Philo Judaeus, Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit, ed. Paul Wendland, 124

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[124] „ἰδοὺ“ γάρ φησιν „εἴληφα τοὺς Λευίτας ἀντὶ παντὸς πρωτοτόκου διανοίγοντος μήτραν παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ· λύτρα αὐτῶν ἔσονται“ (Num. 3, 12). οὐκοῦν λαμβάνομεν καὶ δίδομεν, ἀλλὰ κυρίως μὲν λαμβάνομεν, καταχρηστικῶς δὲ διδόναι λεγόμεθα δι’ ἃς αἰτίας εἶπον. εὐθυβόλως δὲ λύτρα ὠνόμασε τοὺς Λευίτας·
εἰς ἐλευθερίαν γὰρ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἐξαιρεῖται τὴν διάνοιαν ὡς τὸ πρόσφυγα καὶ ἱκέτην γενέσθαι θεοῦ. τοῦτο δ’ ἡ ἱερωμένη φυλὴ Λευιτῶν ἐπαγγέλλεται.

Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit. Philo Judaeus. ed. Paul Wendland. Germany. 2014.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit (Greek) (Philo Judaeus. Opera quae supersunt, Volume 3. Wendland, Paul, editor. Berlin: Reimer, 1898.)

Translations (1)

On the question, Who is the Heir of Divine Things First1KGreek (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 2. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.) — 124 focus

[124] "For behold," says he, "I have taken the Levites instead of all the first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; they shall be their ransom;" ¹ therefore we take and give, but we are said to take with strict accuracy, but it is only by a metaphorical abuse of the term that we are said to give, for the reasons which I have already mentioned. And it is very felicitously that he has called the Levites a ransom, for nothing so completely conducts the mind to freedom as its fleeing for refuge to and becoming a suppliant of God; and this is what the consecrated tribe of the Levites particularly professes to be.

Philo Judaeus Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit 124

ed. Paul Wendland

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