The concept of free will is an interesting one when taken in a Biblical context – if God has a divine plan, and everything happens for a reason, where then is the level of choice we are assumed to have as human beings? The tale of Joseph in Genesis 37, 39-46 demonstrates the ability of God to provide for those who are good through the effective use of prophecy. This is slightly different from Sophocles’ tale of Oedipus Rex, wherein prophecy is treated as completely immutable – there is nothing you can do to stop it no matter what you do. Free will is effectively absent in both stories, as Joseph and his brothers end up fulfilling God’s will through their actions, and Oedipus brings about his own fulfillment of the prophecy through his knowledge of it.
In the story of Joseph, God’s will and plans are part of everything that happens in the story. Joseph’s brothers opposed the will of God when they sell Joseph into slavery, resisting it by breaking the Commandments. However, the breaking of these commandments leads to the creation of Israel, so this rejection of God’s laws actually brought about the nation that God wanted to create. Joseph’s series of circumstances eventually lead him from slavery to the position of Pharoah, with everything from his ability to interpret dreams to the rejection of Potiphar’s wife, and more. The famine leads Joseph to become reunited with his family, though not after he creates the circumstances for penitence for the brothers by masking his identity. When Joseph says it’s all right, this is proof of his acknowledgement of God’s control over his life: “Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50: 19, 20).
In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, or Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus brings in the blind prophet Tiresias in order to determine who murdered Laius; in this short scene, we get a glimpse of the fate of Oedipus, and the dangerous nature of fate and prophecy. Because of this scene, Oedipus (and the audience) are treated to the eventual fate of the main character, which he must then tragically fulfill despite all attempts to avoid it. Oedipus, in his glib lack of acceptance of Tiresias’ prophecy, becomes the tragically hubristic hero who will still fulfill his destiny despite all attempts to avoid it. This first scene with Oedipus reveals all of the flaws, like shortsightedness and anger, that will lead to his downfall. Because of Oedipus’ foreknowledge of the prophecy, he does everything he can to stave off the inevitable, but ends up going along with the plan anyway. Killing his father without even knowing it, marrying his mother while completely ignorant of her whole identity, Oedipus fulfills the prophecy while feeling the illusion of free will.
In conclusion, both Joseph and Oedipus are shown to have no free will. However, Joseph does not believe he has free will, as he places his faith before God that things will work out. This is diametrically opposed to Oedipus’ delusion of free will, wherein he believes he has beat the prophecy that would bring him doom.
Works Cited
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature 8th
Edition. NY: Norton, 2006.
