Philo's Moses

Moses,an important figure in Jewish history.Philo,a Jewish thinker of the Hellenistic world,spoke for the disadvantaged Judaism in his time and changed its status by bridging the gap between the Hebrew and Greek civilizations,thereby supplying rationality to the Jewish faith.Although Philo interpreted the Jewish scripture in terms of Greek philosophy,his works have strong patriarchal implications.Since Moses was maliciously ridiculed by Greek writers,Philo chose to reshape the image of Moses so as to vindicate his reputation and guarantee the development of Judaism.This thesis shows that in his "On the Life of Moses" Philo portrayed the image of Moses largely from the perspective of classical Greek philosophic understanding of virtues,or so to speak,Philo regarded Moses as a virtuous man of the highest rank.Our reading presents Moses' s characters and virtues through his different roles,such as king,lawgiver,prophet and priest,that Philo endowed him.Confronting with the conflict between the two traditions,Philo chose to absorb the Greek philosophical ideas that helped to enhance the status of Judaism with an open and inclusive attitude.Virtue was considered to be associated with social status in Greece in the era of Homer,and characterized by nobility.Since the emergence and development of democracy in ancient Greek,the idea of virtue in Greek thinking became changed.At this time,virtue is connected with human mind.In Socrates' s view,virtue is knowledge,whereas vice is due to ignorance.Plato elaborated Socrates' s claims on virtue in the realm of politics,that is,expanded the discussion of virtue on the level of the way of life of the community.Aristotle associated virtue with human happiness,and thought that moral and intellectual virtues are fundamental in leading a happy life.The mainstream ethical concept of the Stoic School,on the other hand,emphasized that human reason(logos)is one and the same logos of the universe,thus virtue,which is in accord with reason,is in agreement with Nature.This article mainly usesPlato,Aristotle,Stoicism and other ethical ideas in ancient Greek philosophy as a reference to illustrate that in "On the Life of Moses",Moses possessed the perfect virtue.The argument in this article shows that Moses portrayed by Philo not only possesses the most important "piety" in the Jewish faith,but also possesses the "four pivotal virtues" in Greek philosophy,namely wisdom,temperance,justice and courage.Although there is also a discussion of "godliness" in Plato's work and an emphasis on justice in the Hebrew Bible,it is undeniable that Philo highly integrated Greek philosophy with the ethics of the Bible when discussing Moses' virtue.Philo's communication in the two Greek cultures has become a model of cultural exchange in today's era.