Willie Ho

After comparing the Genesis story-myth with tablets I and IX of The Epic of Gilgamesh, I noticed a number of similarities and differences in the text.

In the Genesis, Noah was chosen by god as a righteous man who seemed to be the best candidate of the human race to help God fulfill his task. God warned Noah that mankind has grow to be too evil and He did not anticipate this. God needed to cleanse the earth of the evils of mankind so he creates a flood to wipe the earth clean. Hence, he tells Noah to build an ark with a length of "three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits."

This flood in the Genesis is also present in the The Epic of Gilgamesh. However, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the "chosen" craftsman goes by the name of Utanapishtim. In fact, Utanapishtim is not even chosen. The gods in that myth hold a meeting and one god, Ea, is overheard by Utanapishtim when he speaks to a reed house. He speaks of a flood and that the only way to survive it is to build a boat in which "its length must correspond to its width." After the boat is built, its dimensions are told. "Its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height, the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each." As seen, the boat in The Epic of Gilgamesh is actually more square than the ark in Genesis.

Everything else in the two stories regarding the mythical flood seem to be the same. However, the gods' ambitions for causing it were quite different. As stated earlier,in the genesis, God causes the flood because mankind has grown to be too evil of a creature and for this they must repent and start anew as a race. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods simply thought mankind was being pesky and decided to kill them off for fun.

There were a few extra, minor differences regarding the aftermath of the flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood's aftermath seemed to have lasted seven days while in the Genesis, it lasted about 150 days. Both antagonists of the stories send forth a dove and raven to check if the waters have abated after the flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, a swallow is also sent out to check the waters.

Genesis 6-9 and Gilgamesh Tablets I and XI

There are many similarities between the the story in Genesis and the epic of Gilgamesh. For instance, an arc was constructed with precise dimensions in order for humanity to survive the destruction of all living things on earth. However, there are some striking differences. In the story of Noah, God inflicts a flood upon earth as a result of mans corruption. Whereas in the epic of Gilgamesh, the elder god Enlil unleashes a more frightening catastrophe primarily to cleanse the earth from over population. Moreover, the biblical story in genesis serves as a religious document that helps to acquire followers. The epic of gilgamesh is a narrative therefore is presented simply as a story. I enjoyed reading genesis a lot more than the epic of Gilgamesh; this is probably because I found the epic more difficult to understand or follow while reading it. Furthermore, I feel that the purpose of genesis is to "teach" a lesson to man, while the epic is more representative of cultural attitudes.

Genesis 6-9 and Gilgamesh Tablets I and XI

In Tablet XI, I found many parallels to the biblical story of Noah, such as the ordering of all living things to go into the boat, the exact dimensions of how the boat was built, and the sending of the dove from the boat. Though the stories may seem similar, however, there are also marked differences. In the biblical story, man’s wickedness incites God into punishing man and bringing forth the flood. God chooses Noah to survive because God finds favor in him, emphasizing that righteousness will be unforgotten and rewarded. However, Enlil sends the flood for cleansing and controlling the population growth. Although the gods in Gilgamesh do not explicitly state feelings of regret over the flood, God in Genesis states his repentance for cursing man and every living thing. Also, the people’s tumultuous experience during the flood is described in Gilgamesh, unlike Genesis. The Bible is clearly for spiritual guidance and dogma, for it glorifies the holy God, encouraging followers to become like Him. But Gilgamesh is presented simply as a story without intentions of acquiring followers.

When Urshanabi takes Gilgamesh away to the washing place and he casts off his animal skin, it reminded me of The Dawn Treader, when Eustace turns into a dragon. I felt as if both characters were shedding not only their skin, but their sins so they could have spiritual renewal.

Comparison

Noah and Gilgamesh are the two main characters in each flood story. Noah is placed on a pedestal to show his righteousness as he is the center of the story. Noah is the chosen one as a descendant from Adam. He lives to be 250 years old. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the main character is Gilgamesh but the story is told from Utanapishtim's view, he uses the word "I". Gilgamesh is like a founding father and is placed on a pedestal because he is 2/3 gG-d and 1/3 king. Gilgamesh, like Noah, does show leadership qualities. They are both the builders of each ark.

The reason for the flood is different in each epic. In Genesis, G-d announces the flood to take place as a way to kill all mankind because of all the corruption and clear the world of its evilness. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood is caused by the older G-d's, such as Enlil. The G-ds come together as an assembly to create meteorological chaos with winds, water, meteors, etc. They feel this is necessary because of the overpopulation taking place and because it is tradition for this to occur every 1200 years.

Genesis is written to show people to "right" way to carry on their lives. The Bible contains many stories, such as Noah's Ark, as a way to start a new religion, gain followers, and spread ideas and values. Oppositely, the Epic of Gilgamesh is more of a cultural artifact, not a religious one. This story allows historian, archeologists, and people like us to read a folklore from the time of Mesopotamian. The Bible is more of a moral guide, where the story of Gilgamesh is more of an enjoyable story from ancient times.

While I was reading the Bible; Genesis 6-9, I got curious about Noah’s inner-mind. How would he have felt when he realized God wants him to build the ark? Even though I’m a Christian, I wish the Bible could have more of people’s emotion in its verses. In that way, it might be more like a novel, but the readers and believers will be able to understand the Bible a lot easier. And also, I could not quite understand the motif after the flood. Noah got drunk and ended up cursing his descendants. To understand that part, I guess I have to ask my pastor or to do Bible study more by myself. It was definitely interesting to read these verses for class, and I got to discover new thoughts of myself towards the Bible.

I am quite familiar with genesis, but i have never taken apart the story such as we did in the classroom. I found it interesting how repetitive the story was, which we established was a way to make the story stick. It was also interesting to see God transform from this angry God to a more forgiving God which many individuals now know and accept him to be today which he reminds them of through the symbolic rainbow. As I read the passage I wondered, why it was accepted to drink wine and become drunk, as Noah did, but so many other things are deemed sinful?

Genesis 6-9,Santigui Tounkara

I was very unfamiliar with the story of Noah.I understood that Noah was a big part of what christian's beleives. I think that the story was really interesting and also made me learned something new about an aspect of christianity. Altough I was raised under Muslim beleives, I thought it was interesting to know a bit more about Christianity. I also didn't know that the Bible is considered to be a cultural artifact because it discuss about civilizations over time.

A question I might have after reading the Genesis is: What is the major difference between the Old-Testament and the New Testament.