The author of the following Treatises was, as the title by which he is generally known imports, of Jewish extraction, and a descendant of the sacerdotal tribe of Levi. He is spoken of by Josephus as one of the most eminent of his contemporary countrymen, and as the principal of the embassy which was sent…

The edition of reference is that of Leopald Cohn, Paulus Wendland and Siegfried Reiter, Philonis Alexandri opera quae supersunt, Berlin 1896–1915. It contains all the treatises in Greek (six volumes plus an index volume). The editors of Philo in the Loeb Classical Library (LCL), F.H. Colson, J.W. Earp, Ralph Marcus and G.H. Whitaker, sought mainly…

Samuel Sandmel’s “Philo of Alexandria: An Introduction” (Oxford, 1979), he says God, for Philo, was “to on,” (“being” or “that which exists”). God is unknowable. “The multifaceted capabilities of God, which we can know through reason, are summarizable in the divine Logos.” However, “at no time does Philo…ever define Logos”.Maren Niehoff, “Philo of Alexandria: An…

Other parallels:“Therefore the appellations already mentioned reveal the powers existing in the living God; for one title is that of Lord, according to which he governs; and the other is God, according to which he is beneficent. For which reason also, in the account of the creation of the world, according to the most holy…

James C. VanderKam writes:“Although many of Philo’s writings have survived, little is konwn about his life. We do not even know when he was born or when he died. The few facts about his life come from occasional hints in his own books and a small number of external references (e.g., Josephus mentions him). His…

Genetic evidence indicates it is highly likely, even if people don’t consider Samaritan communities’ self identification as “Samaritan Israelites” to be reliable:Estimation of genetic distances between the Samaritans and seven Jewish and three non-Jewish populations from Israel, as well as populations from Africa, Pakistan, Turkey, and Europe, revealed that the Samaritans were closely related to…

Hebrews 9:4 contains an apparent error regarding the placement of the golden altar of incense IN the Holy of Holies. William Lane’s World Biblical Commentary. Lane seems to argue that the error crops up due to the author of Hebrews using the Samaritan Pentateuch. Quotes:The location of the xpuoouv… Ouμlatń plov, “golden altar of incense,”…

The Samaritan version is that the Samaritans are the original Israelites (the “northern tribes”, although it was really the Judeans who usurped the name “Israel” from their northern kin) who have worshipped Yahweh since ancient times. This is probably close to the truth. Additionally, they believe the split happened when Eli left Shechem and established…

Charles H. H. Scobie, “The Origins and Development of Samaritan Christianity,” NTS 19(4) (1973), pp. 390-414, he covers all three most probable links in the New Testament with Samaritan Christians: Stephen’s speech as recorded in Acts, the Gospel of John’s “Galilee-Samaritan” circle, and the Epistle to the Hebrews’ audience.Regardless of whether Stephen’s speech as recorded…