על הענקים, הקדמהOn the Giants, Introduction
א׳
1ON THE GIANTS (DE GIGANTIBUS)
ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION
ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION
ב׳
2This short, but in many ways beautiful and more than usually Platonic treatise, is very closely connected, as the last words show, with the succeeding “Quod Deus,” which will follow in Vol. III. of this translation. It is a dissertation on the words of Gen. 6:1–4.
ג׳
3(а) And it came to pass when men began to become many upon the earth that daughters were born to them. (1)
ד׳
4(b) And the angels of God, seeing the daughters of men that they were fair, took to themselves wives from all, such as they chose. (2)
ה׳
5(c) And the Lord God said, “My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, because they are flesh; but their days shall be a hundred and twenty years. (3)
ו׳
6(d) And there were giants on earth in those days. (4)
ז׳
7(а) is dismissed shortly (1–5) with the remarks that the words “many” and “daughters” following on the mention of the birth of Noah, the just man, and his three sons (at the end of chap. v.) emphasize the truth that the unjust are many and the just few, and that the spiritual offspring of the latter are the masculine or higher qualities, while that of the former are the feminine or lower.
ח׳
8(b) The words are interpreted (6–18) in the sense that as angels, demons, and souls are really three names for the same thing, “the angels of God,” while including God’s spiritual messengers, here indicate the wicked souls which woo the “daughters of men,” i.e. the merely sensual pleasures. In the course of these sections we have a remarkable passage (12–15), in which Philo, with many echoes of Plato, speaks of the human soul as having descended from some higher region to be incarnate in the body.
ט׳
9The discussion of (c) (19–57) forms the bulk of the treatise. He first treats (19–27) of the nature of God’s spirit, dwelling particularly on the thought that when it is given to men, it is not thereby diminished, and on the unworthiness of the fleshly life (28–31). This leads him on to a long digression on Lev. 18:6, “a man, a man shall not go near to any that is akin to his flesh, to uncover shame.” This text, which of course is really a prohibition of incest, is worked by Philo into an elaborate allegory, in which every phrase is treated separately (32–47). The repetition of “a man, a man” indicates the “true man” (33). The words “go near” show us that while many earthly advantages, such as riches, though “akin to the flesh,” must be accepted, if they come to us, and used for the best, we must not seek them (34–38). “Uncovering shame” means (39) that those who follow such things introduce a false and shameful philosophy. The final words, “I am the Lord,” are an appeal to us to take our stand with God against pleasure (40–44), but the use of “Lord” rather than “God” emphasizes his attitude of sovereignty of which we are bidden to stand in awe (45–47). We now return to the thought of what is meant by God’s spirit abiding. Such an abiding can only be the privilege of those who lead the tranquil and contemplative life, which with the support of various texts he ascribes to Moses (47–55). The words “their days shall be an hundred and twenty years” are then touched on for a few lines (56), but dismissed with a promise of subsequent treatment, which if ever given has not come down to us (57).
י׳
10(d) After a protest against regarding the story as a myth (58–59), we have a meditation (60–67) on the three classes of souls, the earth-born (who of course are the giants, γίγας being connected with γηγενής), the heaven-born, and the God-born. Of these the heaven-born are those who cultivate our heavenly part, the mind, and follow secular learning (60), and the God-born are those whose thoughts are fixed on God alone (61). These two are illustrated by Abram (before his change of name) and Abraham respectively (62–64). The earth-born, of course, are those who are given up to the fleshly life, and are typified by Nimrod (who in the LXX is called a giant) whose name signifying “desertion” marks the earth-born “giants” as deserters from the good (65–67).