Philo's Jewish philosopher's manual of Mosaic law for commandments 3-5 (oaths, Sabbath, festivals) and honoring parents, with Greek philosophical commentary.
The Special Laws II is the second installment of Philo of Alexandria's systematic exposition of the laws of Moses, organized around the Ten Commandments. Having covered the first two commandments (against polytheism and idolatry) in the previous treatise, Philo here works through the third, fourth, and fifth: not taking God's name in vain, keeping the sacred seventh day, and honoring one's parents. For each commandment he first states the biblical principle, then works out its detailed legal ramifications (rules on oaths and vows, the Sabbath and the ten annual festivals, the sabbatical and jubilee years, debt-release and manumission of servants, land tenure and inheritance), and finally lists the death penalties attached to violation.
Philo's method throughout is to present Jewish law as fully compatible with, and often as anticipating, Greek philosophical ethics. Oaths are treated through a Stoic lens of self-mastery and truthfulness; the Sabbath is explained via Pythagorean number theory (the perfection of seven, its kinship with the decad) alongside a vivid account of the 'countless schoolrooms' where Jews gather on the seventh day to hear ethical teaching; the sabbatical and jubilee laws on debt-forgiveness, fallow land, and freeing servants are read as a coherent program of philanthropia (love of humanity) toward the poor, slaves, and resident aliens. He also allegorizes some laws, reading the vow regulations for virgins, wives, and widows as a symbol for the soul's relationship to right reason.
The treatise matters both as a primary witness to how an educated Alexandrian Jew synthesized Torah and Greek paideia around 20-50 CE, and for its social content: Philo's sustained attacks on abusive tax collectors, moneylenders charging interest, and masters who mistreat slaves are unusually concrete social criticism embedded in a legal commentary, and his description of Sabbath assemblies as places of moral instruction is an important source for early Jewish practice.
“For an oath is nothing other than God's testimony concerning a disputed matter; and to call upon God when the matter is not true is the most impious thing of all.”
— The Special Laws II · read this chapter →
“There are, then, ten festivals in number, which the law records. The first, which one might perhaps be surprised to hear, is every single day.”
— The Special Laws II · read this chapter →
“On the sabbath days, at any rate, countless schoolrooms of prudence, self-control, courage, justice, and the other virtues stand open in every city, in which some sit in order, in silence”
— The Special Laws II · read this chapter →
“For it happens that such people are called slaves, but in reality they are hired workers rendering service out of necessity, even if some threaten them ten thousand times with absolute mastery and lordship over them.”
— The Special Laws II · read this chapter →
“Root out, then, from your soul that treacherous evil, arrogance, and treat him as a hired worker, both giving and receiving in turn”
— The Special Laws II · read this chapter →
It is Philo of Alexandria's exposition of three of the Ten Commandments -- not swearing falsely by God's name, keeping the Sabbath and festivals, and honoring parents -- plus the detailed biblical laws that fall under each, such as vows, the sabbatical and jubilee years, and debt release. Philo explains both the literal legal content and its ethical and philosophical rationale.
He treats it as the 'world's birthday,' grounded in Pythagorean number theory about the perfection of seven, and also as a weekly occasion for philosophical and ethical instruction. He describes Jews gathering in 'schoolrooms' on the seventh day to hear teaching on virtue, not simply resting from labor.
He insists that Hebrew servants sold into service are by nature free people functioning as hired workers, not slaves, and repeatedly urges masters to treat them humanely, feed and clothe them properly, and not burden them beyond their strength, tying this to the sabbatical year's mandatory release of servants after six years.
He describes the fiftieth year as returning sold land to its original family, since 'the whole land is called a possession of God' and no allotted portion should be permanently lost, alongside continuing the release of debts and servants.
He argues natural affection between parents and children needs no commandment because nature instills it automatically, but fear must be commanded because it disciplines carelessness and wrongdoing that affection alone will not correct.
Yes. He sharply criticizes moneylenders who charge interest to the poor and tax collectors who abuse debtors, even accusing some of mistreating corpses to extort ransom from grieving families, contrasting this cruelty with the law's mandated compassion for the poor.
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