Philo of Alexandria · 1725 of 1726

Appendix 2 · From the same author, on Exod 24:17.

But he says that the appearance of the glory of the Lord is very like unto flame, or rather not that it is so, but that it appears like it to the beholders; since God shows what he chose to appear to be, in order to strike the beholders with amazement without in reality being what he appeared. Accordingly he brings him before the face of the children of Israel, affirming in the plainest language that it was an appearance as of flame, but not a real flame. But as flame consumes every material which is exposed to it, so also when the true conception of God once enters into the soul, it destroys all the heterodox reasonings of impiety, and purifies and sanctifies the whole mind.