There are many similarities and many differences between the gods of The Odyssey and the gods of The Old Testament. For example, gods from both manipulate and influence human beings, like Baal, a god whose name refers to any god but the God of Israel. Baal was most often associated with the god of fertility while Aserah was a goddess considered to be the mother of all gods and the ruler of the sea, like Poseidon in The Odyssey. Zeus, like the God of Israel, was the supreme God. A god of the sky, Zeus would often anger and throw lightning bolts down from the heavens. We see this is very similar to the God of Israel, who is described in Isa. 30:30, “And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lightning down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering tempest, and hailstones” (Vine, Unger and White 8).
Like the gods in The Odyssey the gods in The Old Testament were often angered and irate. They manipulated each other and humans, as Aserah was thought to be the mother of Baal but also his worst enemy at times. However, in The Odyssey, the gods were not looked upon as supreme, almighty beings but rather as idealized human beings. Odysseus is considered a near god because of his idealized human nature, “And so godly Odysseus” and “Odysseus, the Zeus-born sacker of cities” (Homer 88, 98). They were extremely powerful though, like the gods from The Old Testament. Further, in The Odyssey, the gods often encompassed the same failings as human beings, needs and desires (hunger, thirst, sexual appetite, etc.). This is not the case with the gods in The Old Testament. Further, even though the gods in The Odyssey and The Old Testament manipulated and influenced human affairs, they did not dwell among humans in either book. We see this in the Bible in the Book of Daniel when Chaldean priests say
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