18. The literal meaning is plain enough, for it suggests the two extremities of the universe, the heaven and the earth, to have met together for the destruction of mortals deserving of condemnation, the waters running forth to meet one another from all quarters, for part of them bubbled up from out of the earth, and part descended downwards from heaven; and in truth, that expression is very explicit, " The fountains were broken up," for when a rupture is effected then the thing confined rushes forth without any hindrance.
But with reference to the interior meaning of the expression we may as well say this: the heaven is symbolically the hu- man intellect, and the earth is the sense and body, therefore there is great distress and calamity when neither remains, but when each threatens a secret attack. But what is the exact meaning of my words?
It often happens that acuteness of intellect exhibits cunning and wickedness, and bears itself with bitterness in every re- spect when the lusts of the body are restrained and bridled; but the contrary fact often prevails, and the lusts rejoice in their opportunities and proceed onward, gaining strength from luxury and abundance of means; therefore, the gate of these lusts is the outward sense combined with the body; but when the intellect, neglecting outward circumstances, is consistent * Genesis vii. 11.
360 PHILO JUDiEUS. • with itself, then the senses lie harmless, as if completely abandoned; but when both are united, the intellect in exert- ing all cunning and wickedness, and the body irrigated with all the senses and gorged with every kind of vice to satiety, then we are exposed to a deluge; and this is in fact a great deluge, when the streams of the intellect are opened by iniquity, and folly, and greedy desire, and injustice, and arrogance, and impiety, and when the fountains of the body are opened by lust, and desire, and intemperance, and obscenity, and gluttony, and lasciviousness, with relations and sisters, and all irremediable diseases.
What is the meaning of the expression, "And the Lord shut him in, closing the doors of the ark? "* 19. Since we have said that the structure of the human body is symbolically indicated by the ark, we must take notice, also, that on the outside this body is enclosed by a hard and dense skin, to be a covering to all its parts; for nature has made this as a sort of coat, to prevent either cold or heat from being able to do man injury.
The literal meaning of the expression is plain enough, for the door of the ark is carefully shut by divine virtue for the sake of security, lest the water should enter in at any part, as it was to be tossed about by the waves for an entire year.
What is the meaning of the expression, " And the water was greatly increased, and bore up the ark which floated upon the water? "f 20. The literal meaning is plain enough, but it contains an allegorical reference to our bodies, which ought to be borne up as if on the water, and by fluctuating with our necessities to subdue hunger and thirst, cold and heat, by which it is agitated, disturbed, and kept in motion.
Why did the water overflow fifteen cubits above all the highest mountains?J 21. With respect to the literal statement we must remark that the excess was not merely one of fifteen cubits above all high mountains but above those which were a great deal more • Genesia vii. 16. + Geneais vii. 17. t Genesis vii. 19.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 361 lofty and high than some others; therefore it was a great deal more than that height above the lower ones.
But we must interpret this statement allegorically; for the loftier mountains shadow forth the senses in our body, because it has been permitted to them to occupy the abode of stability in the lofty region of our head. And there are five numbers of these, each to be considered separately, so that they amount in all to fifteen.
As, there is the faculty of sight, the thing which is visible, the act of seeing.
The faculty of hearing, the thing which is audible, and the act of hearing.
The faculty of smelling, the thing which can be smelled, and the act of smelling.
The faculty of taste, the thing which can be tasted, and the act of tasting.
The faculty of touch, the thing which can be touched, and the act of touching.
These are the fifteen cubits in excess; for they also are overwhelmed by the overflow, being destroyed by the un- seasonable influx of infinite vices and evils.
What is the meaning of the expression, "And all flesh capable of motion perished?"* 22. It is with especial propriety, and strictly in accordance with natural truth, that the sacred historian has here pro- nounced all flesh capable of motion devoted to destruction; for flesh excites pleasures, and is excited by pleasures; and such affections are the causes of the destruction of souls, as on the other hand sobriety and patience are the causes of safety.
What is the meaning of the expression, " And everything which was on the dry land died? "f 23. The literal meaning is notorious, because in that great deluge everything which was upon the earth was destroyed and perished; but with respect to the secret meaning, as, since the material of timber, when it is parched and dry, is readily consumed by fire, so, likewise, when the soul is not mingled with wisdom, and justice, and piety, and the other * Genesis tu. 21. f Genesis vii. 22.
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enduring virtues, which alone are able to impart real joy to the thoughts, then it, being parched up and dried like a plant which is deprived of any power of budding or producing seed, or like a withered trunk, dies, being handed over to the mercy of the overwhelming overflow of the body.
What is the meaning of the words, " It destroyed every living substance which was on the face of the earth?"* 24. The literal meaning of these words only announces a plain statement of a fact, but it may be turned into an alle- gory in this manner. It is not without reason that the sacred historian has used the words " a living substance," for that is characteristic of ambition and pride, which lead men to despise both divine and human laws; but ambition and arro- gance do rather appear on the face of our earthly and corporeal nature with an elated countenance and contracted brows.
Since there are some persons who come nearer. to one with their feet, but with their chests, and necks, and heads lean back, and are actually borne backwards and bend away like a balance, so that with one half of their body, in consequence of the position of their feet, they project forward, but back- ward with the upper portion of their chests, drawing them- selves back like those persons whose muscles and nerves are in pain, by which they are prevented from stooping in a natural manner. But men of this kind it was determined to put an end to, as one may see from the records of the Lord and the divine history of the scriptures.
What is the meaning of the words, " Noali remained alone, and they who were with him in the ark?" f 25. The literal meaning of this is evident; but with re- spect to its concealed sense we may advance an opinion, that the intellect which is desirous of studying justice and wisdom does, like a tree, discard all noxious shoots which bud forth about it, and rejects all extravagant humours of superfluous vigour, I mean immoderate excess of the affections, and wickedness, and all the effects of such.
Therefore he is here said to have been left alone with those of his own kindred, and his kindred are properly all those designs and thoughts of each individual, which are regulated * Gen^is vii. 23. t Genesis vii. 24.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 363 in accordance with virtue, on which account the statement is added "And he remained alone, and they who were with him," in order to reveal a more genuine joy; but he remained in the ark, that is to say, in the body, because it was purified from every vice and spiritual disease, as the intellect was not yet put in such a condition as to be wholly incorporeal.
And on this account also, we must render thanks to the merciful Father, because he received his consort and colleague no longer as one endowed with superior power, but to be sub- ordinate to his own power, on which account also the body is not submerged in the deluge, but rising above the flood is not at all destroyed by the eddies of the cataracts, which a cra- pulous, libidinous, vanity-loving will, overflowing all thing3, raises to an eminence.
Why is it that the sacred writer says, " And God was mindful of Noah, and of the beasts, and of the cattle," but does not add that he remembered his wife and children?* 26. As the husband agrees with and is equal to his wife, and as the father is equal to his sons, there is no need of men- tioning more names than one, but one, the first, is sufficient; therefore, by naming Noah he, in effect, names all those who were with him of his family; for when husband, and wife, and children, and relations are all agitated by discord, then it is no longer possible for such to be called one family, but instead of being one they are many; but when harmony exists then one family is exhibited by one superior of the house, and all are seen to depend upon that one, like the branches of a tree which shoot out from it, or the fruit upon a vine branch which does not fall off from it.
And in another part, also, the prophet has said, " Have a regard to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who brought you forth," where, because in fact it was one family, he displays the agreement by mentioning the woman.
Why is it that the sacred writer made mention first of the beasts and afterwards of the cattle, saying that God re- membered Noah, and the beasts, and the cattle? t 27. Tn the first place, that poetical rule has not been expressed in vain, that he led the bad into the middle; * Genesis viii. 1. f Ibid.
304 PHILO JUD.EUS.
therefore he places the beasts in the middle, between the domestic animals, that is to say the men and the cattle, in order that they might be tamed and civilized by having an intimate association with both.
In the second place, he thought it scarcely reasonable to bestow a provident benefit on the beasts by themselves, because he was about immediately to add a statement of the beginning of the diminution of the deluge. This is the explanation of the statement taken literally.
But with respect to the inner meaning, that just intellect, dwelling in the body as if in the ark, possesses both beasts and living animals, not those particular ones which bite and hurt, but, that I may use such an expression, those general kinds which contain in themselves the principles of seed and origination; since without these the soul cannot be manifest in the body. Moreover, the soul of the foolish man employs all poisonous and deadly animals, but that of the wise man those only which have changed the nature of wild beasts into that of domestic creatures..
What is the meaning of the expression, " He brought a breath over the earth, and the water ceased? "* 28. Some people say that what is here meant by "a breath " is the wind, at which the deluge ceased. But I am not aware that water is diminished by wind, but only that it is disturbed and agitated into waves, for if it were otherwise the vast extent of the sea would have been wholly dried up long ago.
Therefore it appears to me that the sacred writer here means the breath of the Deity, by which the whole universe obtains security at the same time with the calamities of the world, and with those things which exist in the air, and in every mixture of plants and animals. Since the deluge of that time was no trifling infliction of water, but an immense and boundless overflow, extending almost beyond the pillars of Hercules and the great Mediterranean Sea, since the whole earth and all the spaces of the mountains were covered with water; and it is scarcely likely that such a vast space could have been cleared by a wind, but rather, as I have said, it must have been done by some invisible and divine virtue.
* Genesis viii. 2.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 365 What is the meaning of the expression, " The fountains of the deep were closed, and the cataracts of heaven? "* 29. In the first place, it is agreed upon by all that in the first period of forty days the waters of punishment fell un- interruptedly, the lowest fountains of the earth being burst asunder; and from above, the cataracts of heaven being opened, and pouring down until all places, both level and mountainous, were covered with the inundation; and for another period of a hundred and fifty entire days the waters did not cease to fall, nor did the streams cease to flow, nor the springs to burst up, though still in milder quantities, not so as to increase the existing flood, but only so as to secure the duration of the existence of the deluge, which was also assisted from on high; and this is what is indicated in the meantime by the statement that after a hundred and fifty days the fountains and the cataracts were closed up; therefore, while as yet they were not closed up it is plain that they were in action.
In the second place, it was necessary that that which afforded the excessive supply of waters for the deluge, namely, the double reservoir of water, the one from the fountains of the earth, and the other from the pourings forth of heaven, should be both closed, for the more the stores from which any material is supplied fail, the more it is consumed by itself, especially when divine virtue has given the command.
This is the literal meaning of the expression. But with respect to the inner sense of the passage, since the deluge of the mind arises from two things, for it arises partly from counsel, as if from heaven, and in another degree also from the body and from sense, as if from earth, the vices being reciprocally introduced by the passions and the passions by the vices, it was inevitably necessary that the word of the divine physician entering in as a salutary visitation for the purpose of healing the disease, should prevent both kinds of overflow for the future; for it is the first principle of the medical art to drive away the cause of the infirmity and to leave no longer any materials for disease; and the scripture teaches this, also, in the case of the leper, for when the leprosy is checked and i3 prevented from extending further, • Genesis viii. 2.
366 PHILO JUDjEUS.
it then fixes the station and abode of the leprous man in the same place by a law, because the character of being stationary implies cleanliness, for that which is moved contrary to nature is unclean.
What is the meaning of the statement that after a hundred and fifty days the water began to abate? * 30. We must here inquire whether those hundred and fifty days, during which the water was abating, are to be distinguished from the four months, or whether they have a reference to the days previously mentioned, during which the deluge went on unceasingly, as still increasing.
Why does he say, " The ark settled in the seventh month on the seven and twentieth day of the month? "f 31. It is reasonable here to consider how the beginning of the deluge commences in the seventh month, on the twenty- seventh day of the month, and how the diminution, when the ark rested on the top of the mountains, again took place in the seventh month and on the twenty-seventh day of the month; therefore we must say, that there is here an ho- monymy of months and days, for the beginning of the flood took place in the seventh month, beginning at the birthday of the just man, near the time of the vernal equinox, and its diminution took place in the seventh month, beginning from the highest point of the flood at the autumnal equinox, since the two equinoxes are separated from one another by seven months, having an interval of five months between them.
For the seventh month of the equinox is also by its virtue the first month, because the creation of the world took place in it, on account of the abundance of all things at that season. And, in like manner, the seventh month of the autumnal equinox, which, according to time, is the first in dignity, having its principle of that number seven derived from the air; therefore, the deluge took place in the seventh month, not according to time but according to nature, having for its principle and commencement the spring season.
Why does he say, " In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the heads of the mountains appeared? "J * Genesis viii. 3. t Genesis vii:. 4. £ Ibid.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 367 32. As in numerals the number ten is the extreme bound of the units, being a definitive and perfect number, so too it is the cycle and end of the units, and also the beginning and cycle of the decades, and of infinity of numbers; thus the Creator, on the cessation of the deluge, condescended that the tops of the mountains should appear in the number of the decade, being a definitive and perfect number.
Why was it after forty days that the just man opened the window of the ark? * 33. We must observe carefully that the divine historian uses the same number in speaking of the influx of the deluge and in mentioning the cessation and complete removal of the evil; forsooth on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, that is to say in the six hundredth year after his nativity, the deluge began at the spring season; but on the twenty -seventh day of the seventh month, the ark rested on the top of the mountains at the vernal equinox.
But it is plain from these circumstances that the deluge became invisible in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, again on the seventh month and the twenty-seventh day of it, so that after the lapse of an entire year, it again settled and established the earth as it was at the moment of its de- struction, in the spring season, budding forth and covered with verdure and full of all kinds of fruits.
But again in a similar manner the overflow of the deluge took place for forty days, the cataracts of heaven being opened and fountains bursting upwards from the lowest depths of the earth; and again a hope of renewal took place at intervals of forty days after a sufficient cessation of the rains, when he opened the window; and again the duration of the permanent deluge lasted for a period of a hundred and fifty days, as also its gradual diminution occupied a period of a hundred and fifty days; so that we may well admire the equality of the arrangement, for the evil increased and ceased according to the same number, like the moon, which from its first rise proceeds in its increase according to an equal number, going onward to its perfect fulness of light, and then again with an equal num- ber in its decrease, returning back to its original state, after * Genesis viii. 5.
368 PHILO JUDjEUS.
having been previously full; and in like manner in the case of divine chastisements, the Creator preserves a regular order, banishing all irregularity from the divine borders.
What is the window of the ark, which the just man opens?* 34. The literal statement scarcely admits of any difficulty or doubt, inasmuch as it is plain; but with reference to the inner meaning we have this to say: each separate part of the senses has imitated the windows of the body, since it is through them as through windows that the comprehension of sensible objects enters into the intellect, and again it is through them that the intellect stretches forth as if escaping; but a portion of these windows, the senses, the more noble portion too, I say, is the sight; inasmuch as that above all the rest is akin to the soul, and it is intimately acquainted with light, the most beautiful of the essences, and it is the minister of sacred things; more- over that is the one which first laid open the road to philo- sophy.
For beholding the regular motion of the sun, and of the moon, and the erratic course of the other planets, and the uner- ring circular motion of the whole heaven, and the order and harmony there existing beyond all calculation, as if it were the one real creator of the whole world, it by itself related to its one chief counsellor and director all that it saw: and then intellect, seeing those things with its acute eye, and by those things discerning superior demonstrative ideas, and the cause of all those things, immediately perceived that there was a God at the same moment that it arrived at the conception of generation and providence, because forsooth it was plain that this visible nature was not created by itself: for it was impos- sible that such a harmony, and order, and reason, and most consistent analogy, and that a concord of such a character and extent, and that such true and perfect felicity should exist by its own power: but it was necessary that there must be some Creator and parent of it acting like a governor and director, who generated these things, and then having generated them preserves them safe and sound.
Why did he send out a raven first? \ 35. If we look to the literal statement, the raven is said to QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 369 be an animal particularly set apart for being sent on messages and employed in offices; for to this very day many people watch its mode of flight and its chattering, judging that it gives some intimation of unknown facts; but with respect to the hidden meaning, as a raven is a black, and arrogant, and speedy animal, it is a sign of wickedness, which brings night and darkness over the soul, and it is also swift to meet all the things of the world in its flight.
And also that it is very bold, so as at times to cause the destruction of those who seek to catch it, since pride produces also rash impudence, the opposite of which is virtue, which is consistent with the brilliancy of light, and is by nature deco- rated with a. modest bashfulness; therefore it is quite natural that if there was any darkness remaining behind in the intel- lect, darkness which exists in accordance with folly, he should expel that and send it out beyond his borders.
Why did the raven after it had gone forth not return, when there was not yet any part of the earth dried?* 36. This passage admits of an allegorical interpretation since injustice is contrary to the light of justice; so that in comparison of the admirable actions of the man endued with virtue, it thinks it more desirable to rejoice with its kinsman, the deluge; for injustice is a lover of confusion and corruption.
Why does lie speak here in an incorrect manner, " Till the water was dried up from the earth;" when it was not the water which was dried up from the earth, but the earth which was dried from the water? f 37. He uses this expression in an allegorical sense, indicat- ing by the fall of the waters the immensity of vices, by which when saturated and vigorous the soul is corrupted, but when they are dried up and withered, it is preserved; for then they cannot inflict any mischief upon it, since they are become impotent and dead.
Why does he in the second place send forth the dove, and why does he send it forth from himself to see whether the water had ceased, when he uses no such expressions about the raven? J * Genesis viii. 7. t Ibid. + Genesia viii. 8 VOL. IV. B B 370 PHILO JUDjEUS.
In the first place, the dove is a clean animal, and in the second place it is tame, civilised, and one which associates with mankind, on which account also the honour has been allotted to it of being offered up upon the altar in sacrifices; and on this account the sacred writer, sanctioning this honour and adding the weight of his assertion, has said, he sent it forth from himself, declaring by this expression that it dwelt with him; and again, by the expression that it was to see whether the water was abated, he displays the common anxiety felt by both.
But those birds, the raven and the dove, are symbols of wickedness and virtue: for the one, whether it is wickedness or the raven, has no house, nor habitation, nor city, being an insolent unsociable bird; but the other, namely virtue, has a regard to humanity, and to the public good: and so the man endowed with virtue sends that bird forth as his ambassador for desirable and salutary objects, wishing to receive from it desirable information; and she, like an ambassador, brings us back genuine pleasure, so that what is hurtful may be guarded against, and what is useful may be diligently and carefully admitted.
Why did the dove, when it found no rest for its feet, return to Noah?* 39. Is not the reason of this evident, and is it not a plain proof that wickedness and virtue are symbolically indicated by the raven and the dove? For behold the dove, which is the last sent out, finds no rest. How, then, could the raven, who departed previously, while the calamity of the deluge was still prevailing, find any place, and make a settlement? For the raven was neither a swan nor an ibis, nor did he belong to the class of aquatic birds.
But the sacred writer here points out in an enigmatical manner, that wickedness, when it has gone forth out of doors, to the swelling whirlpools of the vices and passions which overflow and corrupt the soul and life, joyfully admits them, and dwells with and takes up its abode with them, as with its nearest friends and relations; but virtue, turning away with loathing from even the first sight of them, at once springs back, and does not return, scarcely finding rest for its feet; * Genesis viii. 9.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 371 finding, in fact, no standing ground anywhere, and no place worthy of itself. For what other greater evil can there be than this, that virtue should not be able to find in the soul any place ever so small for rest and for abiding in?
What is the meaning of the statement, " Putting forth his hand, he received her, and brought her in to himself?" * 40. The literal meaning is plain, but with respect to the hidden sense we must elicit the truth carefully. The wise man employs truth as an overseer of and ambassador in im- portant affairs, which, when it perceives that those natures are worthy of it, abides among and dwells with them, correcting them, and making them better, since wisdom is a very common, and equal, and useful thing. But when, with reference to the opposite natures, it sees that in some points they are prepos- terously redundant and in others altogether deficient, it returns to its proper place; and the man endowed with virtue admits it in word, putting forth his hand to take it, and in fact opening all his intellect for its reception, and unfolding it by the perfect number, full and equal, with all imaginable prompti- tude.
Nor even then, when he had sent her forth from himself to examine the natures of other things, had he separated it from himself, but had only acted like the sun, which sends forth his beams to give light to all things, because it is not at all con- sistent with the character of his boundless light to be separated at all.
Why did he, after waiting yet seven other days, send forth the dove a second time?f 41. This is an excellent example for life, since although it will behold natures obstinate at first, still the hope of changing them into better natures is scarcely allowed to drop; and as a prudent physician does not in a moment apply a perfect cure to a disease, or effect a complete restoration to health, but employs salutary medicines after he has given nature an opportunity of first opening the way to recovery, so too the man endowed with virtue behaves with respect to the employment of the word which is in accordance with the law of wisdom.
But the number seven is the sacred and dominical number, * Genesis viii. 9. f Genesis viiL 10.
according to which the Father of the universe, when he made the world, is said to have looked upon his work. And the contemplation of the world, and of all the things contained in it, is nothing else but philosophy, and that excellent and select portion of it which wisdom contains, comprehending within itself also a work still more necessary to be seen.
What is the meaning of the expression, " The dove returned a second time to him about evening, having in her mouth a leaf and a thin branch of olive T* 42. All these separate points are selected and approved signs— the returning, the returning about evening, the having an olive-leaf and a thin branch of that tree, and oil, and the having it in her mouth; but yet every one of these signs can be examined with a certainty beyond certainty, for the return is distinct from its previous return, for that one bore with it an announcement of nature being wholly corrupted and rebellious, and being wholly destroyed by the deluge, that is to say, by great ignorance and insolence; but this second return brings the news of the world beginning to repent, but to find repent- ance is not an easy task, but is a difficult and laborious business.
And it is on this account that the dove arrived in the evening, having passed the whole day from morning to evening in its visitations; in word, indeed, examining places, but in fact investigating the different parts of nature itself by con- tinual visitation, and seeing them all clearly from beginning to end, for the evening is the indication of the end.