y to marriage with the Canaanite
tribes, and unions with other Gentiles were permitted.[298] Philo
recognizes how dangerous such unions are for the cause which he had so
dearly at heart, the spreading of Judaism. "Even," says he, "if you
yourself remain true to your religion through the influence of the
excellent instruction of your parents, yet there is no small danger
that your children by such a marriage may be beguiled away by bad
customs to unlearn the true religion of the one only God."[299]
Throughout, Philo is true to the mission of Israel in its highest
sense. That mission is not assimilation, and it is to be brought about
by no easy method of mixing with the surrounding people. It can be
effected only by holding up the Torah in its purity as a light to the
nations, and by offering them examples of life according to the law.

Of the special ordinances for Sabbaths and festivals Philo mentions
only those consecrated by the Biblical law or ancient tradition, which
probably were the only ones settled in his day. He lays down the
prohibition to kindle fire,[300] to make or return deposits, or to
plead in the law courts on the Sabbath; he speaks of the reading of
the Haggadah and Hallel on the night of Passover, of the bringing of a
barley cake during the 'Omer and of the first fruits to the Temple on
the Feast of Weeks, of the Shofar at New Year, and of the Sukkah, but
not of the Lulab at Tabernacles. It should be remembered that the
Halakah was not consolidated till the second or third century, and in
Philo's time it was in the process of formation by different schools
of rabbis. But the passage quoted in an earlier chapter, about adding
to the law, proves his reverence for the oral law.[301]

Though his statement of the civil and religious law is of great
interest to the student of Halakic development, Philo's work presents
greater correspondence, on the whole, with the Haggadah, which in a
primitive way draws philosophical and ethical lessons from the Bible
narrative. It is a free interpretation of the Scriptures, the
expression of the individual moralist; it loves to point a moral and
adorn a tale, and in many cases it is in agreement with the
Hellenistic school. To take a few typical examples: An early
interpretation explains the story of the Brazen Serpent, as Philo
does,[302] to mean that as long as Israel are looking upward to the
Father in Heaven they will live, but when they cease to do so they
will die