more or less by the philosophy of Alexandria. They adopted the
One of the great weaknesses of the interpretation of the Scribes is due to the fact that it exalted the Oral Law, which is, in the last analysis, identical with the inferences of the rabbis, as a necessary support of the Written Law, and finally used it as a means to set the Written Law aside. This gave rise to all manner of arbitrary interpretation. Notice the verdict of Christ in Mark 7:13.
Hillel was one of the greatest interpreters of the Jews. He left us seven rules of interpretation by which, at least in appearance, oral tradition could be deduced from the data of the Written Law. These rules, in their briefest form, are as follows: (a) light and heavy (that is, a minore ad majus, and vice versa); (b) "equivalence"; (c) deduction from special to general; (d) an inference from several passages; (e) inferences from the general to the special; (f) analogy from another passage; and (g) an inference from the context.
2. THE ALEXANDRIAN JEWS. Their interpretation was determined more or less by the philosophy of Alexandria. They adopted the fundamental principle of Plato that one should not believe anything that is unworthy of God. And whenever they found things in the Old Testament that did not agree with their philosophy and that offended their sense of propriety, they resorted to allegorical interpretations. Philo was the great master of this method of interpretation among the Jews. He did not altogether reject the literal sense of Scripture, but regarded it as a concession to the weak. For him, it was merely a symbol of far deeper things. The hidden meaning of Scripture was the all-important one. He, too, left us some principles of interpretation. "Negatively, he says that the literal sense must be excluded when anything is stated that is unworthy of God;—when otherwise a contradiction would be involved;—and when Scripture itself allegorizes. Positively, the text is to be allegorized, when expressions are doubled; when superfluous words are used; when there is a repetition of facts already known; when an expression is varied; when synonyms are employed; when a play of words is possible in any of its varieties; when words admit of a slight alteration; when the expression is unusual; when there is anything