After Satan’s infiltration of Eden, God sends the archangel Raphael to warn man about their new adversary. Coming to the first parents’ home, the angel relays his message of warning. He advises them to be content with what they have been given and to obey and love their Creator. By doing so, they will remain happy and continue in their blessedness.
Adam’s response to Raphael’s admonition to remain obedient intrigued me. He says, “Can we want obedience then / To him, or possibly his love desert / Who formed us from the dust, and placed us here / Full to the utmost measure of what bliss / Human desires can seek or apprehend?” (V.514-18). For Adam, disobedience is unthinkable. Reason opposes the very idea of rebellion or adversity with his Maker. God gave man all things of the earth for his enjoyment; why should man ever desire to not obey Him?
How very differently people think now. Modern man asks why he should obey God at all when God has seemingly done nothing for him. Granted, mankind’s fall puts him at odds with God. However, that man would think it completely strange to want to not obey and love God goes to show just how far removed we’ve become from our original state. We desire happiness and chase after it through every avenue the human mind can imagine, except for the one place it can be found. Raphael and Adam show us that true happiness can only be found in obedience and love of God.
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