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Philo of Alexandria, Who is the Heir of Divine Things? 20 (96):
These words indicate not only a promise but also the confirmation of an old promise. The good bestowed in the past was his departure from Chaldean sky-lore, which taught the creed that the world was not God’s work, but itself God, and that to all existing things the vicissitudes of better and worse are reckoned by the course and ordered revolutions of the stars, and that on these depends the birth of good and ill. The even tenour, the uniformly ordered motion of the heavenly bodies have induced weak-minded people to adopt this fantastic creed. Indeed, the name Chaldean when interpreted corresponds to even tenour or levelness. The new good gift is inheritance of the wisdom which cannot be received by sense, but is apprehended by a wholly pure and clear mind. Through this wisdom the best of all migrations becomes an established fact, the migration of the soul which passes from astrology to real nature study, from insecure conjecture to firm apprehension, and to give it its truest expression, from the created to the uncreated, from the world to its Maker and Father. Thus, the oracles tell us that those whose views are of the Chaldean type have put their trust in heaven, while he who has migrated from his home has given his trust to Him who rides on the heaven and guides the chariot of the whole world, even God. Excellent indeed is this heritage, too great it may be for the powers of the recipient, but worthy of the greatness of the Giver.
Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Philo of Alexandria, Who is the Heir of Divine Things? 20 (96)
Bibliography
| Colson and Whitaker 1958, IV 328-331 | Colson, F. H. and G. H. Whitaker. Philo. 10 Vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, London: Heinemann 1958. |
Links (external links will open in a new browser window)
Genesis 15:7
Amar Annus
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