03_Wilson_201_221_201_221 10/07/15 12:41 Pagina 221 221 MATTHEW, PHILO, AND MERCY FOR ANIMALS (MATT 12,9-14) 221 ing more broadly on the responsibilities that human beings have to one another. While Philo interprets laws about the treatment of an- imals in terms of their implications for the treatment of people, Matthew addresses a legal question about the treatment of people with an illustration about the treatment of animals. For the latter, the merciful treatment of animals is presented not as a stipulation of the Law but as a matter of convention. In this regard it is similar to texts such as Plutarch, Cato 5.5, where the practice of extending kindness to animals is presented as a type of training in humanity that contributes to the moral formation of its observers. Candler School of Theology Walter T. WILSON Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 U.S.A. SUMMARY After comparing Matt 12,11-12 with its synoptic parallels (Mark 3,4; Luke 13,15-16; 14,5) and with texts that discuss the treatment of animals on the Sabbath (e.g., CD 11.13-14), the passage is compared with Philonic texts (Spec. 2.89; 4.218; Virt. 81, 133, 139-140, 160; cf. Plutarch, Cato 5.5; Esu carn. 996A; Iamblichus, Vit. Pythag. 30.186; Porphyry, Abst. 3.26.6) in which the Alexandrian discerns a principle informing a law that refers to the treatment of animals, and then suggests that the principle ap- plies by analogy to the treatment of people, illuminating the principle with reference to mercy and similar concepts.