---
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: 11 of 25
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/11/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On the question, Who is the Heir of Divine Things, section 11. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/11/"
---

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

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

## 11. Section 130

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg015-yonge-ogl/11/#p-N

[¶0] After this the scripture proceeds to say, "And he divided them in the middle," not explaining who did so, in order that you may understand that it was the untaught God who divided them, Genesis xv. 9. Exodus i. 15. Genesis xv. 10 and that he divided all the natures of bodies and of things one after another, which appeared to be closely fitted together and united by his word, which cuts through everything; which being sharpened to the finest possible edge, never ceases dividing all the objects of the outward senses,

### Section 131

[¶2] and when it has gone through them all, and arrived at the things which are called atoms and indivisible, then again this divider begins from them to divide those things which may be contemplated by the speculations of reason into unspeakable and indescribable portions, and to "beat the gold into thin plates," Exodus xxxix. 3. like hairs, as Moses says, making them into one length without breadth, like unsubstantial lines.

### Section 132

[¶4] Each therefore of the three victims he divided in the midst, dividing the soul into the rational and the irrational part, speech into truth and falsehood, and the outward sense into imaginations which can be and which cannot be comprehended; and these divisions he immediately places exactly opposite to one another, that is, the rational part opposite to the irrational, truth to falsehood, what is comprehensible to what is incomprehensible, leaving the birds undivided; for it was impossible to divide the incorporeal and divine sciences into contrarieties at variance with one another.

### Section 133

[¶6] But as the discussion on the subject of a division into equal portions, and on that of opposite contrarieties, is of great extent and of necessary importance, we will not wholly pass it by, nor will we dwell on it with prolixity, but, investigating it as it is, we will be content with such things as seem suitable to the occasion. For as the Creator divided our soul and our limbs in the middle, so also, in the same manner, did he divide the essence of the universe when he made the world;

### Section 134

[¶8] for, having taken it, he began to divide it thus: in the first instance, he made two divisions, the heavy and the light, separating that which was thick from that which was more subtle. After that, he again made a second division of each, dividing the subtle part into air and fire, and the denser portion into water and earth; and, first of all, he laid down those elements, which are perceptible by the outward senses, to be, as it were, the foundations of the world which is perceptible by the outward senses.

### Section 135

[¶10] Again, he subdivided heavy and light Exodus xxxix. 3. according to other ideas, for he divided the light into cold and hot; and the cold he called air, and that which was hot by nature he called fire. The heavy, again, he divided into wet and dry; and the dry he called land, and the wet he called water—

### Section 136

[¶12] and each of these, again, received other further subdivisions; for the land was divided into continents and islands, and the water into sea and rivers, and all drinkable springs, and the air was divided into the solstices of summer and winter; fire, also, was divided into what is useful (but fire is a most insatiable and destructive thing), and also by a different division into what is saving; and this division was assigned for the conformation of the heaven.

### Section 137

[¶14] But as he divided the things when entire, so also did he divide the particular divisions, some of which were animated and others inanimate; and of those which were inanimate he made a division into those which always remain in the same place, the bond of which is habit, and those which move, not indeed in the way of changing their place, but so as to grow, which indescribable nature has vivified. Again of these, those which are of wild materials are productive of wild fruits, which are the food of brute beasts; but others producing good fruit, the cultivation of which has called forth diligent superintendence and care, and these produce fruit for the tamest of all animals, namely, for man, that he may enjoy them.

### Section 138

[¶16] And not only did he divide the inanimate things, and those which had received a soul and vitality in one manner—for of these he defined one species as that of irrational, and one as that of rational animals—but he also again subdivided each of these things, dividing the irrational into the wild and the tame species, and the rational into the mortal and the immortal.

### Section 139

[¶18] Again, of the mortals he made two divisions, one of which he called men, and the other women; and, in the same manner, he divided the irrational animals into male and female. And these things were also subjected to other necessary divisions, which made distinctions between them; winged animals being distinguished from terrestrial, terrestrial from aquatic creatures, and aquatic creatures, again, from both extremities.

### Section 140

[¶20] Thus God, having sharpened his own word, the divider of all things, divides the essence of the universe which is destitute of form, and destitute of all distinctive qualities, and the four elements of the world which were separated from this essence, and the plants and animals which were consolidated by means of these elements.

### Section 141

[¶22] But since Moses not only uses the expression, "he divided," but says further, "he divided in the midst," it is necessary to say a few words on the subject of equal divisions; for that which is divided skilfully just in the middle makes two equal divisions.

### Section 142

[¶24] And no man could ever possibly divide anything into two exactly equal parts; but it is inevitable that one of the divisions must fall a little short, or exceed a little, if not much, at all events by a small quantity, in every instance, which indeed escapes the perception of our outward senses which attend only to the larger and more tangible burdens of nature and custom, but which are unable to comprehend atoms and indivisible things.