My bar’mitzvah marks a time when my family knows that I am ready to take on more responsibility and make some of my own decisions. This means that I will earn my own rewards for all of the good decisions taken but for all of the poor choices, I will pay the consequences.
I believe that I have been incredibly lucky for I have a family that has given me good, solid values that I will always consider when I am faced with choices. With these thoughts in mind, I will move on to Noah, this afternoon’s Torah‘s portion that tells the story of a man who was faced with choices. Noah’s story is about a man who at G-d’s command, builds an ark and saves his family and two of each of the existing animals from a flood that G-d uses to destroy the existing
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Instead, Noah seemed to be just fine with letting everyone die as he did not question nor did he doubted God‘s command; he only faithfully carried it out. I began to think that maybe Noah was not so righteous after all but that he was instead a selfish man who did not attempt to make a difference in saving the world. This reminded me of Hurricane Katrina, a horrific event that my grandparents, who live in New Orleans, experienced first hand in 2005. Having learned quite a few facts about Katrina from my grandparents, I could not help but think about some similarities and differences between Noah and Katrina’s floods. First, I noticed that whether warned by G-d or by scientists, people knew in advance what was going to happen so, they had plenty of time to prepare for the worst. It was not the similarities but the differences between the two floods that helped me discover that even though doing always the right thing may not be easy, we must strive everyday to do what is just. So while I understood from my grandparents’ stories that the flood caused by the monster hurricane wrecked many lives, I also learned that during that time, something greater than Katrina happened. Amazingly, most people did not act like Noah, and even though not everything went as planned, people from New Orleans and from across the country united, supported one another and helped rebuild destroyed
Those living had built a structure that would carry them over days and nights. Some among many survive a great flood. Birds were sent to indicate if the flood had dissipated. These are some of the many moments that symbolize intrical points which maneuver the stories along. All of these items and ideas bear similarity with two well-known myths, the story of Utnapishtim and Noah’s Ark. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the story of Utnapishtim and the flood that is reminiscent of the Biblical account of Noah and the flood, both utilize symbolism of the flood, the structure to survive the flood, and the birds to establish the theme that though beings are destructive, some will thrive and flourish.
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created-people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.”(Genesis 6:5-8)
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.
This paper, is an in depth comparison of the similarities and differences between the Bible characters Adam and Noah. Furthermore, this paper will examine the lives of both men as well as God’s influence in their lives. In addition, this will allow the reader to come to the conclusion that Noah is “A Second Creation”, a new beginning of mankind.
In both Gilgamesh and Noah and the Flood, man’s wickedness leads to death, destruction, and rebirth all caused by billions of gallons of water sweeping the earth’s surface. The flood in both stories destroys most of mankind. The floods represent rebirth and a new beginning for mankind, as well as the gods and God’s wrath. In Gilgamesh the gods decide to destroy mankind by flooding the earth for six days and nights. Utnapishtim is chosen to build a boat in order to restart mankind after the flood. In the Bible God also decides to flood the earth due to the increase in wickedness. God chooses Noah to build an ark and store seven pairs of every clean animal and two of every other kind of animal on it
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
The story of Noah and the ark is probably one of the most read stories of the bible. Perhaps it is because of the great tragedy it portrays, or because it is a story of salvation. Noah and his family along with the animals were saved from the flood, while the other people and animals perished as a result of it.
In the book of Genesis, we are introduced to everything. From the creation stories to the sagas in between Genesis is an opening to the old testament and an opening to the book of exodus. This essay will contrast each creation story and describe each stories interest, explain how Genesis 12: 1-3 links the stories of 2: 4b-11 with the ancestral narratives in 12-50 and connect the sagas of Abraham/Sarah, Isaac/ Rebecca and Jacob/ Racheal.
At the time of this story God saw how the thoughts of mankind were evil and he decided to destroy what he had created with a great flood intending to drown the earth. He chose Noah and his family to build an ark big enough to contain two of every animal to repopulate the earth. The world was flooded for a hundred and fifty days until the water subsided back into land.
Man had become wicked and only thought of wicked things which is why we had the great flood. 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 (genesis 6:5). Our wickedness as a civilization made God regret that he had made us; to me that means that we did and can be a slave to our flesh which is evil. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled (genesis 6:6). He was going to wipe out everything he had made if it were not for one man Noah, he had found favor in the eyes of God. This is the first time that one man has saved the human race from being wiped out. Later Jesus saved us from a certain death and gave us eternal life.
In the passage, “Noah Count and the Arkansas Ark” by Gary Blackwood, the author demonstrates the value of education and how lack of education can still be good. “Noah Count and the Arkansas Ark,” is about a young man who learns a valuable lesson from his family members. Blackwood uses dialogue between the characters, description of the story, and insight on the son’s thoughts to demonstrate the value of education and the acknowledgment to the people without education. First, the dialogue between the characters throughout “Noah Count and the Arkansas Ark” helps establish the values of education and the acceptance that the uneducated can still have knowledge.
The world before the flood was already in turmoil and ruin, enveloped in sin and chaos; it is in this world that Noah’s faith made him the only righteous man. God had entrusted in Noah to complete a very important task that would test his faithfulness to Him. God’s plan was to destroy the world by way of flood as the result of mankind’s misdeeds. He instructed Noah to construct an ark to save his family and all species of animals, two of each kind - male and female. All of them would survive in the ark while God sent down a watery wrath to be swept across the earth, wiping out everything in its path. Noah was obedient; his life revealed qualities of patience and persistence which made him the perfect candidate for the building of the
Someone once wrote “The Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time”(Noah and the flood pg.171). “ The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel” (the Epic of Gilgamesh pg.147). Both stories from two different cultures but despite the differences in the heroes, their gods, and the flood stories in “Noah and the Flood” and “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” both of these stories appear to refer to the same historical event the great flood.
Christianity and Islam are to very closely related religions, and they share the same origins, and some of the same history. The Koran and the Old Testament of the Bible are very closely related, in that many of the stories share the same points and characters. One of the overlapping stories is the story of the Flood. Although the main point or objective of the story is the same the means that each book gets there by is very different. Although in both Koran and in the Bible, Noah is the messenger to God, he plays opposing roles in each of the stories. The outcome of both though is the same.
Noah and Utnapishtim were both righteous men. They were both told to build a boat and they both complained about it. The flood was a result of man’s wickedness. Utnapishtim said “the world teemed, the people multiplies, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour”. The noise was so harsh that they agreed to “exterminate mankind”. Genesis states that “the earth was filled with violence” and that the world was “corrupt” . So God told Noah that “the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth”. The difference here is the way that the way the gods/Gods got the idea to destroy the Earth. Since man was sinning and making all