volume 17, issue 1, 2025, pages 122-141

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsACYH9356
Published online: 2025-06-01
Published in print: 2025-06-30

Abstract: The paper discusses the exegetical afterlife of the verse Num 20:17 “We will go by the Royal Road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left”, which got separated from its immediate context and acquired a new meaning. Although in the biblical text the Israelites did not take the Royal Road to get to the Promised Land, in Greek allegorical exegesis – both Jewish and Christian – they are presented as taking it and safely passing through the kingdom of the enemy. The dominant interpretation of the verse was in moral way, often connected with the Aristotelian idea of virtue found in between two vices. There were several variants depending on the depiction of the road.