Ecstasy and Exodus in the Interpretation of Philo of Alexandria and Lev Shestov

Abstract

The biblical tradition of Exodus and the philosophical tradition of ecstasy seem both incompatible and identical. The Greek “ecstasy” (ἔκστασις — “going out of oneself”) suggests possession, sacred madness, poetic or philosophical inspiration. In Plato and Plotinus, ecstasy belongs to the spiritual elite and is universal. On the contrary, the Exodus in the Bible is performed by a whole people — Israel. Ecstasy takes place outside of time, while Exodus belongs to meta-history. Yet there is certain commonality between these two ideas. Both ecstasy and Exodus imply an escape, a flight either from earthly things to heavenly or from bondage to freedom. Based on this commonality, Philo of Alexandria combined ecstasy with Exodus into a single discourse, using Greek colonial language. In the terms of ecstasy, he considered himself to be a citizen of a heavenly city. On Earth, he is just a foreigner striving for personal inspiration, for coming back to his fatherland, to the heaven. In the terms of Exodus, however, he is a colonist on Earth, a citizen of an earthly city, Alexandria. Alexandria is the fatherland of Alexandrian Jews, while Jerusalem is their metropolis. In the hour of trouble, he cares about his fellow citizens, the Jews. His ultimate goal is not the release of the spirit of its bodily prison, but the release of Israel from slavery. He hates the enemies of Israel, and cherishes the hope of revenge. By combining both concepts, Philo still did not overcome the conflict between them. His consciousness remains torn between Jewish and Hellenic, native and universal, human and superhuman. These contradictions were fully manifested in the mind of another «Alexandrian», the Russian philosopher with Jewish roots, Lev Shestov.