f the Bible the
Platonic idealism which we shall see was a fundamental part of his
philosophy.

"Why, when Enoch died, does it say, 'And he pleased God'? (Gen. v.
24.)

"He says this to teach that the soul is immortal, inasmuch as after it
is released from the body it continues to please."

"What is the meaning of the expression, 'And Noah opened the roof of
the ark'? (Gen. viii. 13.)

"The text appears to need no interpretation; but in its symbolical
meaning the ark is our body, and that which covers the body and for a
long time preserves its strength is spoken of as its roof. And this is
appetite. Hence when the mind is attracted by a desire for heavenly
things, it springs upwards and makes away with all material desires.
It removes that which threw a shade over it so as to reach the eternal
Ideas."

The "Questions and Answers" are essentially Hebraic in form, designed
for Jews who knew and studied their Bible; and we can feel in them the
influences of a training in traditional Mishnah and Midrash; but Philo
passed from them to a more artistic expression and a more thoroughly
Hellenized presentation of the philosophy of the Bible. This work is
the largest extant expression of his thought and mission; it embraces
the treatises which we know as "On the Creation of the World," "The
Lives of Abraham and Joseph," "On the Decalogue," and finally those
"On the Specific Laws," which are partly thus entitled and partly have
separate ethical names, as "On Honoring Parents," "On Rewards and
Punishments," "On Justice," etc. Large portions of it have
disappeared, notably the "Lives of Isaac and Jacob"; and also the
"Life of Moses," which was introductory to his laws. For the book
which we have under that name does not belong to the series, but is
separate. The purpose of the work broadly is to deepen the value of
the Bible for the Jews by revealing its constant spiritual message,
and to assert its value for the whole of humanity by showing in it a
philosophical conception of the universe and its creation, the most
lofty ethical and moral types, the most admirable laws, and, above
all, the purest ideas of God and His relation to man. All that seems
tribal and particularist is explained away, and the spiritual aspect
of every chapter--of every word almost--of the Torah is emphasized.
Philo expounds the sacred book, not of one particular nation, but of
mankind. The Roman and Greek peoples were waiting for a religious
message