that the code of law is only a memorial of the
lives of the patriarchs. For the patriarchs, of their own
accord and impulse, chose to follow nature, and, regarding
her course with truth as the most ancient ordinance, they
lived a life according to the law."

Philo dwells affectionately on the patriarchs, because, as he held,
they proved the Jewish life to be truest to man's nature and to the
highest ideal of humanity, and served therefore as examples to the
Gentile world of the universal truth of the religion. The rabbis also
took the patriarchs as the perfect type of our life, saying,
"Everything that happens to them is a sign to future generations,"[92]
and again: "The patriarchs are the true [Hebrew: mrbba], manifestation of
God." But while he emphasized the broad moral teachings of Judaism
exemplified by the patriarchs, Philo nevertheless upheld in its
integrity the Mosaic law, and found in every one of the six hundred
and thirteen precepts a spiritual meaning. Even the details of the
tabernacle offerings have their universal lesson when he expounds them
as symbols. Voltaire speaks cynically of Judaism as a religion of
sacrifices: Philo shows that the ritual of sacrifice suggests moral
lessons. The command of the red heifer, a part of the law which was
particularly subject to attack, emphasizes the law of moral as well as
of physical cleanliness. The prohibition to add honey or leaven to the
sacrifice[93] (Lev. ii. 13) points the lesson that all superfluous
pleasure is unrighteous; and so on with each prescription.

The Mosaic code in his exposition is commensurate with life in all its
aspects. It deals not only with the duties of the individual but also
with the good government of the state. The life of Joseph is made the
text of a political treatise, and throughout the books "On the
Specific Laws," the socialism of the Bible is emphasized,[94] and held
up as the ideal order of the future. The Jewish State is enlarged in
Philo's vision from a national theocracy into a world-city inspired by
the two ideas of love of God and love of humanity. In this conception,
no doubt, the influence of Greek philosophy is to be seen; the Jewish
interpreter keeps before him the "Republic" of Plato, and the "Polity"
of Aristotle. With him, however, the ideal state is not a vision
"laid up in heaven";[95] its foundation is already laid upon earth,
its capital is Jerusalem, and it is the mission of his people to