Complete Works of Philo Judaeus, Vol. 2

§. 20. This is why it is said that the son of Gaidad is Mehujael, whose name, when translated, is "from the life of God." Since the flock is irrational and God is the fountain of reason, it is necessary for the one living irrationally to be severed from the life of God. Moses defines living according to God as loving Him. For he says, "Your life is to love the Being" original: "Deut. 30, 20.". As an example of the opposite life, he sets forth the goat that missed its lot. "He shall place it," he says, "alive before the Lord, to make atonement over it, so as to send it away into the place of abandonment" original: "Lev. 16, 10.". This is examined most carefully. For just as a sensible person would not approve of old men abstaining from pleasures—because old age, that long and incurable disease, has slackened and loosened the tensions of the desires—he would deem those in the prime of life worthy of praise. Because, while desire is burning under the intensity of their age, they have acquired the corrective tools of education, the arguments of philosophy, and have relieved the great burning and boiling of the passions. Thus, for those in whom no disease is accustomed to arise from a wicked lifestyle, less praise follows, because they used good fortune without choice due to a natural gift. But for those in whom it is aroused and opposes them, greater praise follows, if, having struggled, they both desire and are able to overthrow it. For to have the strength to overthrow the lures of pleasure with a strict tension is a praise that holds for voluntary achievements. Since, therefore, none have obtained a happy lot, and these abandoned diseases and infirmities live within us, let us be zealous to overturn and cast them down. For to make atonement over them is to acknowledge that, although we have them living and surviving in the soul, we do not surrender. Instead, opposing all of them, we fight back firmly until we have completely sent them away.