Complete Works of Philo Judaeus, Vol. 2

to the honor of the one who calls, saying that he prays to Him; he presents the continuous, successive, and inseparable nature of the harmony and union that comes through intimacy. Such are the things he exhorts others to do; but he himself is so unceasingly desirous of seeing, and of being seen by Him, that he entreats Him to reveal His own nature, which is difficult to conjecture, clearly, so that, having finally partaken of true opinion, he may exchange uncertain hesitation for the most certain faith. And intensifying his desire, he will not relax, but even knowing that he loves a thing that is hard to capture, or rather, impossible to reach, he will nevertheless strive, relaxing nothing of his intense zeal, but using everything at his disposal for the sake of obtaining it, without pretext and without hesitation.

229 M. §. 5. Indeed, he will even enter into the "gloom where God was" original: "Exod. 20, 21.", that is, into the secret and invisible concepts concerning the Existent. For the Cause is not in time, nor in place at all, but above both place and time. For having made all created things subject to Himself, He is contained by nothing, but is exalted above all. And being exalted and existing outside of what has been created, He has nonetheless filled the world with Himself; for He has extended through power to the very ends, and has woven each thing to the other according to the laws of harmony. Whenever, therefore, a soul that loves God seeks what the Existent is according to its essence, it enters into an invisible and unseen search; from which the greatest good results for it, to grasp that the God who is according to being is incomprehensible to all, and to see this very thing, that He is invisible. And it seems to me that even before beginning this consideration, the hierophant revealer of sacred things understood its greatest aspect, from the fact that he entreats the Existent Himself to become the announcer and guide of His own nature. For he says, "Show me Yourself" original: "Exod. 33, 13.", showing most clearly through this that not one of the created things is capable of being taught by itself about God according to being.