Allegorical Interpretation
Philo of Alexandria
Book 1 · Section 16
About this work
An allegorical reading of Genesis in which Adam, Eve, and the garden become figures for the mind, the senses, and moral life. Philo brings Jewish scriptural interpretation into conversation with Greek philosophy.
- Author
- Philo of Alexandria
- Date
- First century AD; dates vary by treatise
- Genre
- Theological Treatise
- Textual language
- Greek
- Translator
- C. D. Yonge
- Translation / Edition
- C. D. Yonge translation, first published 1854.
VI. (16) "Accordingly, on the seventh day, God caused to rest from all his works which he had Made." Now, the meaning of this sentence is something of this kind. God ceases from forming the races of mortal creatures when he begins to create the divine races, which are akin to the nature of the number seven. And the reference which is here contained to their moral character is of the following nature. When that reason which is holy in accordance with the number seven has entered into the soul the number six is then arrested, and all the mortal things which this number appears to make.