Sastra Bait Kedua Kejadian 2:19: Allegorical Interpretation, On the Change & The Midrash

[9] There are two species of this helper: the one has its sphere in the passions, the other in sense-perception. At present He will produce the former only, for he says, “And God moulded moreover out of the earth all the wild beasts of the field, and all the birds of the heaven, and led them to Adam, to see what he would call them: and whatever Adam called a living soul, this was its name” (Gen. 2:19). You see who are our helpers, the wild beasts, the soul’s passions: for after saying, “Let us make a helper corresponding to him,” he adds the words, “He moulded the wild beasts,” implying that the wild beasts are our helpers. These are not properly called our helpers,

§§ 16, 18. Having in 16 prepared the way for his interpretation of Gen. 2:19 by observing that τί = διὰ τί, “why,” Philo goes on to make καλεῖν = “invite,” “welcome,” to treat ψυχὴν ζῶσαν as predicative, putting ὡς before it in his paraphrase, practically to ignore αὐτό as an otiose accusative, πᾶν ὃ ἐὰν being the sufficient object of ἐκάλεσεν. The verse for him has to do, not with assigning names, but with proclaiming affinities. To welcome pleasure, desire, or cowardice as living souls is to proclaim affinity with them, and so to share their title or name.

The word “help” or “helper” suggests to him the created, later-born helpers given to the earthy man. These “wild beasts” are the senses and passions, such as desire, fear, anger, given to Mind (Gen. 2:19)—our helpers, but often our foes. (5 ff.)