ON THE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD’S CREATION GIVEN BY MOSES (DE OPIFICIO MUNDI)
ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION
A Book of Laws, says Philo, is fitly prefaced by a Cosmogony. The theme dealt with by a Cosmogony is, indeed, too lofty for adequate treatment. In Moses’ treatment of it, two salient points at once meet the eye. The world’s origin is ascribed to a Maker, who is Himself unoriginate, and who cares for what He has made.
By “six days” Moses does not indicate a space of time in which the world was made, but the principles of order and productivity which governed its making.
Before the emergence of the material world there existed, in the Divine Word or Reason, the incorporeal world, as the design of a city exists in the brain of the designer.
The efficient cause of the universe (we must remember) is Goodness; and Goodness, to be attained by it as its capacity permits, is its final cause.
The incorporeal world may be described as “the Word of God engaged in the act of creating.” And the Word is the Image of God. In that, man (the part), and therefore the universe (the whole) was created.
“In the beginning” means for Philo the precedence of the incorporeal heaven and invisible earth. The pre-eminence of Life-breath and Light are shown, he says, by the one being called “the Spirit of God,” and the other pronounced “good” or “beautiful.” He sees darkness severed from light by the barrier of twilight; and the birth of Time on “Day One.” Philo strangely infers that a whole day was devoted to the creation of the visible heaven from the mention of a “second day” after that creation. Land and sea are then formed by the briny water being withdrawn from the sponge-like earth and the fresh water left in it; and the land is bidden to bring forth trees and plants. It is bidden to do so before sun and moon are made, that men may not attribute its fruitfulness to these.
Coming now to the work of the fourth day, Philo brings out the significance of the number 4, and points to the boons conferred on body and mind by Light, which has given rise to philosophy by drawing man’s vision upward to the heavenly bodies. He sees the purposes of these in their giving light, foreshowing coming events, marking the seasons, and measuring time.
The fifth day is fitly given to the creation of creatures endowed with five senses.
In connexion with the creation of man, Philo points out (a) the beauty of the sequence, ascending (in living things) from lowest to highest; (b) the reference, not to body, but to mind, in the words “after our image”; (c) the implication of exactness in the addition “after our likeness”; (d) the cooperation of other agents implied in “let us make,” such co-operation accounting (so Philo suggests) for the possibility of sin; (e) four reasons for man coming last, viz.—
(1) that he might find all ready for him;
(2) that he might use God’s gifts as such;
(3) that Man, a miniature Heaven, might correspond to the Heaven whose creation came first;
(4) that his sudden appearance might over-awe the beasts.
His place in the series is no sign of inferiority.
Turning to the Seventh Day, Philo notes its dignity, and enlarges on the properties of the number 7, (a) in things incorporeal (89–100); (b) in the material creation: (α) the heavenly bodies (101 f.); (β) the stages of man’s growth (103–105); (γ) as 3+4 (106); (δ) in the progressions (107–110); (ε) in all visible existence (111–116); (ζ) in man, and all that he sees (117–121) and experiences (121–125); (η) in grammar and music (126 f.).
After speaking of the honour paid by Moses to the number 7, Philo, treating Gen. 2:4 f. as a concluding summary, claims it as a proof that Gen. 1 records a creation of incorporeal ideas. After a disquisition on the subject of fresh water, to which he is led by Gen. 2:6, he goes on to deal with the earth-born man (Gen. 2:7), whom he distinguishes from the man made after God’s image. The being of the former is composite, earthly substance and Divine Breath. Proofs and an illustration are given of his surpassing excellence. The title of “the only world-citizen” is claimed for him, and its significance brought out. His physical excellence can be guessed from the faint traces of it found in his posterity. It is to call out his intelligence that he is required to name the animals. Woman is the occasion of his deterioration.
The Garden, the Serpent, the Fall and its consequences are dealt with in §§ 153–169. The Garden, we are told, represents the dominant power of the soul, and the Serpent represents Pleasure, and is eminently fitted to do so. His use of a human voice is considered. The praise of the “snake-fighter” in Lev. 11:22 is referred to. Stress is laid on the fact that Pleasure assails the man through the woman. The effects of the Fall on the woman and on the man are traced.
The treatise ends with a short summary of the lessons of the Cosmogony. These are:
(1) the eternal existence of God (as against atheism);
(2) the unity of God (as against polytheism);
(3) the non-eternity of the world;
(4) the unity of the world;
(5) the Providence of God.