Among the heroes of ancient greece, Hercules is one of the most talked about. The triumphs of Hercules are larger than life. Among the vast array of heroes, Hercules’ great tasks made him great. Of this you can be sure, the Bible doesn’t contain such larger than live people. The biblical quotes consist of human characters with ethical flaws and no heavenly parentage. Those heroes are merely humans. the only time where the Bible speaks about a half man, half divine persons is in Genesis where a race of angels had relations with mortal women. Some say that this passage reference the demigods of ancient myth. The biblical quotes reveal that the stories associated with the historic world may possess a ancient beginning.
Now let’s look at a story about Hercules. Here we go! Apollo was very kind to Admetus and aided him whenever he could. Apollo even went so far as to persuade the Fates to let Admentus live forever. The Fates got drunk with Apollo and they said that Admetus could live forever if another agreed to die for him. With that in hand, he went out to talk one of his parents into taking his place on the deathbed. Both of his parents were unwilling so the wife of Admetus took his place in death. Thanatos, the god of death, snatches Alcestis and takes her to the Underworld. Yet with his wife gone, he realizes that he does not want to keep living without her. He realizes that her destiny is better than his, and realizes his terrible mistake. Hercules to the rescue. He was resting at Admetus’ place and was impressed by Admetus’s kind hospitality. Hercules decides to go and enter the tomb of the dead wife. Hercules does a smack down on Thanatos until the mighty god is defeated and he consents to let the wife go. Triumphant, Hercules escorts the beautiful wife back to the surface.
It is interesting that Hercules was able to wrestle a god and overpower him. Oddly enough, we have a biblical passage that is similar. The biblical quotes tell us that Jacob battled with a good angel. What is clear from the Bible is that the angel was not giving its all, and when the time was right all the angel had to do was touch Jacob’s leg and it was hurt to the max. So it was not Jacobs strength but the angel’s patience that made the encounter last so long. So Hercules’ incredible story is clearly a myth, but is there a kernel of truth that was later added to and embellished upon?