Biblical Hermeneutics

PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN
exposition of the Tabernacle with its utensils, and of the high priest's vestments ("Ant." iii. 7,
§ 7), and his interpretation that the Holy of Holies means the heavens, the showbread means
the twelve months, and the candlestick means the seven planets, resemble Philo, but are
merely resemblances. Similar explanations are repeatedly given by the Midrash; and this kind
of symbolism was always a favorite in Palestine.
Philo.
All achievements of preceding allegorists, however, were far surpassed by Philo, the most
important representative of Jewish Alexandrianism. His philosophy furnished one foundationstone
to Christianity; his Allegorical Interpretation, in an even greater degree, contributed to
the Church's interpretation of the Old Testament; and strange to say neither his philosophy
nor his allegorism had the slightesteffect upon Judaism. Gfrörer has cleverly described Philo's
allegorical bent in saying, "It is madness, but there's a method in it" (Gfrörer, "Philo," i. 113).
Palestinian hermeneutics and Alexandrian allegorism are the two foundations upon which
Philo builds his system of Bible interpretation. He detects allegorical secrets in parallel
passages or duplicate expressions of Scripture, in apparently superfluous words, in particles,
adverbs, and the like. In view of the numerous peculiarities of Hebrew in this direction—they
are so prevalent that they may sometimes be detected even in the Septuagint translation—it
was a very easy matter for Philo to discover many such secret hints where none existed. In
addition to "rules" based upon the Palestinian Midrash, the Greek allegorists had set up an
extensive system of the symbolism of things and numbers; and of this also Philo made
considerable use. Thus the number one is God's number; two is division; five means the five
senses; and similarly all simple numbers up to ten, and some compound ones such as 12, 50,
70, 100, 120, have their allegorical significance. Animals and winged birds, creeping things
and swimming things, all have their symbolical import. Likewise, plants, stones, the heavenly
bodies, certain species of animals—in short, everything that is finite was an allegory of some
truth; this is one of the chief rules of Philo's allegorism.
But it must be noticed that Philo none the less protected the rights of the literal word,
without, however, being quite clear as to the proper relation of the written word to its
Allegorical Interpretation. By means of such hermeneutic principles Philo expounded almost
the whole Pentateuch in its historical as well as its legal portions. The following is an
illustration from Genesis: "God planted a garden in Eden [Gen. ii. 5 et seq.]: that means God
implants terrestrial virtue in the human race. The tree of life is that specific virtue which
some people call goodness. The river that 'went out of Eden' is also generic goodness. Its
four heads are the cardinal virtues; 'Pheison' is derived from the Greek φείδοµαι (I abstain)
and means 'prudence'; and, being an illustrious virtue, it is said 'to compass the whole land
of Havilah where there is gold.'" The name "Gihon" means "chest" (see Gen. R. on the
passage) and stands for courage, and it compasses Ethiopia, or humiliation. Tigris is
"temperance"; the name is connected with a tiger because it resolutely opposes desire.
Euphrates means "fertility" (Hebrew parah; see Gen. R.) and stands for "justice." In this way
the patriarchs, however, are allegorized away into mere abstractions ("De Allegoriis Legum,"
i. 19 et seq.; ed. Mangey, i. 56 et seq.).
Palestinian Allegorism.
As to Palestinian allegorism, it was too deeply rooted in historical Judaism to permit itself to
go to such extremes with the history as the Alexandrians, no matter how much it may have
chosen to allegorize the Law. Nothing exhibits the genuinely Jewish character of the
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