It will be seen from this classification of Philo’s works, that he has dealt in several ways with the Biblical material.  The reason of this is partly that his mind developed, and the interpretation of his maturer years differed widely from that of his earliest writings.  Partly, however, it arises from the fact that the different treatments were meant for different audiences, and Philo always took the measure of those whom he was addressing.  His most representative works are “a triple cord” with which he binds the Jewish Scripture to Greek culture.  For the Greek-speaking populace he set out a broad statement of the Mosaic law; for the cultured community of Alexandria, Jew and Gentile, a more elaborate exegesis, in which each character and each ordinance of the Pentateuch received a particular ethical value; and, finally, for the esoteric circle of Hellenic-Jewish philosophers, a theological and psychological study of the allegories of the law.  Origen, the first great Christian exegete of the Bible and a close student of the Philonic writings, distinguished three forms of interpreting:  the historical, the moral, and the philosophical; he probably took the distinction from Philo, who exemplifies it in his commentaries upon the Books of Moses.

Varied as is its scope, the religious idea dominates all his work, and endows it with one spirit.  Whether he is writing philosophical, ethical, or mystical commentary, whether history, apology, or essay, his purpose is to assert the true notion of the one God, and the Divine excellence of God’s revelation to His chosen people.  Thus he regards history as a theodicy, vindicating the ways of God to man, and His special providence for Israel; philosophy as the inner meaning of the Scriptures, revealed by God in mystic communion with His holy prophets,[85] and, if comprehended aright, able to lead us on to a true conception of His Divine being.  The greater part of the Hellenistic-Jewish literature has disappeared, but Philo sums up for us the whole of the Alexandrian development of Judaism.  He represents it worthily in both its main aspects:  the infusion of Greek culture into the Jewish pursuit of righteousness, and the recommendation of Jewish monotheism and the Torah to the Greek world.  Aristaeus, Aristobulus, and Artapanus are hardly more than names, but their spirit is inherited and glorified in Philo-Judaeus.  His work, therefore, is more than the expression of one great mind; it is the record and expression of a great culture.

The chronology of Philo’s writings is as uncertain as the chronology of his life.  Yet it is possible to trace a deepening of outlook and an increasing originality, if we work our way up from the sixth to the first division of the classification.  It does not follow that the works were written in this order—­and it may well be that Philo was producing at one and the same time books of several classes—­but we may use this order as an ideal scale by which to mark off the stages of his