Favoritism And The Powers Of The Gods

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Favoritism and the Powers of the Gods

In ancient times, people believed that their lives would be significantly better off if the gods favored them. In the Aeneid, gods were battling with each other over who would control fate. Even the Bible shows us incidences of favoritism. In a society where everything is governed by the gods, the favor of a god bestowed upon a person was extremely important. In the sources, The Aeneid and The Bible, favoritism and the powers of the gods play crucial roles in determining the outcome of the stories.
While reading the Bible, one cannot help but notice the obvious cases of favoritism. In the story of Cain and Abel, the Lord God is portrayed as a supreme being, who demands that the highest respect be paid to Him. In receiving offerings from Cain and Abel, God expects that they would bring Him only the best they could give. He took it for granted that each of the boys would sacrifice anything to please Him. However, this wasn’t to be:
3 In the course of time
Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil, 4 while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best first- lings of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on
Cain and his offering he did not.
(Genesis 4:3-5)

This passage shows that by giving an offering that is deemed worthy, the favor of God will shine down. However, the opposite also holds true, that if one’s offering is only sub-par, then God will not look down upon you with favor, as is the case with Cain.
This idea is also portrayed in the story of Noah. The Lord God has seen that his beautiful creation has been corrupted, and decides that he will destroy all living things on Earth. However, God spares Noah and all of Noah’s descendants because, “Noah found this favor with the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). The Bible describes how Noah sought the approval of God. In the story it says he was, “a good man and blameless in that age, for he walked with God” (Genesis 6:9-10). God concludes to save Noah because he obeyed Him and became what God wanted him to be, without ever relinquishing his own convictions and personal identity.
The idea of favoritism in Roman literature is extremely popular. Never was this more apparent than in The Aeneid of Virgil.

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