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1. Jennifer M. Dines, The Septuagint (New York: T&T Clark, 2004) 65.
Borgen links Philo’s approach to the LXX with his eschatology (cf. De Vita Mosis 2.44). The Jews, Philo claims, are destined to become world-leaders not by force (he is perhaps thinking of the failed Jewish uprising following the death of Caligula in 41 CE, though he does not say so), but by their God-given laws—and the prosperity gained through keeping them—which will lead to universal conversion.
Did God expect all the nations to observe the Torah that he gave to Israel? In Life of Moses 2.44, the Hellenistic Jew Philo believes that God did, for Philo hoped that all the nations would recognize the wisdom of Israel’s law and join themselves to the Jewish people.
Overall, the view of rabbinic Judaism was quite different, for it held that Jews had to observe the entire Torah, whereas Gentiles only had to obey the seven Noachide commandments, which were against murder, idolatry, sexual immorality, eating blood, and other things. At the same time, there are times when rabbinic literature ascribes a universality to the Torah, asserting that it was the blueprint with which God created the universe, that God offered it to all the nations of the world (who rejected it) before he finally gave it to Israel, and that God revealed the Torah in a no-man’s land (the desert) so that no nation would be able to lay sole claim to it.
A professor of mine said that the rabbis didn’t believe Gentiles had to observe the Torah, but that they could still draw from its wisdom. This reminds me of a discussion I had a while back on the blog, “As Bereans Did,” under x-HWA’s post, “Common Legalist Arguments – Part IV”. The writers there believe that God only gave the law to Israel, as part of his covenant with that specific nation. That means God never intended the Gentiles to observe it. When I asked them to explain passages in which Paul appeals to the Torah as an authority (e.g., I Corinthians 9:9; Ephesians 6:2), Luc replied as follows: I am under the law of the USA which says murder is a crime; I’m not under the law of Great Britain, however its law says that murder is a crime also. I might reference the law of Great Britain as a valid example of a law that is civilized and facilitates an orderly humane society without being subject to it (because I live in the USA). For Luc (if I understand him correctly), even though Christians are not under the Old Testament law, they can still reference it because it contains good stuff, coming from God and all.
I think that God wanted the Gentiles to learn from Israel’s laws. Deuteronomy 4:6-8 states:
You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
At the same time, God didn’t expect the Gentiles to observe all of the laws that the Israelites kept. Deuteronomy 14:21 states: You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to aliens residing in your towns for them to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.
But could it be that God didn’t expect the Gentiles to obey the law then because Israel was his holy people, or the Gentiles did not have the same light that the Israelites did in that stage of God’s revelatory history? There are passages that suggest that Gentiles will one day observe institutions that are Israelite, such as the Sabbath (Isaiah 56; 66:23) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19). Was there an expectation among some prophets that the nations would convert to Judaism, the same view that Philo had centuries later?
Still, from a Christian perspective, Acts 15 appears to say that the Gentiles are not required to observe all of the Torah.
For an interesting take on this issue, see John Valade’s The Law, the Covenants, and the Lord Jesus.
2. Michael B. Trapp, “Philosophical Sermons: The ‘Dialexeis of Maximus of Tyre,” ANRW II.34.3, p. 1956.
According to Trapp, Maximus of Tyre (second century C.E.) had the following thoughts about prayer:
[M]oral worth, not prayer, determines the bestowal of blessings by the gods. [T]he factors governing the things men pray for are: Providence, Fate, Chance, Skill. Providence is unaffected by prayer. Fate is unaffected by prayer. Chance is unaffected by prayer. [P]rayer is superfluous to the workings of human skill. [P]etitionary prayer is superfluous in all circumstances. [T]rue (philosophical) prayer is of a different kind: witness Socrates and Pythagoras.
Maximus doesn’t appear to have that high of an opinion about prayer! Or, if he supports prayer, it isn’t the type that’s all about “gimme, gimme, gimme.”
Some of what he says overlaps with the Bible. The part about the gods blessing people on the basis of their morality rather than their prayers resembles the Bible’s declarations that God desires mercy and not sacrifice, which includes the prophetic condemnation of those who worship God while they have blood on their hands. Moreover, the Bible talks about knowing God, which may be similar to the philosophical prayer that Maximus likes.
But there are clear differences as well. Prayers in the Bible often ask God to intervene in the course of human events: to heal, to restore Israel, to deliver a person from his enemies, to give a barren woman a child, or to provide a person with food. Worship can exist without morality, for the prophets condemn the Israelites for that. But there’s also a sense in which prayer itself can be construed as moral: it’s an expression of our dependence on God, and it presents God with an opportunity to manifest himself and to glorify his name. There’s a certain humility that can accompany prayer.
Maximus says that the gods bless people for morality and not for prayer. I’m sure God likes it when people are moral, but would he want for people to bypass the relationship with him that’s developed and cultivated through prayer?
