And those who look for a deeper moral meaning may find in it a
symbol of the passing over from the life of the senses to the life with
God. Similarly, Philo deals with the other festivals,[164] and in their
particular ceremonies he finds symbols which stamp eternal lessons of
history and of morality upon our hearts. The unleavened bread is the
mark of the simple life, the New Year Shofar of the Divine rule of
peace, the Sukkot booth of the equality of all men, and, as he puts it
elsewhere, of man's duty in prosperity to remember the troubles of his
past, so that he may worthily recognize God's goodness. Much of this
may appear trite to us; and the association of the festivals with the
seasons of nature may to some appear a false development of historical
Judaism; nevertheless Philo's treatment of this part of the Torah is
notable. It shows remarkable feeling for the ethical import of the
law, and it establishes the harmony between the Greek and Hebrew
conceptions of the Deity by combining the God of history with the God
of nature in the same festival. The ideas were not unknown to
Palestinian rabbis; Philo, by giving them a Greek dress, opened them
to the world.
Equally remarkable and equally suggestive is Philo's treatment of the
dietary laws. We have seen that he placed them under the governing
principle of the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet," or, more
broadly, "Thou shalt not have base desires.
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