Comparing The Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Book Of Job

The view of fate the book of Job expresses, though similar in that it originates from God, differs in a few important ways. In Job, situations are predetermined to occur, but the personal choices of the people involved determine the outcome of the situation. The story of Job opens with Job's fate of suffering being planned. Satan presents himself in an audience before God. God makes example of Job, and Satan rebuffs, stating that Job's constancy is only because of God's preferential treatment. Satan tells God, "But put forth thy hand now and touch all he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."(40). In response, power is given to Satan to torment Job as a test. Job's life and finally health are viciously mangled and destroyed by Satan. Though Job does not know the reasons behind his great suffering, we are told that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."(41), and "In all this did not Job sin with his lips."(41). Self-pity creeps into Job's thoughts and words, but there is no disenchanted turn from God. Instead in Job the reader sees a turn to God for relief and

Who I chose to write my character study paper over was Job and his life influenced by god’s grace, mercy, and evilness. The dominant theme of Job is the difficulty of understanding why God the creator of everything can allow good people and followers of his to suffer. In Job he is trying a way to justify God’s actions. The poetry in Job is a true dialogue, for the characters develop ideas and unique personalities throughout the course of their responses. The Book of Job is one of the most celebrated pieces of biblical literature, not only because it explores some of the most profound questions humans ask about their lives, also because it is extremely well written.

In his quest for immortality to change his unavoidable destiny, Gilgamesh tried to secure a way to preserve his life in order to avoid suffering because his belief was flawed, while Job secured his life in his belief. He was not afraid of death or of his God, neither did he wish to become one, he just wanted his suffering to be ended by the one whom he believed brought it upon him in the first place. Gilgamesh, on the other hand, sought his own ways to end his suffering and to avoid future sorrow that comes with being human, even though he knew that there was a higher plan that ruled that everlasting life was not his destiny. In contrast, Job was not aware that there was a higher plan that endorsed his agony or the reasons for it. All he had was his faith and integrity, which he held on to despite the undeserved affliction he received through the very hands of the one he expected to redeem him, to later discover that he would. Gilgamesh, in his restless heart, hoped the redemption for his self-inflicted suffering would come from his personal sacrifices, only to find out that it could not.

Gilgamesh: A New English Version, translated by Stephen Mitchell, and The Book of Job translated by Raymond P. Scheindlin, are both ancient texts that argue that the world is not just in a variety of ways. In Gilgamesh, the part-human, part-divine tyrannical ruler of Uruk, Gilgamesh, is sent an equal by the gods in the hopes of changing him and therefore rescuing the people of Uruk from his brutal ways. This equal, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh go on to offend the gods in a multitude of ways, leading to the death of Enkidu and finally, the return of Gilgamesh to Uruk to continue his ruthless regime over the people. The Book of Job is the story of Job, a faithful servant of Yahweh (or God) who is the picture of morality. When Yahweh makes a passing bet with the Accuser that results in Job having everything dear to him, including his health, torn away, Job and his friends debate the duties and nature of Yahweh. Gilgamesh and The Book of Job are in agreement that the world is not just, but whereas Gilgamesh shows that the innocent are killed and that the guilty are rewarded rather than punished, The Book of Job argues that the morally upright suffer and that Yahweh did not create the world to be fair, and so it is not.

Human problems does not change throughout history but instead get told in different forms. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Job are a quest for immortality and deal with the realization that death is final and will come for everyone. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Job have a similar main theme of immortality and context, but the Book of Job has a more optimistic and friendly world view.

Dating back from B.C.E. (Before Common Era) to the 21st century there has always been debates over the ancient culture philosophies such as gender role ideologies between men and women. The accuracy of The Hebrew Bible and The Epic of Gilgamesh are relevant to our culture today because the truth lies somewhere in between the two texts. Both samples have a valid argument about the importance of gender ideologies. Men are almost always seen as superior or heroic heroes in ancient stories because of their strength and masculinity. Women on the other hand are usually seen as weak, low class, vulnerable and caregivers because of their femininity.

Traditional oral and written stories have been passed down throughout history since the beginning of time. Because of the spirituality of the time of the Second Millennium BCE, these narratives usually involved the presence of divinities in certain types of religion. Some chronicles even overlap or have many similarities, like we see in The Epic of Gilgamesh, a collection of Sumerian poetry, and Genesis, a book from the Hebrew Bible. Both narratives explain that the God or Gods of the people living in these separate societies were unhappy and disgusted with how the humans were acting within the natural world. This caused both sets of religious Gods to seek the wipe out of mankind over the entire world through a horrifying flood. The stories end up being similar in the cause of the flood, how the God choose one man to live through the floods, and what happened after the flood because of their shared opinions on how humans were operating within the world they

In The Epic of Gilgamesh and the novel Genesis, we are shown gods and the biblical God who both enforce their ideas of justice against those they deem wicked. This is depicted multiple times in both pieces of literature, the most notable being the floods unleashed by God in Genesis and the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh. The punishments inflicted on humankind are similar because the deities in both texts share their own concept of justice, fueled by human emotion. Throughout both stories these omnipresent beings deal with humans in a somewhat callous way, sometimes showing compassion but mainly displaying their powers to punish humans.

Gilgamesh, who is part god part man, after his friend death, he went on a journey to look for an eternal life. Different from the story Noah and the Flood, Gilgamesh have to face with many gods. They tested him, he did good at the beginning but at the end he fail miserably, but Utnapishtim give him another chance, take a hike and fire Urshanabi. Gilgamesh fail it again, but however, Utnapishtim wife call him back and granted him the gift

Many people may know the story of Noah and the flood; featured in the biblical story, Genesis. But not many know there is a very similar story of a great flood in the ancient mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh. In fact these stories are so similar, they have lead many people to believe that the event of a great flood actually occurred in history.

Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.” In the Epic of Gilgamesh and the book of Job, both the protagonists face a variety of obstacles. Although, what stood out to me in these narratives is not the fact that Gilgamesh and Job both faced challenges, but rather how they dealt with the challenges that they were given. Both characters used a great deal of perseverance to overcome their difficulties.

The Book of Job is a profound story about a man who was "perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1). Job was a man who had a loving family, prospered and was very wealthy. For whatever reason, Satan challenged God regarding Job. Satan told God that if everything were taken away from Job, he would surely curse God. It was a “bet” of sorts. So God gave Satan the power to destroy everything Job had with the exception of Job’s life. Satan took away Job’s possessions,

The story of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are some form of epics that both surround a legendary figure and the grand adventures they follow. The and differences between both epics are shown throughout both stories. As the stories you see the many similarities such as the flood, the birds sent out for the search of land, and God/Gods wanting to cleanse the world of wickedness and sin. The all those similarities there would be many differences.

An epic is defined a lengthy poem, often an oral retelling, detailing the heroic deeds of characters with high stature and events significant to a particular society or culture. The heroes and/or heroines partake in a journey, face antagonists, and they return altered by their journey. Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is two-thirds god and one-third man. The gods create Enkidu to challenge Gilgamesh and prevent his harsh rule of the people of Uruk. Together, they defeat Humbaba and kill the Bull of Heaven.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian epic of the great king Gilgamesh and his deeds on Earth in ancient mesopotamia and in the city of Uruk. It is an important historical text because it is one of the oldest western epics and because it explains much about how the ancient Sumerians viewed the Gods (Mark). The epic contains the tells of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Utnapishtim, and many Gods and Goddesses of ancient Sumeria specifically Ishtar, the Goddess of love.