---
title: "On the question, Who is the Heir of Divine Things"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 10 of 25
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/10/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On the question, Who is the Heir of Divine Things, section 10. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/10/"
---

# On the question, Who is the Heir of Divine Things

*Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge*

## 10. Section 117

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/10/#p-N

[¶0] Very appropriately therefore does the sacred scripture command the first-fruits to be offered up to the all-ruling God. And in another passage we read "The Lord spake unto Moses saying, Sanctify to me all the first-born: all that is first brought forth, all that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, whether of man or beast is mine," Exodus xiii. 2.

### Section 118

[¶2] so that it is openly asserted in these words, that all the first things, whether in point of time or of power, are the property of God, and most especially all the first-born; since the whole of that race which is imperishable shall justly be apportioned to the immortal God; and if there is anything, in short, which openeth the womb, whether of man which here means speech and reason, or of beast which signifies the outward sense and the body;

### Section 119

[¶4] for that which openeth the womb of all these things, whether of the mind, so as to enable it to comprehend the things appreciable only by the intellect, or of the speech so as to enable it to exercise the energies of voice, or of the external senses, so as to qualify them to receive the impressions which are made upon them by their appropriate subjects, or of the body to fit it for its appropriate stationary conditions or motions, is the invisible, spermatic, technical, and divine Word, which shall most properly be dedicated to the Father.

### Section 120

[¶6] And, indeed, as are the beginnings of God so likewise are the ends of God; and Moses is a witness to this, where he commands to "separate off the end, and to confess that it is due to God." There is probably some corruption here. The marginal reference is to Numbers xxi. 41, and there are only thirty-five verses in the chapter. The same thing has occurred in one or two previous instances. The things in the world do also bear witness. Exodus xiii. 2. There is probably some corruption here. The marginal reference is to Numbers xxi. 41, and there are only thirty-five verses in the chapter. The same thing has occurred in one or two previous instances. How so?

### Section 121

[¶8] The beginning of a plant is the seed, and the end is the fruit, each of them being the work, not of husbandry, but of nature. Again, of knowledge the beginning is nature, as has been shown, but the end can never reach mankind, for no man is perfect in any branch of study whatever; but it is a plain truth, that all excellence and perfection belong to one Being alone; we therefore are borne on, for the future, on the confines of beginning and end, learning, teaching, tilling the ground, working up everything else, as if we were really effecting something, that the creature also may seem to be doing something;

### Section 122

[¶10] therefore, with a more perfect knowledge, Moses has confessed that the first-fruits and the end belong to God, speaking of the creation of the world, where he says, "In the beginning God created ..." Genesis i. 1. And again he says, "God finished the heaven and the earth."

### Section 123

[¶12] Now therefore he says, "Take for me," assigning himself what becomes him, and admonishing his hearer not to adulterate what is given to him, but to take care of it in a manner worthy of its importance. And again, in another passage, he who has need of nothing, and who on this account takes nothing, will confess that he does take something, for the sake of giving to his worshippers the feeling of piety, and of implanting in them an eagerness after holiness, and moreover sharpening their zeal in his service, as one who favourably receives the genuine worship and service of a willing soul,

### Section 124

[¶14] "For behold," says he, "I have taken the Levites instead of all the first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; they shall be their ransom;" Num. iii. 12. therefore we take and give, but we are said to take with strict accuracy, but it is only by a metaphorical abuse of the term that we are said to give, for the reasons which I have already mentioned. And it is very felicitously that he has called the Levites a ransom, for nothing so completely conducts the mind to freedom as its fleeing for refuge to and becoming a suppliant of God; and this is what the consecrated tribe of the Levites particularly professes to be.

### Section 125

[¶16] Having now, therefore, said as much as is proper on these subjects, let us proceed onwards to what comes next; for we have postponed the consideration of many things which Genesis i. 1. Num. iii. 12. ought to be examined into with exactness. "Take for me," says God, "a heifer which has never been yoked and has never been ill-treated, tender and young," Genesis xv. 9. and exulting; that is to say, a soul adapted easily to receive government, and instruction, and superintendence. "Take for me also a ram," that is to say, speech contentious and perfect, capable of dissecting and overthrowing the sophistries of those who advance contrary opinions, and capable also of ensuring safety, and good order, and regularity to him who uses it.

### Section 126

[¶18] "Take for me," also the external sense, which lives and directs all its energies to the world, which is perceptible by it, that is, "a goat," three complete years old, enjoying solid strength in a perfect number, having beginning, middle, and end. Besides all these things, "a turtle dove and a pigeon," that is to say, divine and human wisdom, both of them being winged, and being animals accustomed to soar on high, still different from one another, as much as genus differs from species or a copy from the model;

### Section 127

[¶20] for divine wisdom is fond of lonely places, loving solitude, on account of the only God, whose possession she is; and this is called a turtle-dove, symbolically; but the other is quiet and tame, and gregarious, haunting the cities of men, and rejoicing in its abode among mortals, and so they liken her to a pigeon.

### Section 128

[¶22] Moses appears to me to have intended figuratively to represent these virtues when he calls the midwives of the Egyptians, Shiphrah and Puah, Exodus i. 15. for the name Shiphrah, being interpreted, means "a little bird," and Puah means "red." Now it is the especial property of divine wisdom, like a bird, to be always soaring on high; but it is the characteristic of human wisdom to study modesty and temperance, so as to blush at all objects which are worthy to cause a blush;

### Section 129

[¶24] and as a very manifest proof of this the scripture says, "He took for himself all these things." Genesis xv. 10 This is the praise of a virtuous man, who preserves the sacred deposit of those things which he has received, the soul, the outward sense, speech, divine wisdom, human knowledge, in a pure and guileless manner, not for himself, but only for him who has trusted him.