And thus it came about that the Alexandrian interpreters
always emphasized the universal beneath the particular, the moral
spirit beneath the forms.
It had been one of the chief functions of the prophets to demonstrate
the moral import of the law. In their vision the God of Israel became
the God of the universe, and His law of conduct was spread over all
mankind. "For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah iv. 2). Philo in effect expounds Judaism
in their spirit, though he speaks their message in the voice of Plato
and to a people whose minds were trained in Greek culture. Yet it is
significant that he wrote all his commentaries round the Five Books of
Moses, and used the prophets and other Biblical books only to
illustrate and support the Mosaic teaching, which contains the whole
way of life and the whole religious philosophy. According to the
rabbis also the Prophets formed only a complement to the Torah, "a
species of Agadah";[129] and the prophetic vision of Moses was much
clearer than that of his successors. Philo, too, clearly realized that
Judaism was the religion of the law. His view of the Torah is what the
modern world would call uncritical: that is to say, he accepts the
idea that the whole of the Five Books was an objective revelation to
Moses at Sinai.
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