One of the most surprising omissions in Philo’s retelling of Moses’s life in his De vita Moysis is the Sinai pericope. The Alexandrian omitted Exod 17:14-Num 20:13 with the exception of the spy story (Num 13:1-14:45). There appear to be three reasons for the omission. First, Philo recognized the doublet of the story of the water from the rock (Exod 17:1-7//Num 20:1-13). This provided a narrative rationale for the omission. Second, he routinely omitted place names from his narrative, an ars narrandi that helped to universalize the text. Third, the omission enabled him to avoid the association of Sinai with the covenant. Philo retold the story of Moses, but turned Moses outward into the larger world rather than inward to his own community.

中文翻译：

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雷鸣般的沉默：亚历山德里亚·菲洛的西奈半岛的遗漏

菲诺（Philo）重提摩西（Moses）生活中最令人惊讶的遗漏之一是西奈（Sinai pericope）。除了间谍故事（民13：1-14：45）外，亚历山大大帝省略了出埃及记17：14-民20:13。遗漏的原因似乎有三个。首先，菲洛（Philo）认识到岩石中水的故事是双重的（出埃及记17：1-7 //民数记20：1-13）。这为省略提供了叙述依据。其次，他经常从叙述中省略地名，而ars narrandi有助于使文字普遍化。第三，疏忽使他避免了西奈与盟约的联系。菲洛重述了摩西的故事，但是却使摩西向外发展成为一个更大的世界，而不是向内进入自己的社区。