According to Greek legend, Zeus commissioned Prometheus (foresight) and his brother Epimetheus (hindsight) to populate the earth. They started by creating the animals to which they gave gifts of strength, speed, and the protection of fur and feathers, everything they would need for survival, and they gave man the gift of fire. But they forgot woman. When Zeus found out about their oversight he was furious, and he determined that he would correct their mistake. He ordered Hepaetus to fashion Pandora, the first woman on earth, out of clay and adorn her with gifts from all the gods. Aphrodite gave her beauty, Hermes gave her persuasion, Athena gave her feminine skills. Then Zeus gave her a mysterious box with explicit instructions never to open it. However, Pandora gave into her natural curiosity and secretly removed the lid, and out flew all the ills and evils of mankind that covered the whole world with woe. Only hope remained in the box.
The biblical model of creation is a remarkably similar paradigm. God commissioned His Son to create and populate the earth. He began by creating the animals, furnishing them with all the attributes necessary for survival. He furnished each one with food and a compatible environment. He gave them instincts to guide them in life's activities such as food-gathering and nest-building. He gave man fire for cooking, making burnt offerings, and metallurgy (Gen 4:4, 4:22, 8:20), and He fashioned Eve, the first women, out of Adam's clay. He made her beautiful, persuasive, and skillful; all the attributes that would make her a perfect companion and complement to Adam. He also gave her a most precious gift, the gift of choice. Unfortunately, Eve misused that gift by disobeying God's explicit instruction. As a result of being deceived by Satan and yielding to her natural curiosity, she released all the ills and evils on mankind that covered the whole world with woe. All that she had left was hope in a promised Redeemer.
Yes, Eve opened Pandora's box by disobeying God's command, and we now live in a lazar house of degradation and decay and death as a result of her transgression. But thank God that we still have hope, hope in the coming of the Lord.
"We have this hope that burns within our hearts, Hope in the coming of the Lord. We have this faith that Christ alone imparts, Faith in the promise of His Word." Wayne Hooper 1962.
So, hope is the solution to the riddle of life in both the biblical and the Pandora Paradigm.
