Essay on Comparing Gilgamesh to Genesis

    In the middle of the nineteenth century, archaeologists unearthed twelve clay tablets. Around the turn of the twentieth century, archaeologists finally managed to decipher the tablets written in Akkadian, the language of ancient royalty and diplomacy. The tablets tell of the story of Gilgamesh. (1)

The Hebrew Flood story of Noah and his obligation to preserve man kind after God had punished all living creatures for their inequities parallels The Epic of Gilgamesh in several ways. Even though these two compilations are passed on orally at different times in history the similarities and differences invoke deliberation when these stories are compared. Numerous underlining themes are illustrated throughout each story. Humans are guilty of transgressions and must be punished, God or Gods send a flood as punishment to destroy this evil race, a person is selected by the gods to build a craft that will withstand the flood and allow this person to create a new race. An

The world before the flood was already in turmoil and ruin, enveloped in sin and chaos; it is in this world that Noah’s faith made him the only righteous man. God had entrusted in Noah to complete a very important task that would test his faithfulness to Him. God’s plan was to destroy the world by way of flood as the result of mankind’s misdeeds. He instructed Noah to construct an ark to save his family and all species of animals, two of each kind - male and female. All of them would survive in the ark while God sent down a watery wrath to be swept across the earth, wiping out everything in its path. Noah was obedient; his life revealed qualities of patience and persistence which made him the perfect candidate for the building of the

“The earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood,” says John Shimkus, a U.S representative and devout member of his Lutheran church in Illinois. In the epic of Gilgamesh and the Flood of Noah, both stories depict deluges meant to wash the sin and wickedness from man. Both floods are global, both characters righteous, and both men experience some kind of salvation after surviving the spate. Thus, they allow the redemption of humankind. The flood is new beginning, a fresh wash of an existence that humans have tainted and after they are graciously allowed a second chance by their benevolent God(s).

The Old Testament God says, that the world which he created was turning evil and knew he had to destroy man and all the living things on the earth. Noah was the only man who “found grace in the Lords eyes” Old Testament pg 57. The lord realized that Noah was full of good and decided to spare him his wife and Noah’s three sons and their wives. God also decided to save a male and a female of each animal that walked the earth. God told Noah to build an Ark that would fit all these animals,

In creation myths, a flood of some sort is not an uncommon occurrence. In “The Creation Legend of the Sun Worshippers,” Ra decides to flood the earth after the humans he created speak ill of him. Similarly, in “The Creation,” Viracocha cleanses the earth of all human beings after he is upset by their behavior. Also, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh learns from his conversation with Utnapishtim that the god Enlil sent a flood to the earth “to destroy all of humanity” because “they are too noisy.” All of these flood myths have one key similarity: human beings do something to make the gods feel that wiping them out with a flood is necessary.

In this particular anecdote of the flood, it tells of long ago when the gods destroyed all of civilization with a massive rainfall (swallowing mankind underwater), paralleling the Christianity version of Noah and God’s flood. The story of the flood comes from the eleventh and twelfth tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and it tells the tale of Utnapishtim, the man who was warned about the flooding of his home city of Shurppak. He was warned by the gods to build a large boat and to fill

Along with his family, Noah is required to gather a male and female of each animal so that they may also repopulate after the flood. After loading up the ark full of the animals, and Noah’s family, the flood strikes and the ark ends up running a ground on Mount Ararat. Since they are round a ground they end up sending a dove and a raven out in order to find a place close to start building civilization again. The dove brings back an olive branch which tells them that an olive tree is near. A covenant is started between God and people and that covenant is that God may never destroy the human race again, and humans may not kill each other since god made humans in the image of him and that is against moral law. In order for god to know when to stop rain, he uses a rainbow as a sign that it is time to stop the water. Now that all of humanity is wiped out the new idea is to be fruitful and increase in order to preserve the human

During this time period, the Nile river became much more unpredictable then it had been in the past. With more flooding, damages, and deaths, the ancient Hebrews were quick to assume that a god had been upset from someone’s actions. Most people in the world had grown to be wicked and separated themselves from God, He became angry and sent a mighty flood that completely cleansed the planet to start anew. He saved a pair of every kind of animal, as well as a righteous man named Noah, along with his family. After the flood, God said to Noah, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11).

First of all, the reason for the flood presented in The Epic of Gilgamesh is not quite exactly the same as the reason in the Old Testament. Although the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh were angry with the people, Noah’s God knew the people were wicked, full of violence, and deserved the flood. It was not altogether the same circumstances. The gods in the story of Gilgamesh were simply annoyed with the people. In the story, Ea gave Utnapishtim a message to give to the people of Shurrupak saying, “you had learned that Enlil the war god despises you and will not give you access to the city anymore,” (Tablet XI.) This message that Utnapishtim would deliver to the people of Shurrupak would express the annoyance of the gods towards them all. The gods

The Genesis story of, “Noah Pleases God,” is generally on Noah’s characteristic’s, God’s unhappiness with humankinds evil and wickedness, and Gods intent with Noah’s role. Thus, “Noah Pleases God,” starts with describing Noah and how he is a righteous man, has three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and that he walked with God; as well as how he is blameless with regards to the wickedness in his generation. Following that, it presents how God saw the earth as being corrupt, because humans have corrupted the righteous ways of earth. Thus, God describes to Noah that he is utterly upset with humankind and wishes to destroy them and all the wickedness their corruption has influenced; God explains he will be doing this by using a brazen flood of water. Therefore, God lays out how he wants

This lasted for another 40 days and the ark rested on mount Ararat. God then instructed Noah to leave the ark with his family. God the blessed Noah and his family. 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Stories are often used to teach a certain lesson or encourage certain behavior within a culture. Both the Tale of the Flood from the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and the story of the flood from the Old Testament exhibit these intentions. In the Tale of the Flood from the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, Utnapishtim was instructed by the god Ea to build a large boat to save himself, his family, and “the seed of all living things”. Utnapishtim was given this instruction because the gods were angry with mankind and were planning to send a flood to destroy all living beings, save those on Utnapishtim’s boat.

The Biblical story of Noah’s Ark is one that most people have heard. The story of Noah starts with God commanding Noah to build an Ark. God saw the evil in the world and decided to destroy man and everything on earth with a great flood. Noah builds an Ark for his family and two of every animal on board. Once the ark is complete, God then sent a flood and everything on earth was destroyed except for Noah, his family and the animals. Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had receded and, when the dove came back, it had an olive branch and Noah knew it was safe. God then told Noah that he would never destroy the earth again with a flood. A rainbow appeared in the sky as a sign of God’s promise. Noah and his family exited the Ark and worshiped

“In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull….” In the Old Testament, humanity has also grown, thus the beginning of the flood myth. Similarly, in both myths a wise man is told of a catastrophic flood that is to take place by the hand of the gods (or God) and he must quickly prepare. “[B]ecause of his oath warned me in a dream … ‘tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions [sic] and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat…. Then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures….’” The purpose of the floods is to destroy humanity. In the case of the Epic of Gilgamesh, it is to deal with rowdy humans. In the case of the Old Testament, it is to destroy the humans who have grown wicked and turned their backs to God and return the earth to its beginning as a watery