endowed with reason to look upon God as essentially one being, but it is the mark of a beast to imagine that there are many gods, and these too devoid of reason, and who can scarcely be said with propriety to have any existence at all.
Moreover, the devil proceeds with great art, speaking by the mouth of the serpent. For not only is there in the Divinity the knowledge of good and evil, but there is also an approval of what is good and a repudiation of what is evil; but he does not speak of either of these feelings because they were useful, but only suggested the mere knowledge of the two contrary things, namely, of good and evil. In the second place, the expression, " as gods," in the plural number, is in this place not used inconsiderately, but in order to give the idea of there being both a bad and a good God. And these are of a twofold quality. Therefore it is suitable to the notion of particular gods to have a know- ledge of contrary things; but the Supreme Cause is above all others.
Why the woman first touched the tree and ate of its fruit, and the man afterwards, receiving it from her?* 37. The words used first of aD, by their own intrinsic force, assert that it was suitable that immortality and every good thing should be represented as under the power of the man, and death and every evil under that of the woman. But with reference to the mind, the woman, when under- stood symbolically, is sense, and the man is intellect. More- over, the outward senses do of necessity touch those things which are perceptible by them; but it is through the medium of the outward senses that things are transmitted to the mind. Eor the outward senses are influenced by the objects * Genesis ill. 6.
804 PHILO JUDiEUS.
which are presented to them; and the intellect by the out- ward senses.
What is the meaning of the expression, " And she gave it to her husband to eat with her? "* 38. "What has been just said bears on this point also, since the time is nearly one and the same in which the out- ward senses are influenced by the object which is presented to them, and the intellect has an impression made on it by the outward senses.
What is the meaning of the expression, " And the eyes of both of them were opened? "t 39. That they were not created blind is manifest even from this fact that as all other things,. both animals and plants, were created in perfection, so also man must have been adorned with the things which are his most excellent parts, namely, eyes. And we may especially prove this, because a little while before the earth-born Adam was giving names to all the animals on the earth. Therefore it is per- fectly plain that he saw them before doing so. Unless, indeed, Moses used the expression " eyes " in a figurative sense for the vision of the soul, by which alone the percep- tion of good and evil, of what is elegant or unsightly, and, in fact, of all contrary natures, arise. But, if the eye is to be taken separately as counsel, which is called the warning of the understanding, then again there is a separate eye, which is a certain something devoid of sound reason, which is called opinion.
What is the meaning of the expression, " Because they knew that they were naked? "J 40. They first arrived at the knowledge of this fact, that is to say, of their nakedness, after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Therefore, opinion was like the beginning of wickedness, when they perceived that they had not as yet used any covering, inasmuch as all parts of the universe are immortal and incorruptible; but they themselves imme- diately found themselves in need of some corruptible cover- ings made with hands. But this knowledge was in the • Genesis iii. 6. + Genesis iii. 7. + Ibid.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 305 nakedness itself, not as having been in itself the cause of any change, bnt because their mind now conceived a novelty unlike the rest of the universal world.
"Why they sewed fig-leaves into girdles?* 41. They did this in the first place, because the fruit of the fig is very pleasant and agreeable to the taste. There- fore the sacred historian here, by a symbolical expression, indicates those who sew together and join pleasures to plea- sures by every means and contrivance imaginable. Therefore they bind them around the place where the parts of generation are seated, as that is the instrument of important transactions.
And they do this, secondly, because although the fruit of the fig-tree is, as I have already said, sweeter than any other, yet its leaves are harder. And, therefore, Moses here wishes by this symbol to intimate that the motions of plea- sure are slippery and smooth in appearance, but that they, nevertheless, are in reality hard, so that it is impossible that lie who feels them should be delighted, unless he was pre- viously sorrowful, and he will again become sorrowful. For to be always sorrowing is a melancholy thing between a double grief, the one being at its beginning, and the other coming before the first is ended.
"What is meant by the statement that the sound was heard of God walking in the Paradise? was it the sound of his voice, or of his feet? and can God be said to walk?f 42. Those gods who are in heaven, perceptible to our outward senses, walk in a ring, proceeding onwards by a circuitous track; but the Supreme Cause is steadfast and immoveable, as the ancients have decided. But the true God gives some indication also, as if he wished to give a sense of motion. For in truth even without his uttering any words, the prophets hear him, by a certain virtue of some diviner voice sounding in their ears, or perhaps being even articulately uttered.
As therefore God is heard without uttering any sound, so also he gives an idea of walking when he is not walking, nay, though he is altogether immoveable. But do you not see that before they had tasted of wickedness, as they were * Genesis iii. 8. + Ibid.
vol. rv. x 30g PHILO JUDjEUS.
stable and constant, and immoveable and tranquil, and uniform, so also in an equal manner must they have looked upon the Deity as immoveable, as in fact he is. But they once had become endued with cunning, they, by judging from themselves, began to strip him of his attribute* ■ of imrno- lilTy and 'unchangeableness, and conjectured that he too was subject to variation and change.
Why while they are hiding themselves from the face o God, tie woman is not mentioned first, since she was the first to eat of the forbidden fruit: but why the man w Sen of in the first place; for ^ sacred historian s words are, " And Adam and his wife hid themselves?
43. The woman, being imperfect and depraved by nature made the be°inning of sinning and prevaricating; but the man as being the more excellent and perfect creature was h^rat toset the example of blushing and ^ of bemg ashamed, and indeed, of every good feeling and action.
Why they did not hide themselves in some other place, but in the middle of the trees of the Paradise?t 44 Everv thing is not done by sinners with wisdom and sagacity but it often happens that while thieves are watch- nf for an opportunity o? plunder, having no thoughts of in! Deity who presided over the world, the booty which s close to them and lying at their feet is by some admirable management wrested from them without delay: and some- thing of this kind took place on the present occasion. For when they ought rathe/to have fled to a distance from the Irden i/which their offence had taken place they still v ere arrested in the middle of the Parad.se itself, m order ^that they might be convicted of their sin too clearly to find any refLeTen in flight itself. And this statemen ind.cates narrative" manner that every wicked man ta:es refuge in wickedness, and that every man who is wholly devoted to his passions flies to those passions as to an asylum.
Why God asks Adam, "Where art thou?" when he knowsyeverything: and why he does not also put the same question to the woman? X 45. The expression, "Where art thou?" does not here • Genesis in. 9. 1 Ibid. - Genesis iii. 10.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 307 seem to be a mere interrogatory, but rather a threat and a conviction: " Where art thou now, 0 man? from how many good things art thou changed? having forsaken immortality and a life of the most perfect happiness, you have become changed to death and misery in which you are buried."
But God did not condescend to put any question to the woman at all, looking upon her as the cause of the evil which had occurred, and as the guide to her husband to a life of shame.
But there is an allegorical meaning in this passage, because the principal part is the man, his guide, the mind, having in itself the masculine principle, when it gives ear to any one introduces also the defect of the female part, namely that of the outward sense.
"Why the man says, " The woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat;"* but the woman does not say, "The serpent gave to me, but, " The serpent beguiled me and I did eat?
46. The literal expression here affords grounds for that probable opinion that woman is accustomed rather to be deceived than to devise anything of importance out of her own head; but with the man the case is just the contrary. But as regards the intellect, everything which is the object of the outward senses beguiles and seduces each particular sense of every imperfect being to which it is adapted. And the sense then, being vitiated by the object, infects the dominant and principal part, the mind, with its own taint. Therefore the mind receives the impression from the outward sense, giving it that which it has received itself. For the outward sense is deceived and beguiled by the sensible object submitted to it, but the senses of the wise man are infallible, as are also the cogitations of his mind.
Why God curses the serpent first, then the woman, and the man last of all?"t 47. The reason is that the order of the curses followed the order in which the offences were committed. The first offence was the deceit practised by the serpent; the second was the sin of the woman which was owing to him when she abandoned herself to his seduction; the third thing * Genesis iii. 12. f Genesis iii. 14.
was the guilt of the man in yielding rather to the inclination of the woman than to the commandment of God. But this order is very admirable, containing within itself a perfect allegory; inasmuch as the serpent is the emblem of desire, as is proved, and the woman of the outward sense; but the man is the symbol of intellect. Therefore the infamous author of the sin is desire; and that first deceives the outward sense, and then the outward sense captivates the mind.
Why the curse is pronounced on the serpent in this manner, that he shall go on his breast and on his belly, and eat dust, and be at enmity with the woman? * 48. The words in themselves are plain enough, and we have evidence of them in what we have seen. But the real meaning contains an allegory concealed beneath it; since the serpent is the emblem of desire, representing under a ligure a man devoted to pleasure. For he creeps upon his breast and upon his belly, being filled with meat and drink like cormorants, being inflamed by an insatiable cupidity, and being incontinent in their voracity and devouring of flesh, so that whatever relates to food is in every article some- thing earthly, on which account he is said to eat the dust.