The Role Of Moses In The Odyssey

In the book, The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus was a military leader, father and a husband. There are many different aspects of Odysseus’ life that can be viewed as a similarity to a biblical perspective. When looking at Odysseus as a leader and comparing his similarity to Moses in the bible we can see Odysseus role as a military leader. His patience, loyalty and perseverance are also areas that will be covered in this paper to uncover Odysseus’ character. When recalling Odysseys’ story it is easy to compare the leadership limits that Odysseus and Moses of the bible had to overcome. Moses and Odysseus both had to overcome a personal limitation in order to become successful in their journey. The limitation itself was directly opposite of their main task at hand. Moses was given the job of spokesman for all Jews, and had poor public speaking skills. "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue (Exodus, 48)." Odysseus was sent home to save his people from a civil war, but his lust for conquest and adventure took him on many detours and prolonged his return. Both were able to rise

His perseverance is seen through his ability to view many different events with a greater vision. Even in the clutches of hunger, Odysseus still sticks to his goals of returning home. Odysseus wants to "...spare the king, for fear that [he] comes to harm, for [the king] are the herds and the sturdy flocks of a dread god...who all things overhears" (120) Homer cleverly uses an epithet to describe the feared sun god. We better understand the dread that Odysseus faces if he were to anger the god. He was afraid that killing sun's king would result in never returning home, Odysseus chooses to ignore agonizing hunger. Obviously even temptation cannot blind Odysseus' greater