Philo's Works - His Allegorical Commentary

His Allegorical Commentary

Philo's works concerned mainly with allegorical interpretation include:

1. "Legum allegoriae," books i.-iii., on Gen. ii. 1-iii. 1a, 8b-19 (on the original extent and contents of these three books and the probably more correct combination of i. and ii., see Schürer, "Gesch." iii. 503);
2. "De cherubim," on Gen. iii. 24, iv. 1;
3. "De sacrificiis Abelis et Caini," on Gen. iv. 2-4 (comp. Schürer, l.c. p. 504);
4. "De eo quod deterius potiori insidiatur";
5. "De posteritate Caini," on Gen. iv. 16-25 (see Cohn and Wendland, "Philonis Alexandrini," etc., ii., pp. xviii. et seq., 1-41; "Philologus," lvii. 248-288);
6. "De gigantibus," on Gen. vi. 1-4;
7. "Quod Deus sit immutabilis," on Gen. vi. 4-12 (Schürer correctly combines Nos. 6 and 7 into one book; Massebieau ("Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes," p. 23, note 2, Paris, 1889) adds after No. 7 the lost books Περὶ Διαϑηκῶν);
8. "De Agricultura Noë," on Gen. ix. 20 (comp. Von Arnim, "Quellenstudien zu Philo von Alexandria," 1899, pp. 101–140);
9. "De Ebrietate," on Gen. ix. 21 (on the lost second book see Schürer, l.c. p. 507, and Von Arnim, l.c. pp. 53–100);
10. "Resipuit; Noë, seu De Sobrietate," on Gen. ix. 24-27;
11. "De Confusione Linguarum," on Gen. xi. 1-9;
12. "De. Migratione Abrahami," on Gen. xii. 1-6;
13. "Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit," on Gen. xv. 2-18 (on the ork Περὶ Μισϑῶν cited in this treatise see Massebieau, l.c. pp. 27 et seq., note 3);
14. "De Congressu Quærendæ Eruditionis Gratia," on Gen. xvi. 1-6;
15. "De Fuga et Inventione," on Gen. xvi. 6-14 (sometimes referred to in older editions as "De Profugis");
16. "De Mutatione Nominum," on Gen. xvii, 1-22 (on the fragment "De Deo," which contains a commentary on Gen. xviii. 2, see Massebieau, l.c. p. 29);
17. "De Somniis," book i., on Gen. xxviii. 12 et seq., xxxi. 11 et seq. (Jacob's dreams); "De Somniis," book ii., on Gen. xxxvii. 40 et seq. (the dreams of Joseph, of the cupbearer, the baker, and Pharaoh). Philo's three other books on dreams have been lost. The first of these (on the dreams of Abimelech and Laban) preceded the present book i., and discussed the dreams in which God Himself spoke with the dreamers, this fitting in very well with Gen. xx. 3. On a doxographic source used by Philo in book i., § 4, see Wendland in "Sitzungsbericht der Berliner Akademie." 1897. No. xlix. 1-6.