This new experiment is working! I'm actually reading the Iliad with a bit more enjoyment and understanding than before, hanging the hooks of this new story and knowledge on more familiar hooks - the scriptures.
I've been in the scriptures in one way or another my entire life, but this is my first reading of the Iliad. Not my first try - I've tried many times. For whatever reason (many reasons now), I've failed to continue through more that, say, Book Five. It's a very, very thick book. A much harder read than the Odyssey, for me.
But using the more familiar scriptures makes this a much easier literary hike than it was before...and even more interesting! Looking for parallels between the two yields some very interesting ideas.
 |
| Jupiter sends the evil dream to Agamemnon |
Book Two - Jupiter's Dream
Because Zeus has promised Thetis that her son Achilles will receive retribution for losing his pride and his beloved concubine Briseis, Zeus starts Book 2 by sending that retribution he promised in the form of a false dream, promising the king that if he mobilizes his forces for battle, they will win.
Now pleasing sleep had seal’d each mortal eye,
Stretch’d in the tents the Grecian leaders lie:
The immortals slumber’d on their thrones above;
All, but the ever-wakeful eyes of Jove.
To honour Thetis’ son he bends his care,
And plunge the Greeks in all the woes of war:
Then bids an empty phantom rise to sight,
And thus commands the vision of the night.
“Fly hence, deluding Dream! and light as air,
To Agamemnon’s ample tent repair.
Bid him in arms draw forth the embattled train,
Lead all his Grecians to the dusty plain.
Declare, e’en now ’tis given him to destroy
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy.
For now no more the gods with fate contend,
At Juno’s suit the heavenly factions end.
Destruction hangs o’er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilion waits the impending fall.”
And thus the dream descends on Agamemnon, and he awakens, convinced that he will win the war, when in fact, he and his men will be led into even more suffering.
1 Kings Chapter 22 - Micaiah's Vision
A similar story awaits in this chapter, where the wicked King Ahab seeks out his prophets to tell him if he will win the upcoming battle in Ramoth-Gilead against Syria.
All his prophets tell him they are predicting his victory. The other king in the battle, Jehoshaphat, asks if King Ahab will ask a prophet of the Lord for his prediction.
The King says there is a prophet, but he hates him, because he always predicts evil concerning him. (This generally happens with prophets - if you do evil deeds, the forecast tends to be somewhat bad news unless you repent.)
The prophet Micaiah the son of Imlah is called before the king. When he comes, at first he predicts a rousing victory, in almost exactly the same wording as Ahab's prophets have used.
Ahab isn't fooled. He tells Micaiah to tell him what the Lord actually said.
Then he comes out with it in verses 17-18, and King Ahab's response is such an I-told-you-so. It's almost comical:
And he said,
I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills,
as sheep that have not a shepherd:
and the Lord said, These have no master:
let them return every man to his house in peace.
And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat,
Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
Micaiah further goes on to tell a vision of what happened with Ahab's priests, to warn him (in verses 19-23):
And he [Micaiah] said,
Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord:
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne,
and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
And the Lord said,
Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?
And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord,
and said, I will persuade him.
And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith?
And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
Now therefore,
behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets,
and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
Micaiah was punished for telling the truth, as Ahab had punished many other prophets for telling him what he didn't want to hear - thrown into jail. Ahab goes out to fight, and is killed, just as the Lord said he would be. And every man returned to his own house.
In both stories, God (or Zeus) was angry with these men for their behavior, and either sent punishment or removed blessings that would favor them.
Zeus was more direct about it. He meant to humble Agamemnon to ask Achilles to fight with them again, and give Achilles back his honor which he had taken from him.
But Agamemnon himself was not in mortal danger at this point.
In the case of King Ahab, he had ignored the Lord too long, and not listened when the Lord's prophets tried to correct him.
For killing prophets and leading his people to commit sins before God, God removed his protections from King Ahab, and let him follow bad counsel from his counselors, which ended his life.
What can we learn from this? Lots of things, but one good thing might be to be very careful when I come across someone who's telling me what I want to hear.
I've found that it's best to check such counsel with people who want the best for me and will tell me the truth, regardless of whether I like it or not. It can help me make better decisions.
Beware the easy road!
