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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Just Verified the Philo Source for the Previous Post

So I think that this is the portion of Philo to which the author (see previous post) was referring:

The following is from Philo's Questions on Exodus:

"(Scripture) first makes it clearly apparent and demonstrable " that in reality the sojourner " is one who circumcises not his uncircumcision but his desires and sensual pleasures and the other passions of the soul.'' For in Egypt the Hebrew nation was not circumcised but being mistreated with all (kinds of) mistreatment by the inhabitants in their hatred of strangers, it lived with them in self-restraint and endurance, not by necessity but rather of its own free choice, because it took refuge in God the Saviour, Who sent His beneficent power and delivered from their difficult and hopeless situation those who made supplication (to Him)." Therefore (Scripture) adds, " Ye yourselves know the soul of the sojourner." But what is the mind of the sojourner if not ' alienation from belief in many gods  and familiarity with honouring the one God and Father of all ?  In the second place, some call strangers " newcomers." But strangers are also those who by themselves have run to the truth, not in the same way as those who made their sojourn in Egypt.  For these are newcomers to the land, while those are (newcomers) to laws and customs.' But the common name of " newcomers "is ascribed to both."

The upshot here is that Philo is corroborating the idea from Josephus that true circumcision is a zealousness for the ways of Judaism (i.e. Torah).  That scholar, Bird, is a genius to have caught those references.  I'm impressed.

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