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Exodus 14 describes Israel seeing the Egyptians dead on the shore. Philo interprets their death as the defeat of false teachings, with the Egyptians representing opponents who can no longer answer an argument.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 14:30
Hebrew Bible
27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state when the sun began to rise. Now the Egyptians were fleeing before it, but the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea—not so much as one of them survived! 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 30 So the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. 31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, they feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Philo On the Confusion of Tongues 36
Classical
35 When then, after having had recourse to every expedient of contentious doctrines, men are destroyed, being overwhelmed by the opposing violence of contrary arguments, then the wise man will very justly and suitably establish a most sacred chorus, and melodiously sing a triumphal song; 36 "For," says Moses, "Israel saw the Egyptians," not dead in any other place, but "on the bank (cheilos) of the River;" meaning here by death, not the separation of the soul from the body, but the impetuous onset of unholy doctrines and assertions, which men utter by the mouth, and tongue, and the other organs of speech. 37 But the death of speech is silence, not that silence which well-bred people cultivate, making it a symbol of modesty--for this silence is itself a faculty and a sister of that one which is developed in speech, arranging what is to be said with reference to time--but that silence which the sick and the weary against their will endure, on account of the strength of their antagonists, because they cannot find any handle to answer them;
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... In Conf. 36 the death of the Egyptians did not mean the separation of the
soul from the body, but the end of godless teaching and thoughts. [...] "For Israel, it says, saw the Egyptians dead on the edge of the sea - not elsewhere.
And when he says 'dead' he does not mean the death which is the separation of soul and
body, but the destruction of unholy doctrines and of the words which their mouth and
tongue and the other vocal organs gave them to use" (Conf. 36). ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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