Category:De specialibus legibus (text)
De specialibus legibus / The Special Laws is one of Philo's Works.
Synopsis
BOOK 1
- Introduction: Why circumcision should not be ridiculed (1-11)
(a) It prevents diseases (b) It secures the cleanliness of the body (c) It makes apparent the circumcision of the heart (d) It helps procreation
Two allegorical reasons:
(a) It is a symbol of the excision of the pleasures which delude the mind (9) (b) It is a symbol of a man's knowing himself.
- First and Second Commandment
There are people who have mistaken the subordinates for the Ruler or the created for the uncreated (20), while there is only one God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe.
The existence of God is suggested to us by the work God has done, which requires a Maker (34-35).
Although we cannot fully "see" God (as we cannot fully see the sun with our bodily eyes), we have to investigate God's character with your mind's eyes.
Proselytes are welcome on a equal level as those who are born in the family (51ff), even though some Gentiles deserve death for their blasphemy against the one God, as the example of Phinehas demonstrates
The priesthood is the highest office, as the universe is the Temple of God (66ff). The Logos is the image of God. It is according to this image that the world was made (81). The twelve stones of the High Priest's dress are a symbol of the zodiac (87). The priest are serving on behalf of the entire humankind, of the entire cosmos. It is therefore just that the lives of priests are regulated by special laws and that the priests receive special honor (including taxes)
The levites (156ff) are second only to the priests.
[Our rationale spirit has been fashioned after the archetypal model of the divine image (171)]
A long description of sacrifices follows. God created everything for a purpose. God is not pleased by the sacrifices, but by the attitude of those who sacrifice (277).
The two names of God refer to his beneficent power (THEOS) and to his punishing power (KYRIOS) (307).
God is benevolent toward the Proselytes (308ff), the orphans and the widows, but the wicked are excluded (such as effeminates, and harlots).
BOOK 2
This category currently contains no pages or media.