KINGSHIP 97an indissoluble unit. But both think of the rulership of God as a union
of forceful rulership with "protecting care."^57 That is, the notion itself
seems to be peculiar to neither school, though Philo is expressing him
self in Pythagorean terms.
It seems to me to have been a favorite detail in discussing kingship to
bring out the fact that the king is quite independent of any of his sub
jects. Philo alludes to this kingly quality in two passages.^58
The notion of the king as Savior (oarnqp) does not appear in any of
Philo's stated descriptions of the kingly office, but was axiomatic with
him. In the section on the Roman emperor it will appear that Philo
knew and used that title,^59 while God as ruler is Savior and Benefactor
throughout his writings.^60 God's rule is always saving (ouT/iptac).^61
The human mind, when as king it rules with logos and honors law and
right, is a thing which saves (OGJTKJPIOV), while anarchy is a menace
(em'PouXov). Proper government always affects the salvation of the citi
zens.^62 In the kingship of the Patriarchs the notion is so blended with
their mystic saving power that the passages cannot be used for the phi
losophy of kingship without care. But it is at least significant that the
royal saving power could thus easily be given a mystical interpretation.
In using the notion that the king should be the official high-priest of
the realm Philo makes an interesting innovation. Diotogenes had stated
that the task of the ruler was three-fold: he must act as military leader
and as supreme judge, and he must worship the gods.^63 In his Life of
Moses Philo describes Moses as primarily the king, and makes the priest
hood a very important part of his function.^64 But in one place he makes
the surprising statement:
Nothing is more pleasant or distinguished than to serve God, which sur
passes even the greatest kingship; and the first kings seem to me to have been
at the same time chief priests, by which they made clear in a practical way
that those ruling over others must for themselves dutifully worship God.^65
- Cf. BGU, 372, i, 12 (Second Century after Christ): f| xov avxoxpaxoQog Jtepi Jtdvxac;
3cn8£|novia. - Plant., 51: PaaiAea ov&evoc; SsTaftai: cf. Frag. ap. Harris, Fragments, 104. Harris
compares this latter with the primitive Byzantine gnomon as restored by C. Wachsmuth: ftsoc;
8sixai ov8sv6g* aoqpdg 8s 8slxat \i6vov fteov. The king imitates God by being ohiYoSss'a in
Sthenidas, ap. Stobaeus, IV, vii, 63. - Flac., 74, 126; Legat., 22. 60. E.g., Opif., 169; LA, ii, 56.
- E.g., Conf., 98; Abr., 70; Jos., 149; Decal., 60, 155; Praem., 34.
- Jos., 149; Decal., 14. 63. Ap. Stobaeus, IV, vii, 61.
- See my By Light, Light, 189 ff.
- QE, ii, 105. Harris, Fragments, 68: ovSsv ovxs Ti8iov oirte 0*ey,v6xsQ0V %\ dsq) 8ov-