philo, the jewish author and philosopher from antiquity, composed an essay “the decalogue” on the ten commandments. philo’s writings are valued by both jews and christians as his writings cover theological matters during the roman occupation of the holy land. some of the writings were around the time when jesus lived. philo’ss writings offer much insight into a religious period often called second temple judaism. this is the judaism in which there remained a temple but when many jews lived in diaspora. further, it was the judaism from which christianity emerged.
philo’s writing, while jewish, have an added element. philo, being educated in greek philosophy, incorporates aspect of hellenism into his writings.
philo’s “the decalogue” addresses various aspects of the ten commandments. beyond offering insight into the law, he tackles many issues outside of the law. this post will merely address one topic. this post’s reference source is the works of philo translated by yonge.
the first thing to note about philo’s work is the obvious. at the time, the ten commandments were well known and accessible.
philo, in his essay. takes a brilliant approach to the ten commandments. he takes a “step back”. in his essay’s beginning, he asks the question “why the lawgiver gave his laws not in the cities but in the deep desert?” this is a fascinating question as philo, a wealthy man, was from the city of alexandria. this egyptian city had a large diaspora jewish community. his question suggest that even in antiquity, as much as today, those dwelling outside of cities are perceived as being unsophisticated and inferior.
philo proceeds answers his question, “we must say, in the first place, the generality of cities are full of unspeakable evils, and of the acts of audacious impiety towards the deity, and of the injustice on the part of citizens to one another.” he elaborates and it appears that he suggests that cities were filled with idolatry. he also offers up another evil which he finds within the cities, “pride”. he found “pride” to be a cause of many other evils such as insolence, arrogance and impiety.
philo further comments on how the ten commandments where provided to a population that, at the point, was pure. he noted that “it was indispensable that the soul of a man who is about to receive the sacred laws should be thoroughly cleansed and purified from all stains.” from this discussion, one could surmise that these individuals who received the ten commandments were free of the corruption that is part of the city life. further, it suggests that introducing sacred law onto a city’s population may be problematic perhaps due to the city’s state of “moral” purity.
philo goes on to note “very naturally therefore, having led his people from the injurious associations prevailing in cities, into the desert, that he might purify their souls from their offence he begun to bring them food for their minds; and what could this food but divine laws and reasoning?”
while approximately two thousand years since philo’s thoughts , it appears that the world is relatively unchanged. many cities are morally and ethically compromised. it appears that societal ills follow the gathering of large amount of peoples. further, in these large cities today, residents who cry out and complain of theft, murder and other societal rot are largely ignored, laughed at and perceived as freaks. thus, philo’s rationale for the ten commandments being introduced in the desert rings true. first, the residents of a city, in totality, could never collectively cleanse themselves to receive laws. second, had moses received the ten commandments on top of the one world trade center brought it down to the new york city streets, he would likely have been met with derision and mockery.
in sum, philo’s contemporary impression of the ten commandments in antiquity is enlightening as to the challenges of modern society in imposing law.
be well!!
The Ten Commandments Project 