After reading the New and Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible it gives me the sense that the power and will of a God or Gods can impact and change our future, the way we think and operate daily, our behavior, attitude, etc. Also they have such great power that they can impact a whole nation and even the whole world. Also there is always a purpose in the way Gods work. As we can see in some of the past cases where for example in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible since the beginning when God created Adam and Eve basically from dust and as time went on they bore children, Cain and Abel, in which God knew their future already even before they were born. And we can see this repetition throughout the bible, where God has a purpose before they are even born. In this case we can see that God showed a dream to Rebekah telling her that she was going to have two children but the older one was going to serve the younger one. One last example from the Hebrew Bible is the story of Joseph son of Jacob, where he is born with an extraordinary talent of receiving dreams from God, in which leads him to be more successful than his jealous older brothers. In the New Testament God also sent his only son to earth in order to prove and to show the way and light of life. God again showed the Virgin Mary that although she was a virgin she was going to bring a perfect child to life so he can sacrifice his life to lead his people to follow the bible and stop all sins from continuing. Not only in the Hebrew Bible do we see that God have such great power to influence and change our future but also we can see it in the Epic of Gilgamesh where we have many Gods, and each play an important role. One example is when people complain about Gilgamesh being a ruler who does not treat his people well, Aruru (the Goddess of Creation) creates Enkidu, who is supposed to be the equal of Gilgamesh and be his companion. All these examples connect with each other in the way that a God or Gods have changed a person’s life where it is for a better or worst.
God in the Hebrew Bible shows us that he works in a mysterious way, as we can see in the case of Cain and Abel where Cain who was a farmer and Abel who was a Sheppard were tested by God to bring him a sacrifice and they would be blessed. But when God asked them for sacrifices in which Cain brought fruit from the ground and Abel brought fat portions from one of his first born animals, Cain did not receive the blessing from God. Instead, his younger brother Abel received this all, in which Cain ended up killing him in remorse for not being blessed by God. The verse “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor” (Genesis 4:4) shows us that the lord blesses who he knows has done right and will keep doing right. It angered him greatly, knowing the common idea that the eldest child receives all blessings and riches. This tragic story is later on told in other stories like in Beowulf, where Grendel a demon monster who haunts and kills innocent people is portrayed descendant from the ghost of Cain. Another example where God knew the future and their will was in the case of Jacob and Esau. Esau was the first born and his father’s favorite, however he did not receive the blessing he was expecting. Since Jacob the wiser one with help from his mother Rebekah, persuaded his father to grant him all of their blessings by disguising him like Esau and bringing him his favorite meal that he has asked Esau to do in order to bless him. But Isaac had nothing to do with whom he preferred because like the story of Cain and Able God knew the future for both of them already, as we can see the verse that God said to Rebekah and Isaac, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger”. In which God tells Rebekah the future of her children without them even being born. And more example of how God’s power works is in the case of Joseph and his journey where his brothers had such envy over him that they sold him. Years later, when there was insufficient food to eat Jacob sent his sons to the Pharaoh who had enough food for everyone since God gave Joseph the power to see dreams about the future and had told the Pharaoh about the insufficient food that was going to happen. Once the brothers got there they bowed at Joseph asking for food but did not recognize him when Joseph did recognize them and told them who he was. One very important verse that tells us again how God had everything planned already just like I explained in the stories of Cain and Abel and Esau and Joseph, is the following verse about a dream that Joseph had when he was young.” “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it” (Genesis 37:5). This verse as well as others from the bible confirms that God had everything planned already to bless one over the other because one will do more good than the other or because he wants to test the attitude of those that are not blessed and see if they still worship him.
In the new testament of the Hebrew Bible, we can see how God has such great power to send his only perfect son to earth through the Virgin Marie to save all his followers and make them realize that God is the only way to salvation. The verse “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17). We can see that God already has a purpose for all his follower and with his great power is able to pregnant the Virgin Mary to have his son. As Jesus is born he starts doing great miracles that are not humanly possible for example in John 2:1-11 he transforms water into wine. Throughout his life Jesus cures many sick people and does incredible miracles. He also advices his followers by speaking in parables in which only the wise would understand so that they could find the answer and not be given. As Jesus draws older he knows his time for his purpose of coming to earth is coming, in which he is set to be crucified so that all the sins of God’s followers would be gone and they can follow God’s word and reach salvation. After he is crucified, he resurrects and shows how great Gods power is since it is not humanly possible.
As we move to a different story and see how powerful Gods are we can see that in the epic of Gilgamesh we have many Gods who the citizens of Uruk praise to. Gilgamesh being one third human and two things divide has great powers that makes him want to show them off and have pride is what he accomplished. As time progressed the people of Uruk get tired and sick of Gilgamesh since all he cares is showing off his powers to get pride. That is when the God intervene and Aruru (the Goddess of Creation) creates Enkidu who is as strong as Gilgamesh to kind of calm Gilgamesh down. In the end they both end up being great partners and having great adventures where they defeat powerful figures like Humbaba or the Bull of Heaven and because of that the Gods yet again with their powers intervene and decide to kill Enkidu in which Gilgamesh is devastated. In this epic we see the role of the gods is probably a little more complex. Sometimes the gods intervene only indirectly. For example, rather than disciplining Gilgamesh for his exploitation of the young men and women of Uruk they create a double or counterpart to distract him from his objectionable behavior. And at other times the action is direct and drastic. After a bitter debate among the chief gods it is agreed that Enkidu must be put to death. Shamash sides with Gilgamesh and his friend but Enlil, the highest god, is adamant that one of the two must die for slaughtering Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. In which the Gods showed their great power again to do the best for their people.
After all these stories we now know who powerful Gods are and the mysterious ways in which they act upon humans.
