Courtney Lum

Even though Genesis and the epic of Gilgamesh dealt with the theme of flood, each had their own variances pertaining to why the flood was put into effect and how the matter of the flood was dealt with. In Genesis, God believed the human race had been living in a manner of sin and corruption, and therefore needed to be washed away from the earth. But God didn’t want to completely erase all life on the earth, just the evil and corrupt; which is why He chose righteous Noah to pave the path for new life. By creating a peaceful, righteous world void of corruption, God was renewing life; the world was being reborn.

In Gilgamesh, the Flood was also an act of cleansing, but for no such reason other than the gods (particularly Enlil) were annoyed by the noisy, overpopulated humans. Unlike the Genesis God who is omniscient and omni-benevolent, the gods in Gilgamesh possess more human-like qualities and therefore are capable of being irrational, which is why the decision to completely erase all humanity was quick and poorly planned. While the Genesis God has complete control over the flood, the gods from Gilgamesh didn’t which is what led to such frightening, catastrophic storms like tsunamis and tectonic plate movements.