God In The Code Of Gilgamesh And The Hebrew Bible

A mortal, “two-thirds a god, one-third a man,” and his companion fight adversaries that threaten the power the men possess in Gilgamesh (Ferry 4). A man leads a race from oppression given power through God in Exodus. All three men hold power, which others in their time do not hold; however, they face obstacles that threaten their power. Gilgamesh and Moses conquer their challenges and achieve victory enriched with power; while, the men face the foes in their path with determination and discover the level of power between mortals and immortals

The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Hebrew Bible are considered by their audiences’ as two of the greatest literary works of ancient literature. The universal truths on The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Hebrew Bible, are most fundamental when viewed from both the contemporary and traditional audiences. Fundamentally, both audiences develop their own universal truths during the time in which the events transpired or by reading the scenic events from an anthology or other literary works.

  Along with different languages, customs and traditions, ancient Hebrews, Middle-easterners and Romans had very different beliefs about the divine. For example, Hebrews are monotheistic, while Middle-easterners and Greco-Romans of early time periods believe in many gods. Writings from the ancient time period sketch these differences, as well as the many similarities between religious beliefs. The Old Testament is an excellent reference depicting Hebrew beliefs, while Gilgamesh outlines many Middle-eastern beliefs, and The Metamorphoses shows readers many ancient Greco-Roman beliefs about the divine.

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

to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you,to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears,and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters." Genghis Khan, much like the Hebrew Bible during certain points, regards women as objects. However, to write the Hebrew Bible off as fully misogynistic would not do the ancient texts justice. From Genesis to Judges 2, the Hebrew Bible objectifies women, uses them as scapegoats, but during certain points rises them to the level of highly admired Prophets and warriors. This essay attempts to explore the various undertones of femininity depicted throughout the Hebrew Bible.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the stories reminded me of the Holy Bible because many of their stories are similar. For instance, in the Holy Bible, it starts off with “In the beginning...Now, the serpent was more cunning...You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”. Which meant that there was a snake and it had tempted Eve into consuming a plant of the tree which God had specified that they should not eat to where they get banned out of the garden. As to in the Epic, it says “A snake smelled the fragrance...While going back it sloughed off its casing.”. Where the snake had stolen the plant of eternal life from Gilgamesh and consumed it. So, the comparison in between the two stories is the snake was the culprit of good will and luxury.

In ancient times, gods were a holy image in people’s mind. Each god had its own role in the universe. Such as the role of creation, the controller of the nature, and the role of the destiny control. The gods had extreme powers, and controlled everything in the world. Worshiped gods became a daily routine for ancient people. In the minds of people in ancient times, worshiped their gods were to prevent these gods became furious, and punished them with their extreme power. Even though the gods were extremely powerful, in many epic texts we could see they also had emotions and characteristics that were just like humans. However, there were still some major differences between the gods and humans.

“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time- Richard Dawkins”. We all know the breath taking story of the Genesis flood, but have we ever noticed how similar it is to the Epic of Gilgamesh. Genesis is the story of how one God created mankind, along with everything else on Earth, and what punishments he put upon them when they acted wrong .Genesis is a chapter in the Holy Bible, which was written in the 18th century B.C. by Moses. Genesis is a Hebrew story about the creation of life and how God once destroyed it and Earth. The main characters were Adam, Eve, and the serpent. Each of them was provided a task from God, but disobeyed him and was punished forever.

Many people believe that everything happens for a reason. Some people believe there is a God out there deciding their fate, and others believe it’s their actions that create the path they will take. No matter the idea, everyone has a different relationship with what they believe in. In Gilgamesh, edited by Steven Mitchell, demigod Gilgamesh struggles with his relationship to the gods. When the council of gods kill his best friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh goes on a difficult journey aiming to become immortal and truly equal to them. His relationship with the gods is complicated because without them, Gilgamesh cannot succeed. Yet somehow, they are also the only thing in his way. In this epic, the relationship between gods and men is filled with tension because the gods have immense power over the humans, including the ability to decide the fate of their entire world.

This desire to be like others caused the Hebrews to stray away from God’s ideal social structure even though God’s structure was the more perfect one that promoted an efficient allocation of wealth and resources. This straying away from God becomes the main theme of the Bible as we read of many stories that involve God using various means from prophets and punishment to bring His people away from the customs of the world and back to His perfect will for the world. Halteman also stresses the need for a supporting community of faith in order to resist the ways of the secular world.

The actions of all organisms, no matter the level of intellect are usually based on specific desires to enhance his or her current lifestyle and sustain existence. In The Epic Of Gilgamesh, character motives and desires are triggered by desires of power and pleasure, and can be witnessed through various events and circumstances that contain journeys, competition, and companionship. Both Sigmund Freud's Civilization And Its Discontents and The Holy Bible's "Genesis" recount this theme through various perspectives that often ponder the differences between the "organic" and "synthetic" human through time. The texts provide evidence that Enkidu’s early death derived from a lifestyle transformation influenced by Gilgamesh, and place Gilgamesh’s

supposed to have decided to destroy the earth by water. In the Biblical book of

The portrayal of gods being an all mighty being is something that almost all societies believe in, as they represent a being that can cause destruction or peace at any moment as they are all powerful. This is seen in The Epic Of Gilgamesh relates to the gods of those from the Greek and Egyptian religions as they are beings as they are very similar to those that are under them in both appearances and their behaviors, the appearances of the gods in human form are perfect and beautiful. However, the actions that are caused by gods are debatable as for whether or not their actions are done for good or bad, as well as whether or not they are present for humans to strive within society or just present to meddle within human affairs. Which can be seen significantly impactful in The Epic Of Gilgamesh

To speak of the Hebrew Scripture is to speak of story, a story stretching from the very beginning of time to only a few centuries before the beginning of the Common Era. It is to speak of richness of content, of purpose and of reality and to engross oneself in an overarching narrative that, depending on your personal convictions, continues to the present day. Within this richness is found a wide variety of different events and experience, told through a series of genre ranging from foundational myth to apocalypse, law giving to poetry, genealogy to wisdom and many more. Within this diversity however, three broad sections can be discerned that speak to a shared purpose and content, these are the sections of Law, Prophecy and Writings. It

Many argue that the Bible especially the Old Testament is not the inspired word of God because of the command to destroy the Canaanites. Many use this as a basis of their argument that the scriptures are not inspired by God because they wonder how could God, a God of non-violence, mercy and goodness command such a thing. The focus of this paper will be “how is one to respond to this accusation that the Old Testament is not inspired because of commands to destroy people such as the Canaanites? This paper will attempt to answer this question by offering contrary evidence, will argue that when God’s nature is properly understood, the command for destruction of the Canaanites is not against God’s nature and that God had justified reasons in this command. This paper will provide proof of the goodness, mercy and moral nature of God, as well as the accountability that God demands from all people. It will then show the justified reason for such commands not only for the Canaanites but other nations as well. This paper will show that in spite of the commands of destruction from God that Scripture is indeed inspired by God.