Genesis Exercise 2: Comparison Of Two Creation Stories

The general idea of both stories follows the idea of punishment for one’s unacceptable behavior. In the first flood myth, the idea of four monsters morphing into one large beast is presented. This large beast is supposed to represent society as a whole. When society adapts malicious intentions and negative traits, a higher being decides whether or not a “cleansing” of society is necessary to improve the planet. Similarly, the story of Genesis follows the idea that humans have begun to behave in an irrational and shameful manner, so God creates a flood to punish the humans who had behaved poorly. “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.”

Creation stories are symbolic accounts of how the world and its inhabitants came about. These stories first developed in oral traditions, so there are multiple accounts of them from different cultures and societies. The Babylonian Creation story, the Genesis Creation story, and the Sumerian story of the Creation of Enkidu are examples of these and the similarities are interesting. As Dennis Bratcher states, “Because of many parallels with the Genesis account, some historians concluded that the Genesis account was simply a rewriting of the Babylonian Story. As a reaction, many who wanted to maintain the uniqueness of the Bible argues either that there were no real parallels between the accounts or that the Genesis narratives were

     The two main stories largely discussed are the Genesis and Gilgamesh flood stories. Although different in regards to the details, the main plot is similar between the two stories from two different civilizations. Because of this similarity, many

The human scribes who wrote down the events of Genesis were recording the events of the world as God created it. However, while they were inspired by divine events, these authors were humans influenced by the outside considerations that all human writers incorporate into their works, no matter how important or trivial the concepts. In this case, the writers would have been very much aware of the presence and content of other, parallel creation stories with similar historical and even religious tropes.

Often a topic of debate, there are several different takes on the creation story existent in literature. Dependent on one’s religion, different beliefs about how the world we live in was created may arise. Looking deeper into the literature, one will realize there are also many similarities between creation stories. Based on the strong possibility that Genesis was influenced by the Enuma Elish, there are similarities that stem from the fact that they both describe the creation of a new world as well as differences in their interpretations and approaches to creationism.

Although the stories are similar they are not identical. In Genesis God sent the Flood to destroy humankind because of man’s wickedness. Unlike The Gilgamesha where the reason was never said however the sender of the flood was a secret council of gods the idea was brought up by Enlil , the god of earth wind and air. God favored Noah because he was a righteous man therefore, he was chosen to build the ark that was three hundred cubits long, fifty cubit wide, and thirty cubits high, about three stories. Utnapishtim was chosen out of the cleverness of Ea, the god of wisdom and crafts. God came directly to Noah to tell him about the Flood where as Ea was swore to secrecy so “he repeated their plans to the reed fence” so he would no break the oath to the group. The boat Utnapishtim was directed to build was a rectangle shaped measuring one acre and about 6 stories high. When the floor came in Gilgamesh it was only rainwater however the Flood in Genesis was rain water as well as ground water. Both floods did indeed wipe out all of humankind but the did not last equal as long. After the flood Utnapishtim was gifted the gift of eternal life where as Noah was to multiply and have rule over the animals.

Through reading both stories, it is quite obvious that there are some parallels between the two. The beginning of the new world that Noah lives in directly mirrors the one of the past. In the first verses of Genesis, the week of creation is described with God creating the sea first, and then “God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.” (Genesis 1:9). This exact same process is repeated when the flood comes, starting with “And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.” (Genesis 7:19). This verse echoes the creation story reiterating that the whole world was covered with water until God decided it was time create land. After God had decided that it was time for the new world to begin the waters receded and left Noah’s ark resting on the top of a Mount Ararat. The familiar accounts, however don't stop there. In the beginning, God speaks to Adam saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Theses exact same words are told

One obvious similarity between the two tales are the antagonists. The serpent is the antagonist in Genesis, as he coerces Eve into betraying God, and her husband. To convince Eve to commit

One similarity that is present between the Theogony and Genesis is that both have women in a central role when it comes to the pitfalls of man. In Genesis it is Eve who eats the fruit from the Garden of Eden and eventually forces God to banish them from the Garden. In the Theogony, it is made clear that by the creation of Pandora from Zeus that the race of women is considered a curse to men and an “infestation” that is evil for them (Theogony ln, 375-385). In a similar vein to the above example, another major similarity is how in both creation stories, the deity plays an active role in shaping the lives of man through intervention or punishment. In Genesis, God does this by creating other wildlife as helpmates which Adam then names, by creating Eve, and also eventually punishing man for disobeying the order to not eat from the Garden. In the Theogony,

In both stories, the gods are respected and feared in some way, but at some point, humans displease the gods. To enforce His authority over all living creatures, the god in Genesis “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,” so He fashioned an immense flood to rid the world of the evil that He brought about (King James Version, Gen. 6.5). However, not all humans continuously sinned; He spared Noah and his family because he remained so devoted to God, then later made a promise that “waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Gen. 9.15). Likewise, in The

In Genesis, the first book of The Bible the Christian and Jewish creation story is told. God spoke and his Word was done. He made the heavens and the earth. He made light and drove away the dark. On the earth he created the waters and lands and man and beast.

The Drama of Scripture written by Bartholomew and Goheen takes the reader on a journey through the entire Bible in six short “acts.” The first Act discusses creation and the establishment of God’s Kingdom. In the beginning was complete darkness. Then, God created light and divided the heavens and the earth. He then split the waters and the seas, creating dry ground on which the rest of creation could walk. He proceeded to make plants and flowers and the sun, moon, and stars. He created days and seasons and animals of all shapes and sizes. And then, to add the finishing touch, God created men and women, male and female, He created them. The book states that “the Genesis story is given so that we might have a true understanding of the world in which we live, its divine author, and our own place in it” (Bartholomew, 29). Genesis 1-3, the story of Creation, is prevalent because it introduces the author of creation, humanity, and the creation upon which humanity’s drama unfolds.

The Author's Intention in Writing Genesis 1 and 2 With the argument for creation, certain interpreations contain the beliefs that Genesis 1 and 2 should be taken in a literal way, while others believe it to be in more of a figurative way. The literal view of creation is looking at Genesis as a completely true part of history and every moment in the two chapters is to be taken factually literal. In the figural point of view, the first two chapters in Genesis are supposed to be viewed as true, but each part may have a

There are huge differences in these two stories. The first one which includes Yahweh is very mean natured almost. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit he cursed them and said "Because of what you have done, you are cursed more than any other animal, and you will have to crawl on your belly in the dust, and you will be beaten by the offspring of this woman". In the other story "The Elohim", Elohim was very nice natured and did not curse anyone. He just wanted people to live on the earth, multiply and be fruitful.

Prior to taking this course, I didn’t know that there were two different stories of Genesis. The purpose of the Genesis is to tell how the Earth and Heavens were created by God and what the timeline of what was created each day. In the first story of Genesis, it explains how God created the Heavens and Earth. The process in which it started was God’s command, “let there be light” and there was light, the next six days God created Earth and all living creatures of life. On the sixth day God created humans to dominate the Earth and on the seventh day God rested from all the work that he had did. The second part of Genesis is based more on how humankind was created, God created man from dust before he created plants and animals. God realized