quotes from the book Siphré: `Go and learn the merit of Messiah the King, and the reward of the
righteous from the first Adam, on whom was laid only one commandment of a prohibitive character, and
he transgressed it. See how many deaths were appointed on him, and on his generations, and on the
generations of his generations to the end of all generations. (Wünsche, Leiden d. Mess. p. 65, makes
here an unwarrantable addition, in his translation.) But which attribute (measuring?) is the greater - the
attribute of goodness or the attribute of punishment (retribution)? He answered, the attribute of
goodness is the greater, and the attribute of punishment the less. And Messiah the King, who was
chastened and suffered for the transgressors, as it is said, "He was wounded for our transgressions,"
and so on, how much more shall He justify (make righteous, by His merit) all generations; and this is
what is meant when it is written, "And Jehovah made to meet upon Him the sin of us all."' We have
rendered this passage as literally as possible, but we are bound to add that it is not found in any now
existing copy of Siphré.
61. Death is not considered an absolute evil. In short, all the various consequences which Rabbinical
writings ascribe to the sin of Adam may be designated either as physical, or, if mental, as amounting
only to detriment, loss, or imperfectness. These results had been partially counteracted by Abraham,
and would be fully removed by the Messiah. Neither Enoch nor Elijah had sinned, and accordingly they
did not die. Comp. generally, Hamburger, Geist d. Agada, pp. 81-84, and in regard to death as
connected with Adam, p. 85.
62. Ber. 61 a.
63. These are also hypostatised as Angels. Comp. Levy, Chald. Wörterb. p. 342 a; Neuhebr. Wörterb. p.
259, a, b.
64. Or with `two reins,' the one, advising to good, being at his right, the other, counselling evil, at his
left, according to Eccles. x. 2 (Ber. 61 a, towards the end of the page).
65. Sanh. 91 b.
66. In a sense its existence was necessary for the continuance of this world. The conflict between these
two impulses constituted the moral life of man.
67. The solitary exception here is 4 Esdras, where the Christian doctrine of original sin is most strongly
expressed, being evidently derived from New Testament teaching. Comp. especially 4 Esdras (our
Apocryphal 2 Esdras) vii. 46-53, and other passages. Wherein the hope of safety lay, appears in ch. ix.
Similarly, Philo regarded the soul of the child as `naked' (Adam and Eve), a sort of tabula
rasa, as wax which God would fain form and mould. But this state ceased when `affection'
presented itself to reason, and thus sensuous lust arose, which was the spring of all sin. The
grand task, then, was to get rid of the sensuous, and to rise to the spiritual. In this, the ethical
part of his system, Philo was most under the influence of Stoic philosophy. We might almost
say, it is no longer the Hebrew who Hellenises, but the Hellene who Hebraises. And yet it is
here also that the most ingenious and wide reaching allegorisms of Scripture are introduced. It is
scarcely possible to convey an idea of how brilliant this method becomes in the hands of Philo,
how universal its application, or how captivating it must have proved. Philo describes man's
state as, first one of sensuousness, but also of unrest, misery and unsatisfied longing. If persisted
in, it would end in complete spiritual insensibility.68 But from this state the soul must pass to one
of devotion to reason.69 This change might be accomplished in one of three ways: first, by study
- of which physical was the lowest; next, that which embraced the ordinary circle of knowledge;
and lastly, the highest, that of Divine philosophy. The second method was Askesis: discipline, or