How Does Comparative Material From The Ancient Near East Help Us Understand Genesis 1-22?

Another similarity seen between both of the myths is presentation of a selected family to survive the flood by receiving a warning. This group is responsible for the repopulation of the planet and salvation of the animals. For example, in The Voice, The Flood, and The Turtle, the voice states: “Now you have everything you need. Now you can live. Now you have children and form a new generation.” In the story of Genesis, God believes Noah and is family are the only ones who deserved to live because they did not act in the same fashion as their peers. Once the flood passes, God says: “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” Genesis and

In both texts, each of the main characters, Noah and Uta-napishti, were ordered to build an ark or a boat due to an incoming flood. In Genesis, God tells Noah, “Make yourself an ark of cypress wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). Noah obeys God’s orders and indeed builds an ark. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Uta-napishti

The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic,

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

In this essay I will compare and contrast the Babylonian creation story found in the Enuma Elish with the creation accounts presented in Genesis, the Jahwist and Priestly source. The reason for this comparative essay is to show that the creation stories in the Jahwist and Priestly sources of Genesis, and that the Enuma Elish have some similarities along with major differences. Including but not limited to a chaotic primitive state, the creation of mankind, the idea of “image”, and the division of primitive waters. I will then close the essay by stating what we can learn from the comparisons between these accounts.

The Epic of Gilgamesh: story of the flood is a story telling of the time when the Sumerian gods flood the Earth hoping to get rid of the annoying humans. Throughout the story, Utnapishtim would be the preserver of life; by building a ship that would carry two of every animal. In Genesis 6-9, the Hebrew God chose to cleanse humanity by flooding the Earth, and in this story Noah would be instructed by the Lord to build an ark and put two of every animal with this ark. These stories of the flood have many differences, one major difference being that The Epic of Gilgamesh is a fictional story of Sumerian gods, while Genesis is a religious book with in the Bible. Although there are many differences between Genesis’ and Gilgamesh’s story of the flood, there are significantly more similarities linking the two stories.

     Although the plots are similar, the details included in the stories have numerous differences. To begin, when Noah receives warning about the flood and directions about how to build and fill the ark, he receives the message directly from God. When Utnapishtim receives his message, Ea indirectly sends it through a dream.

Both the story of “Noah and the Flood” in the book of Genesis in The Hebrew Bible and the flood story in The Epic of Gilgamesh detail a grand flood in which a man saved life from extinction by building an ark, earning fame and immortality in some form. The theme of completing this grand task for a moral purpose holds true to both stories, but the depiction and actions of the divine and mortal characters in the stories contain different similarities and differences.

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.

The creation stories in Genesis, are similar to the creation accounts in the ancient Near East for a couple of reasons. The first reason is, both stories begin with an Earth covered in water. In Genesis, the Earth is described as a dark void, in a vast expanse of water. In ancient Near East creation accounts, the world begins as a vast chaos of water. The second similar aspects are, both accounts describe water below the dome, and water above the dome.

Comparing both the Hebrew and the Babylonian flood accounts there seem to be some similarities and difference among them. The first thing that is similar between them is that both global floods have a cause. However, the cause in both stories differ. In the Genesis account the cause of the global destruction of life is due to the wickedness and sin of man’s heart. Genesis 6:5 and 6:7 state, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

The growing number of contemporary biblical researches help people to clarify the misunderstanding of the event background, and provide readers to identify if the characters in the Bible can be supportive while doing the analysis. In “Genesis 1 and Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths,” Johnston indicates that Genesis 1 is most likely to refute the Egyptian creation myths (Johnston 194). In specific, Johnston claims Egyptian creation myths is destined to be the same with Genesis 1 in literary since they refer to the same historical connection, and he also declares that Genesis 1 is opposing to ancient Egyptian

However, God came and created everything in the world by the word of mouth saying, “let there be...” and it happened for six days. On the sixth day, he created man in his own image to take care of all other creatures, man was given supreme powers over all the other creatures. On the other hand, the creation story of Mesopotamia was based on the facts of the role of gods in the ancient time. Man was conceived as matter- clay, and then activated of divine blood, In the Mesopotamia story people were created to provide relief for the gods, people were created to do the work the gods had previously been obliged to do and to provide the needs of the gods. More so the differences included the creation story which tells us how the relationship of man with God broke apart due to Satan’s deceit, while Mesopotamia explained that the faith of people to god reduced due to interaction with the irans. The old testament admits God in all creations while for the Mesopotamia, the creation did not explain the origin of the people and others that existed. In the flood account, the duration of flood differs in the mesopotamain, the inhabitants of the boats included pilots, craftmen, while in OT, it was only Noah and his immediate family. The Mesopotamian hero leaves the boat of his own and offers a sacrifice to be accepted by the gods, in contrast Noah stays in the boat until God calls him and presents him a sacrifice of

The Sumerian myth “Epic of Gilgamesh” is known to be the oldest written fictional story of all time. The original script, discovered on 12 clay tablets in ancient Sumeria, covers the adventures of a real historical figure (Ralph): the Sumarian King of Uruk, who lived sometime between the years 2750 and 2500 B.C. (Epic) The adventures of Gilgamesh were so popular among the people of that era (the earliest written versions of the story dating to 2000 B.C.) that after centuries of being told and retold, they soon became pure fiction. These fictional stories, eventually becoming beliefs that people lived by, brings up one fundamental question that is still debated by many scholars today; was the foundation for the teachings of the Old Testament based on the mythical story of Gilgamesh? The content of the epic, and that of the Old Testament, seem too similar to ignore. This paper will attempt to touch on the similarities between the two stories regarding Noah and the flood, Adam, Eve, and eternal life, Samson and Delilah, embracing today and not worrying about tomorrow, disobedience to the God’s and forgiveness, and the word “Bible.”

This essay will compare and contrast the Biblical creation myths with other creation myths from Greece and the Ancient Near East. It will first discuss the initial creation of the universe followed by the creation of mankind and finally the recreation of man whilst drawing parallels to Sumerian and Babylonian texts, The Old Testament and Hesiods Theogony. In paying particular attention to the chronology of each myth it will be shown that the creation myths regarding the universe and mankind evolved from as far back as the Sumerian stories.