Job and Adam

Paradise Lost presents the character of Adam as that close to the most perfect imaginable human being. Adam is presented to have very strong and attractive physical features, profound spiritually, and with mental proficiency. After God completed His work of creation, he put Adam the one in charge of all of God’s creations. Adam was given the responsibility of taking care and being the head of God’s creation because God had created him in a special and perfect manner (Langford 119). He stood out in the Garden of Eden because no other living thing would compare to him. Adam demonstrates a respectful character irrespective of the status of who he relates with.

Adam is obviously superior than Eve and other animals but he inferior to the Angels of God and to God Himself. He does not discriminate and he accords proper respect to the animals, Eve, plants Angels, and God in his graceful manners and speech. Adam converses with Eve in a very formal way. The conversation between then shows that Adam is more superior in the relationship than Eve though. Adam thinks that Eve is capable of preparing them a good meal and he trust her for it. By entrusting on Eve to prepare them a good meal does not indicate a dismissal but an acknowledgement that Eve is more talented and informed in the situation concerning food in the Garden of Eden that Adam.

This shows that Adam has a clear understanding of the responsibilities accorded to different people, plants, and animals towards one another and in the service of the world. Adam uses a similar tone during his conversation with Angel Raphael. The way he welcomes the angel is with grace and respect that indicate the superiority of Raphael as an Angel. He accords respect to Angel Raphael acknowledges that the Angel knows a lot about the heavens(Langford, 119). He spend time with the Angel with an aim of learning more about astronomy, the story of creation, and about the heavens. This search of knowledge is an indication that Adam was intellectually gifted and curious about why and how things happen. The tone in Adam speech changes after his fall.

He openly blames Eve and Eve blames him for the sin. Their relationship turns to become querulous. It is through the effort of Eve that reestablishes the proper initial relationship between Adam and Eve which rekindles the love Adam felt for his wife Eve. The relationship between Angel Raphael and Adam also shows some dynamics after the fall of Adam. This manifest the changes exerted to the relationship between Angels and man that resulted from sin(Langford, 119). Adam is characterized by anger, self-pity, self-doubt, and sullenness after the fall. Although the love Eve showed him played a part in bringing him back to the righteous path, the old perfect Adam was already gone and the current Adam was just ordinary and good.

The book of job present job as a blessed man based on how it impressively describes him. Job was blessed with a lot of physical possessions among them being a number of sons and daughters, camels, cattle, sheep, and servants. The people of his time highly regarded him mainly because of extraordinary riches. One can confidently say that job was perfect, not one who is free of sin because all men are sinners but, because he was spiritually whole and observed morality (Fiorello, 170). His perfection is manifested by his ability to control himself entirely and his integrity. Job was also a good man who felt pride from helping others.

He was quick to help those in need and did not discriminate them because he was rich.Job is also described as an upright and righteous man. He lived according to what the word of God expected of him. According to men, Job was a blameless and perfect man but according to God, he was upright and righteous. Job always did what would please God and not what would please man or his culture. The fact that job was a gentile did not stop him from obeying God. Gentiles were not among the God’s chosen people(Fiorello, 170). As a gentile, the Ten Commandments were not available for Job but he still knew what to do to please god.

This made him special and naturally upright. The book of job characterizes job with tremendous fear of God. This explains his righteous and blameless life that he led. In his undertaking, Job sought to honor God in everything. His respect for God was mainly because he feared what was likely to happen in the event where he failed to please God(Fiorello, 171). He was always doing the right thing because he knew that God was always watching him and he didn’t want to displease him in any way. As much as Job was a powerful and rich man he perfectly understood that he wouldn’t handle the wrath from God. He understood that god was just, holly and righteous, but He is also slow to anger. This is why Job was afraid of provoking God’s wrath.

In conclusion, the character of Job in the Book of Job and the character of Adam in Paradise Lost shows some connections from the discussion above. Both men are seen to be perfect in their distinctive situation. They are also favored of God: Job is given riches and is highly regarded by his community, Adam was created in the likeness of God and was given power and responsibility over all other creations.

Works Cited:

Langford, Larry L. “Adam and the Subversion of Paradise.” Studies in English Literature (Rice), vol. 34, no. 1, Winter 94, p. 119.

Fiorello, Michael D. “Aspects of Intimacy with God in the Book of Job.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, vol. 4, no. 2, Fall2011, pp. 155-184.

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