Good Example Of God In Genesis And Odyssey Essay

In Genesis and Odyssey, there are several instances when the gods get angry at another god and to mortals. These must be the act of the gods in bringing divine justice for those who deserved to be punished. The fairness of god in both the two literature showed the fairness or unfairness of the gods in dealing with those who committed wrong. The fairness is perceived in a way that most of the punishment was inflicted upon the specific individual who chose to disobey, though there are instances when god inflicted penalty to the entire population. There are instances too, especially on the Odyssey where the gods fell like mortals in their anger succumb to their power and

Odyssey

When Odysseus blinded the son of Poseidon, the latter became angry and promised to make the former suffer from his transgression. The flow of the epic depicted Odysseus blinding the son of Poseidon and insulted him before his escape. Poseidon was very angry and as no one can appease his anger he made a resolve to punish Odysseus. In this case of the epic, the god has every right to be angry at Odysseus. Though he can be justified for defending himself against the man- eating Polyphemos, it is unforgivable for a mortal to hurl insult to the gods. The thing here is the gods in this epic were not a forgiving and loving god. His son is a man-eater so that despite the Odysseus having clarified that they are Greeks who were blown off course on their way home from Troy and further explained that Cyclopes “extend hospitality or suffer the wrath of Zeus, protector of guests” (Book 9), they were answered with scorn that they are more powerful than Zeus.
Accordingly the god as portrayed in the Odyssey epic seemed to be full of human like characteristics. When Poseidon acted against Odysseus it was a form of revenge for the transgression made to his son, not a form of disciplinary measure to the mortals. Consequently, the mortals in this epic should have learned to distance themselves from the divine forces because angering or meddling with the business of these gods proved to be chaotic as exemplified by what happened to Odysseus after blinding and insulting Polyphemos. The gods in this epic should have interacted with the mortals with clear and concise rules, not allowing a close contact between them. More importantly, the gods should have never interacted with the mortals in near proximity as the mortals may found out their weaknesses. In the Odyssey, the balance of power is slightly tilted to the mortal, despite the gods being powerful there are other gods who can reverse the curse given to man. For instance, when Poseidon sent a storm to destroy the raft, a sea goddess helped Odysseus until he finally reached land. The epic showed how the mortals can have power on the gods, revealing the weaknesses of the gods.

Genesis

In Genesis, God had been angry a number of times due to the transgression made by man. For instance, Adam and Eve defied his authority by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. This and other wrongdoings of man had caused God to be angry and inflict punishment to the people. The anger can be perceived by some as a blemish to the divine character of God in Genesis as the wrath is not consistent with the goodness of the God as described in the Chapter.
The thing is God in Genesis is not at all ashamed to show that he has the power for vengeance and that he can get angry about matters that depict a clear trespassing of his authority. In genesis chapter 6 it read: “Therefore the Lord said, I will destroy from the earth the man, who, I have created, from man to beast, to the creeping thing, and the fowl of the heaven, for I repent that I have made them” (Genesis 6:7). Despite loving his creation, God finds it unwise not to punish the people as they have become evil doers, far from the creation that God had wanted them to be. In fact, his sorrow of having to inflict severe punishment to the people was much more than the wrath he felt towards them. He had grieved at what had become of man who brought so much delight in him during the first days of creation.
The God in Genesis is an understanding God, intent only to impose punishment because of too much evilness of man: “When the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually” (Genesis 6:7). The remorseful reaction of the Creator to human transgressions presents the fact that human beings have effectively struggled against the will of God for all His creation. For instance, the flood during Noah’s time was not the plan of god but a divine answer to the wrongdoings of man and the disastrous effects on the world created by God.
In Genesis, though God was depicted as all powerful, he did not rejoice in inflicting punishment to the people. Rather, he felt pain and sorrow over what transpired to the people and especially when He saw their suffering.
Accordingly, God in Genesis is not precluded from feeling ager, grief and pain. Man can see that these feelings are divine emotions, and in the case of Noah’s time, resulted to the verdict to destroy all living things through the flood. His Godly compassion, however, made Him instruct Noah to build an ark that can save those who believe on the coming of the great flood. Man must learn that the anger of God is always incited by wrongdoings, and would come after warning the people as seen during the time of Noah. In addition to that, the divine anger in Genesis is portrayed as different from the anger of man, as God is always slow to anger, in contrast to that of man’s which is often impulsive.
In Genesis, man is never in control or given power over God or His plans. He was created to take over the creation of God, and to obey His will in the process. His attempt to become more powerful than God caused not only his downfall, but also of angering God in the process. The book of Genesis revealed that Eve did not trust God enough to obey His words as she gave in to the temptation of the serpent that was supposed to be ruled by man.

References

The first Book of Moses Called Genesis. Retrieved from www.genevabible.org
The Odyssey of Homer. London: George Bell and Sons, York Street covent Garden. 1891. Retrieved from https://www.stmarys-ca-edu