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That’s the question posed in the ancient text known as The Midrash of Philo, specifically in fragment 22. A seemingly simple question, but one that unlocks a whole world of underst...
It’s a question that’s nagged at theologians and storytellers for centuries. Why does Moses, in the book of Genesis, specifically call out the serpent as being the craftiest of the...
It's easy to see him as just a sneaky snake, but Jewish tradition, especially in the writings we call midrash, often sees things on a deeper, symbolic level. Philo, the 1st-century...
Why on earth did the serpent twist God's words to Eve, claiming, "God has said, 'You shall not eat of every tree in the Garden'" (Genesis 3:1)? God actually said, "You may freely e...
We read it, we move on. But what if there's a whole universe of meaning packed into those few simple words? That's where midrash comes in. Midrash, from the Hebrew root darash, mea...
But in Jewish tradition, nothing is ever just simple. There's always a deeper layer, a hidden meaning waiting to be uncovered. So, why this order? The Midrash of Philo, a collectio...
The ancient Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria grappled with this very question. Philo, living in the 1st century CE, sought to reconcile Jewish scripture with Greek philosophy...
The Midrash of Philo – and when we say Midrash, we're talking about a way of interpreting scripture that fills in the gaps, making the stories speak to us today – offers a fascinat...
The Torah, in the story of Cain and Abel, grapples with this very question. Genesis 4:4 tells us that God respected Abel and his offering, but not Cain and his. But what's the mean...
