Eupolemus (frg. 1) writes that Moses was the first wise man as well as
the first lawgiver and that he invented the alphabet and gave it to the Jews,
who then passed it down to the Phoenicians, who in turn taught it to the
Greeks. Aristobulus tries to explain some anthropomorphisms in the book
of Exodus, such as the expression “the hand of God” (frg. 2), and addresses
the issue of the date of the Passover (frg. 1).
A certain Ezekiel wrote a whole tragedy based on the story of the Exo-
dus, in which he recalls the events from Moses’s birth until the destruction
of the Egyptian army. Fragment 16 mentions the arrival of the Hebrews at
Elim (Exod. 15:27), and fragment 17 describes the extraordinary bird
known as the phoenix. The Wisdom of Solomon also deals at length with
the story of the exodus and the fate of the Egyptians, in order to demon-
strate the perfection of God’s justice.
Philo of Alexandria probably examined every verse of the book of Ex-
odus in hisQuestions and Answers on Exodus,most of which is now lost.
He also comments on the exodus in hisLife of Mosesand in several pas-
sages throughout his corpus. Josephus rewrites Exodus in theJewish Antiq-
uitiesand also deals with the historical accuracy of the biblical account in
his apologetic bookAgainst Apion,in which he tries to refute slanderous
accounts of the origins of the Jewish people.
To this list one may add theLetter of Aristeasand 3 Maccabees, insofar
as the biblical story of the exodus constitutes an implicit background for
both. However, apart from very limited references, the exodus is not ex-
plicitly dealt with in these two works, which are concerned with more re-
cent “historical” events.Writings Based on Other Biblical Books
The other books of the Torah — Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
— were apparently given much less attention, but this is probably a mis-
leading picture. The church fathers who quoted Jewish authors were not
interested in their interpretation of specific commandments but were
looking for testimonies about the patriarchs — hence their interest in pas-
sages from Genesis and the beginning of Exodus. However, the Wisdom of
Solomon (chap. 12) alludes to specific passages from Deuteronomy (and
perhaps from Joshua) that refer to the fate of the Canaanites. The works
that deal most extensively with Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are
Philo’sOn the Special Lawsand Josephus’sJewish Antiquities(3.208–4.331).233Early Jewish Literature Written in GreekEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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