Philo's Greek biography of Moses as king: his Egyptian upbringing, call at the burning bush, the plagues, and the conquest campaigns east of the Jordan.
On the Life of Moses I is the first of Philo of Alexandria's two-part biography of Moses, written for a Greco-Roman audience largely unfamiliar with Jewish tradition. Philo explicitly frames Moses as a subject worthy of Greek biographical treatment - 'the greatest and most perfect' of men - and structures the account around Moses's four roles: king, lawgiver, priest, and prophet. Book I covers the first of these, his kingship, tracing his life from his Chaldean ancestry and Egyptian royal upbringing through his exile in Arabia, his marriage to a priest's daughter after defending her sisters at a well, the vision of the burning bush, his return to confront Pharaoh, the ten plagues, and the wilderness campaigns that culminate in the negotiated settlement of the tribes of Reuben and Gad east of the Jordan.
Philo tells this largely as narrative history in the Greek biographical mode, but he continually supplies philosophical and allegorical readings alongside the events: the burning bush that is not consumed becomes a symbol of the Jewish nation's endurance under Egyptian oppression, the ten plagues are organized according to the four physical elements (earth, water, air, fire), and Moses's early self-mastery over bodily appetites is presented as proof of a Stoic-inflected ideal of the philosopher-king. Even ordinary narrative details, such as the naming of Moses from the Egyptian word for water, are given etymological and providential significance.
The work matters as the earliest surviving full-scale attempt to present a biblical figure to pagan Greco-Roman readers in the terms of classical political philosophy - a king judged by self-control, justice, and care for his people rather than by conquest or birth. It also preserves distinctively Alexandrian Jewish theology, notably God's self-disclosure to Moses as 'He Who Is,' to whom 'no name at all can properly be used,' anticipating later philosophical and Christian discussions of divine namelessness.
“I have resolved to write the life of Moses, whom some call the lawgiver of the Jews, others the interpreter of sacred laws—a man in every way the greatest and most perfect”
— On the Life of Moses I · read this chapter →
“Then she gave him the name Moses, fittingly, because she had drawn him out of the water; for the Egyptians call water "mou."”
— On the Life of Moses I · read this chapter →
“Tell them first that I am He Who Is, so that, learning the difference between what exists and what does not exist, they may also be further taught that no name at all can properly be used of me”
— On the Life of Moses I · read this chapter →
“For the burning thornbush was a symbol of those who suffer wrong, and the blazing fire a symbol of those who do the wrong, while the fact that what was burning was not consumed signified that those who suffer injustice would not be destroyed by their assailants”
— On the Life of Moses I · read this chapter →
“Ten punishments are brought upon the land, a perfect number of chastisement against those who had sinned perfectly; and the punishment was unlike customary ones”
— On the Life of Moses I · read this chapter →
It is the first half of Philo of Alexandria's biography of Moses, covering his role as king: his Egyptian upbringing, exile in Arabia, the burning bush, the confrontation with Pharaoh, the ten plagues, and the wilderness campaigns east of the Jordan. Philo writes it for Greek and Roman readers unfamiliar with Jewish scripture, presenting Moses in the mold of a classical philosopher-king.
When Moses asks what name he should give the people who sent him, God answers 'I am He Who Is,' and Philo explains that this teaches that no name can properly apply to the one being to whom existence itself belongs. It is one of the earliest philosophical treatments of divine namelessness grounded in the Exodus narrative.
Philo reads the bush - weak, thorny, ablaze yet unconsumed - as a symbol of the Jewish nation under Egyptian oppression: something that appears powerless yet cannot be destroyed by its persecutors. The fire itself represents those doing the wrong, whose violence will prove ultimately ineffective.
Philo assigns the plagues to the four elements the Egyptians most revered - earth, water, air, and fire - with Moses's brother administering the earth and water plagues and Moses the air and fire plagues, God reserving the final three for himself. This structure fits Philo's broader argument that God's judgments are shaped precisely to instruct the people being punished.
As a young man raised in Pharaoh's household, Moses masters his own bodily appetites, defends shepherd girls from bullying rivals at a well, marries a priest's daughter, and receives his call at the burning bush while tending flocks in exile - all framed by Philo as training in self-government before he governs others.
Philo (c. 20 BCE-50 CE) was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher writing in Greek in Alexandria, who interpreted Jewish scripture through the lens of Greek philosophy, especially Platonism and Stoicism. On the Life of Moses is one of his most accessible works, aimed at explaining Moses to a non-Jewish, Greek-educated audience.
Allegorical Interpretation I · Allegorical Interpretation II · Allegorical Interpretation III · Every Good Man is Free · Flaccus · On Abraham · On Dreams · On Drunkenness · On Flight and Finding · On Husbandry · On Joseph · On Mating / Preliminary Studies