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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



9252
Philo Of Alexandria, That God Is Unchangeable, 5-8


nanHis disciple and successor was Hannah. The gift of the wisdom of God, for the interpretation of the name is her grace. For when she had become pregnant, having received the divine seed, and after she had completed the time of her labour, she brought forth, in the manner appointed by the arrangement of God, a son, whom she called Samuel; and the name Samuel being interpreted, means "appointed by God." She therefore having received him restores him to the giver; not looking upon anything as a good belonging to herself which is not divine grace.


nanFor in the first book of Kings, 5 she speaks in this manner: "I give him unto thee freely," the expression here used being equivalent to, "I give him unto thee whom thou hast given to me." According to that most sacred scripture of Moses, "My gifts and my offerings, and my first fruits, ye shall observe to offer unto me."6


nanFor to what other being should one bring gifts of gratitude except to God? and what offerings can one bring unto him except of those things which have been given to us by him? For it is not possible for us to have an abundance of anything else. And he has no need of any of those things which he enjoins men to offer unto him, but he bids us bring unto him the things which are his own, through the excess of his beneficence to our race. For we, studying to conduct ourselves with gratitude to him, and to show him all honours, should purify ourselves from sin, washing off all things that can stain our life in words, or appearance, or actions.


nanFor it is foolishness to imagine, that it is unlawful to enter into temples, unless a man has first washed his body and made that look bright, but that one may attempt to sacrifice and to pray with a mind still polluted and disordered. And yet temples are made of stones and timber, mere lifeless materials, and it is not possible for the body, if it is devoid of life by its own nature, to touch things devoid of life, without using ablutions and purifying ceremonies of holiness; and shall any one endure to approach God without being purified as to his soul, shall any one while impure come near to the purest of all beings, and this too without having any intention of repenting?


Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

16 results
1. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, a b c d\n0 "11.30" "11.30" "11 30"\n1 "2.2" "2.2" "2 2" (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)

2. Hebrew Bible, Proverbs, 8.22 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)

8.22. יְהוָה קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ קֶדֶם מִפְעָלָיו מֵאָז׃ 8.22. The LORD made me as the beginning of His way, The first of His works of old."
3. Hebrew Bible, 1 Samuel, 1.11, 1.14, 1.28 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)

1.11. וַתִּדֹּר נֶדֶר וַתֹּאמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אִם־רָאֹה תִרְאֶה בָּעֳנִי אֲמָתֶךָ וּזְכַרְתַּנִי וְלֹא־תִשְׁכַּח אֶת־אֲמָתֶךָ וְנָתַתָּה לַאֲמָתְךָ זֶרַע אֲנָשִׁים וּנְתַתִּיו לַיהוָה כָּל־יְמֵי חַיָּיו וּמוֹרָה לֹא־יַעֲלֶה עַל־רֹאשׁוֹ׃ 1.14. וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ עֵלִי עַד־מָתַי תִּשְׁתַּכָּרִין הָסִירִי אֶת־יֵינֵךְ מֵעָלָיִךְ׃ 1.28. וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּהוּ לַיהוָה כָּל־הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה הוּא שָׁאוּל לַיהוָה וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ שָׁם לַיהוָה׃ 1.11. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thy handmaid, but wilt give to Thy handmaid a man child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head." 1.14. And ῾Eli said to her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee." 1.28. therefore also I have presented him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be devoted to the Lord. And he bowed down to the Lord there."
4. Philo of Alexandria, On Husbandry, 51 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

51. and let every one in his turn say the same thing, for it is very becoming to every man who loves God to study such a song as this, but above all this world should sing it. For God, like a shepherd and a king, governs (as if they were a flock of sheep) the earth, and the water, and the air, and the fire, and all the plants, and living creatures that are in them, whether mortal or divine; and he regulates the nature of the heaven, and the periodical revolutions of the sun and moon, and the variations and harmonious movements of the other stars, ruling them according to law and justice; appointing, as their immediate superintendent, his own right reason, his first-born son, who is to receive the charge of this sacred company, as the lieutet of the great king; for it is said somewhere, "Behold, I am he! I will send my messenger before thy face, who shall keep thee in the Road.
5. Philo of Alexandria, On The Cherubim, 42 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

42. But that we may describe the conception and the parturition of virtues, let the superstitious either stop their ears, or else let them depart; for we are about to teach those initiated persons who are worthy of the knowledge of the most sacred mysteries, the whole nature of such divine and secret ordices. And those who are thus worthy are they who, with all modesty, practise genuine piety, of that sort which scorns to disguise itself under any false colours. But we will not act the part of hierophant or expounder of sacred mysteries to those who are afflicted with the incurable disease of pride of language and quibbling expressions, and juggling tricks of manners, and who measure sanctity and holiness by no other standard. XIII. 42. I will, therefore, behave myself in an affable, and courteous, and conciliatory manner to all men, even if I should obtain the dominion over the whole earth and the whole sea, and especially to those who are in the greatest difficulties and of the least reputation, and who are destitute of all assistance from kindred of their own, to those who are orphaned of either or of both their parents, to women who have experienced widowhood, and to old men who have either never had any children at all, or who have lost at an early age those who have been born to them;
6. Philo of Alexandria, On The Confusion of Tongues, 146 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

146. And even if there be not as yet any one who is worthy to be called a son of God, nevertheless let him labour earnestly to be adorned according to his first-born word, the eldest of his angels, as the great archangel of many names; for he is called, the authority, and the name of God, and the Word, and man according to God's image, and he who sees Israel.
7. Philo of Alexandria, On Drunkenness, 144-152, 30-31, 33, 60, 143 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

143. And it is an especial property of law and of instruction to distinguish what is profane from what is holy, and what is unclean from what is clean; as, on the other hand, it is the effect of lawlessness and ignorance to combine things that are at variance with one another by force, and to throw everything into disorder and confusion. XXXVI. On this account the greatest of the kings and prophets, Samuel, as the sacred scriptures tell us, drank no wine or intoxicating liquors to the day of his death; for he is enrolled among the ranks of the divine army which he will never leave in consequence of the prudence of the wise captain.
8. Philo of Alexandria, On Flight And Finding, 110, 208, 109 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

109. For Moses says that he cannot be defiled neither in respect of his father, that is, the mind, nor his mother, that is, the external sense; because, I imagine, he has received imperishable and wholly pure parents, God being his father, who is also the father of all things, and wisdom being his mother, by means of whom the universe arrived at creation;
9. Philo of Alexandria, On The Migration of Abraham, 33 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

33. and these things are in their own nature most admirable and most beautiful; for of the things of which the soul is in travail by herself, the greater part are premature and abortive progency; but those on which God pours his showers and which he waters, are produced in a perfect, and entire, and most excellent state.
10. Philo of Alexandria, On The Change of Names, 144, 143 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

143. and to those who ask, whether she who is barren has an offspring (for the holy scriptures, which some time ago represented Sarrah as barren, now confess that she will become a mother); this answer must be given, that a woman who is barren cannot, in the course of nature, bring forth an offspring, just as a blind man cannot see, nor a deaf man hear; but that the soul, which is barren of bad things, and which is unproductive of immoderate license of the passions and vices, is alone very nearly attaining to a happy delivery, bringing forth objects worthy of love, namely, the number seven, according to the hymn which is sung by Grace, that is, by Hannah, who says, "she who was barren hath born seven, and she who had many children has become weak:
11. Philo of Alexandria, On The Posterity of Cain, 135 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

135. on which account Moses, in strict accordance with the principles of natural philosophy, represents Leah as Hated. For those whom the charms of pleasures, which are with Rachel, that is to say, with the outward sense, cannot be endured by Leah, who is situated out of the reach of the passions; on which account they repudiate and detest her. But as far as she herself is concerned, her alienation from the creature produces her a close connection with God, from whom she receives the seeds of wisdom, and conceives, and travails, and brings forth virtuous ideas, worthy of the father who begot them. If therefore, you, O my soul, imitating Leah, reject mortal things, you will of necessity turn to the incorruptible God, who will shed over you all the fountains of his good. XLI.
12. Philo of Alexandria, On Curses, 159 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

159. For the love of virtue being inflamed and excited by the brilliant appearance of virtue, burns to ashes the pleasures of the body, and then cuts them to pieces and pounds them to nothing, using the divine word which can at all times divide everything. And in this manner he teaches us that among the bodily advantages are health, and beauty, and the accuracy of the outward senses, and the perfection of bodily vigour with strength and mighty energy; but still that all these things are common to accursed and wicked persons, while if they were really good no wicked person would be allowed to partake of them.
13. Philo of Alexandria, On Dreams, 1.215, 1.254 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

1.215. For there are, as it seems, two temples belonging to God; one being this world, in which the high priest is the divine word, his own firstborn son. The other is the rational soul, the priest of which is the real true man, the copy of whom, perceptible to the senses, is he who performs his paternal vows and sacrifices, to whom it is enjoined to put on the aforesaid tunic, the representation of the universal heaven, in order that the world may join with the man in offering sacrifice, and that the man may likewise co-operate with the universe. 1.254. and there is an evidence in favour of my argument, in the conduct of the prophetess, and mother of a prophet, Hannah, whose name being translated, signifies grace; for she says that she gives her son, "Samuel, as a gift to the Holy One," not dedicating him more as a human being, than as a disposition full of inspiration, and possessed by a divinely sent impulse; and the name Samuel being interpreted means, "appointed to God.
14. Philo of Alexandria, That The Worse Attacks The Better, 54 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

54. If, therefore, each of these things, the outward sense and the mind, receive the honour which I have been describing, then it follows of necessity that I, who use them both, must derive advantage from them. But if, carrying your language away a long distance from the mind and from the outward sense, you think your father, that is to say, the world which produced you, and your mother, wisdom, by means of which the universe was completed, worthy of honour, you yourself shall be well treated; for neither does God, who is full of everything, nor sublime and perfect knowledge, want anything. So that he who is inclined to pay proper attention to them, benefits not those who receive his attentions and who are in no need of anything, but himself most exceedingly.
15. Philo of Alexandria, That God Is Unchangeable, 11-13, 137, 14-15, 6-8, 10 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)

10. Now the most evident sign of a soul devoted to God is that song in which that expression occurs, "She that was barren has borne seven children, and she that had many children has become weak."7
16. Irenaeus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.30.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)



Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
abraham Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
abram/abraham Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 395
allegorical commentary Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211, 395
allegory/allegoresis, of the soul Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211
allegory Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
arithmology, seven Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394, 395
cosmos Albrecht, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity (2014) 169
cycle, patriarchal, abrahamic Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 394
emotions, good Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
etymology, hebrew Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394
fall Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211
father, fatherhood Albrecht, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity (2014) 168, 169
gnosis Albrecht, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity (2014) 169
grace Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394
hagar Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 394, 395
hannah Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394; Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
homer Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211
isaac Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394, 395
keturah Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394, 395
law Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
midian Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
moses Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
mother, motherhood' Albrecht, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity (2014) 168
mother, motherhood Albrecht, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity (2014) 169
motherhood Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
onomasticon Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
pentateuch Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
perfection Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211
plutarch Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211
prophets Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211, 393, 395
rachel Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
rhetoric Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 211, 394
samuel Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
sarah Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393, 394, 395
septuagint Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
soul, eight-part Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
virginity Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177
virtue, cardinal Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 393
virtue Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 394
womanhood Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (1990) 177