Compare:For if you do not see this with your eyes more than with your reason, you will not wash off all the imperfections and stains which you have imprinted on your whole life, partly in consequence of unexpected events, and partly by deliberate purpose; (260) for you will find that this exceeding accuracy of investigation into the animals, figuratively signifies the amelioration of your own disposition and conduct; for the law was not established for the sake of irrational animals (οὐ γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἀλόγων ὁ νόμος), but for that of those who have intellect and reason." So that the real object taken care of is not the condition of the victims sacrificed in order that they may have no blemish, but that of the sacrificers that they may not be defiled by any unlawful passion. [On the Special Laws 1. 260]
Adversus Marcionem 5For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us [1 Corinthians 9:9]
He had therefore no choice but to adduce that law of the Creator
which he was for abolishing: for he had no such law of his own
god. Thou shalt not, he says, muzzle the ox that is threshing, and adds,
Is God concerned about oxen ? Even about oxen is he kind, for men's
sake? Yes, for our sakes, he says, it is written. Consequently, as our
claim is, this is his proof that the law is allegorical, lending its
support to those who make their living out of the gospel, and that
therefore the preachers of the gospel belong to that same God
whose is the law which has made provision for them: this when
he says, Yes, for our sakes it is written.