Student Essay on Israelite and Greek Mythology

Israelite and Greek Mythology

Summary:   Both the Israelites and the Greeks believe that their Lord (for the Greeks, specifically all powerful Zeus) distributes retribution to those who disobey these moral rules of conduct. In both texts, these guidelines for judgment are crucial because they give formal validity to the punishments that each god distributes.

The Works and Days is a Greek myth containing an appropriated version of the Israelites Ten Commandments from The Bible. Throughout Works and Days, the myth constructs a virtually identical set of rules pertaining to moral conduct; all which, if disobey, are punishable by Zeus. Both the Israelites and the Greeks believe that their Lord (for the Greeks, specifically all powerful Zeus) distributes retribution to those who disobey these moral rules of conduct. In both texts, these guidelines for judgment are crucial because they give formal validity to the punishments that each god distributes. The similarities found are as a result of the Greek appropriation of the Israelites mythology, however, the differences and variations within the texts are essential in understanding the differences in their cultures. These differences include how the judgments were pronounced, what the consequences are, and who received retribution.

How the guidelines for retribution are described in The Bible and the Works and Days are in extremely different contexts. In The Bible, the Lord spoke these judgments: "And God spake all these words, saying...and keep my commandments" (The Bible, Exodus. 20. 1-7.). After the Lord had spoken these commandments to Moses, they were recorded on two stone tablets to share with the rest of the Israelite children. In contrast, the Works and Days myth appears to have a general audience. It is fair to say that The Works and Days was originally an oral myth giving advice to the audience. In contrast, The Bible is stated as a historical account.

The Greek mythology includes advice about things that one should do and things that one should not do. The mythology includes consequences as well as rewards:

As those who give straight judgments to visitors and to their own people and do not deviate from what is just, their community flourishes, and the people blooms in it. Peace I about the land, fostering the young, and wide-seeing Zeus never marks out grievous war as their portion (West, 43).

Within Works and Days, there is an equal amount of emphasis placed on the rewards as well as the consequences. However, within the book of "Exodus", there is an elaborate list of consequences attributed to certain actions and very few discussions about rewards for ones actions. It is therefore sufficient to say that the Israelites put more emphasis on punishing those who are deviant and the Greeks provide incentive to behave justly as well as include consequences for deviants. This reflects on the societies in which they live in because the Israelites were not ruled in a kingdom and therefore essentially responsible for their own individual actions. The Greek society is distinctly different. The Greeks are ruled in a kingdom and therefore are encouraged to behave responsibly on behalf of the king. In many Greek kingdoms, those who represented the king well were rewarded with trophies. These myths reflect how each are rewarded and punished for their actions within society.

In addition, within the Works and Days, there is no retribution for those who do not worship the Greek gods. Perhaps this is because the story is only directed at the Greeks themselves; in any case, this is an inherently distinguishing feature. In addition to constructing moral guidelines, the Ten Commandments, the Israelite mythology appears to be persuading unbelievers. The same persuasive tactic can not be found within Greek mythology. This difference is emphasized because the Israelite Lord is one god who demands devote worship. In "Exodus", amoungst the Ten Commandments the Lord states that "Thou salt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God" (The Bible, Exodus. 21.5). This is an important distinguishing concept between the Israelites mythology and the Greeks. Since the Greeks have so many different gods that are worshipped for different reasons, this leaves no room for Zeus to be jealous. In addition, Greek mythology can not allow Zeus to be jealous since he is ultimately justice itself. Works and Days states, "The eye of Zeus, that see everything and notices everything, observes even this situation if it chooses, and does not fail to perceive what kind of justice even this is that the community has within it" (West, 45). Therefore, the Greeks can not allow Zeus to be a jealous god since jealousy itself is unjust. The Irsraelites give their Lord permission to punish those that are un-believers by encorporating the Lord's jealousy into their Ten Commandments. This commandment reflects on the cultures desire to establish themselves as the only religion. Consequently, one can reflect on how the two cultures viewed their myths by looking at how these fundamental morals were told.

Regardless that the gods determined right verses wrong based on similar morals, the actions that resulted from these deviances were different. The Israelites mythology includes many incidences when the peoples were reprimanded by the Lord. Such incidences include the flooding of the earth (story of Noah's Ark) and the banishment of Adam and Eve from the garden. However, unlike the Greek gods, the Lord is capable of forgiveness: "I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy" (The Bible, Exodus. 33.19). The Lord of the Israelites shows mercy to the children of Israel when they are found worshipping the calf made from gold. In contrast, Zeus is merciless to those that defy his moral judgments. An example of this is:

Property is not for seizing: for better God-given. For if a man does seize wealth by force of his hands, or appropriates it by means of words--the sort of thing that often happens when profit deludes men's minds, and Shamelessness drives away Shame--the gods easily bring him low, and diminish that man's house, and it is but a short time that prosperity attends him (West, 46).

There are many other examples that all conclude that "Zeus himself is indignant, and in the end he imposes a harsh return for him unrighteous actions" (West, 46). These differences reflect on the different cultures themselves. The Israelites leave room for forgiveness in the myth, which leads one to believe that they left room for forgiveness in their society. However, their myth also reflects on the extremity of consequences that occur if not forgiven. There are many examples in the book of "Exodus" that discuss retribution if one is smitten to someone. One example states that "he that smitten a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death" (The Bible, Exodus. 21.12).

Each myth reflects on that of its own society. The Greeks believed that Zeus worked out his will while men were still mortal on the earth. They believed near immediate retribution was served. This belief explained negative things that happened to people in the natural world, for example, a bad crop season, stormy weather, etc. Although natural phenomena are also explained in the Israelite accounts, these explanatory retributions were told in advance from the Lord to a human. The Lord makes a covenant with a man and then continues to fulfill his will. However, in the Greek account, no covenants are formed between Zeus and those he seeks retribution against. Therefore, in the world of the Greeks, Zeus seeks retribution frequently in the form of natural disaster, where as the Israelites do not define every natural disaster as punishment.

Lastly, the two texts differentiate from each other in describing who receives retribution for the actions of one man. As stated above, the Greeks regarded their King and his empire with utmost importance and thought the empire was much more important than Israelites. The Greeks highest priority was the entirety of the city. Contrastingly, the Israelites importance was that of the individual himself. The degree of importance relating to this is very clearly defined in each mythology. The Works and Days states that: "Zeus, marks out retribution. Often a whole community together suffers in consequence of a bad man who does wrong and contrives evil" (West, 44). This clearly recognizes the Greeks importance of the entire city. The consequence of one person's actions is felt by the entire community. This type of judgment forms unity within a city and helps enforce the rule of the empire. The Israelites mythology however, is focused on the actions of the individuals. In the book of "Exodus", "the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book" (The Bible, Exodus. 32.33). In this context, the Lord is explaining that he shall only punish those who have done wrong. Unlike Zeus, the Lord will not punish the entire city, but only to those who deserve.

When comparing these two texts, the similarities are numerous. However, the differences between the texts speak enormous volumes. The fundamental morals that each culture has are the same, yet the way they are explained, enforced, and signified explain how each culture views itself.