When it comes to Njal one can say he has a great amount of similarities with Jesus. First we must say who Jesus truly is a Merciful person “15: Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16: And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17: Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.” (Matthew 15-17) Here we can see Jesus being merciful and helping the less fortunate even when these less fortunate have proved his disciples unfaithful. Another person would’ve been mad at both his disciples and the child for reviling such obscure truth but as we can both see Njal and Jesus are above human feelings. To continues with this Discussion one must ask what did Njal do to deserve being called Merciful. We can see this right from the beginning in chapter 20 “He was well off for property and handsome to look at, but there was one thing about him: no beard grew to him. He was so well versed in the law that he had no equal, and he was wise and prophetic, sound of advice and well-intentioned, and whatever he counseled turned out well. He was modest and noble-spirited”(P.35)The key part in this quote was not his good personality but that all those he helped ended up in a good situation. For this to be said in a book that has survived all this time must have meant that there actually was quite some people coming and he helping them. The most remarkable thing was what he did with Gunnar. ““That’s bad,” he said.
“What solution will you offer me?” she said
“He answered, “Take as much as you need of the money I have out on loan.”
“I don’t want to waste your property,” she said.
“Then what do you want?” he said” (p.36)
In this speech we see that Gunnar was a person that came to Njal for help. Njal’s first reaction was to give Gunnar something of his to help him get over the bad situation. Gunnar of course reacted in a more responsible way making it clear that he didn’t want to spend other’s money. This probably is an indication that Njal was really a person that was very giving and self-less similar to what Jesus was and told others to be.
Jesus was not only giving and merciful but also a sage. Since he was twelve on could see Jesus talking to doctors and important people
“42: And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43: And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44: But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45: And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46: And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47: And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” (Luke2 42-47)
This clearly shows Jesus as a very wise person even at an early age. Njal might not have been this smart when he was twelve but still he was a very wise person that continually proved this by predicting the future and telling other s what to do in order o obtain something using the laws to his benefit. This is what he did with Gundar and we can see this here “They do a lot of nasty things,” you must say
“Are you familiar with Reykjadal?” he will say.
“I am familiar with all of Iceland,” you must say.
“Are there any might heroes in Reykjadal?” he will say.
“They are thieves and rogues,” you must say.” (p.38)
All of this prediction proves that either there was something magical about Njal or that he was smart enough to read people and be able to predict how they would react and thus telling others how to manipulate people in a certain way to benefit themselves. The most important thing we see is that although both Jesus and Njal have this great power they continually use it to help others.
Finally we can also see that Njal and Jesus were also very modest. Jesus never claimed that it was his power which with he healed the people but rather God’s power working through him. “ 1: Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2: Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” (Matthew 6 1-2)
Here we see Jesus teaching people that showing all that they do to glorify themselves amongst men will not help them enter the kingdom of heaven and because Jesus was the son of God and because of this could enter the kingdom of heaven he was a very modest person.
Njal showed it in another way. He was the mastermind of all that happened in order to end with the victory of Gunnar. “Gunnar showed the money to Njal. “This has worked out well,” he said. “and all because of you,” said Gunnar.” (p.43)
This Proves to me that he really was there pulling the strings of all that happened but even when things ended just like he had planned he didn’t brag around taking all the credit but rather stayed back and allowed others to enjoy while he had a deeper satisfaction.