Comparison and Contrast: “The First Seven Years” and Genesis 29
Introduction
“The First Seven Years” and Genesis 29 have similarities and differences in the setting, characters, plot, and theme. “The First Seven Years” is a short story written by Bernard Malamud about a father concerned with his daughter’s safety and happiness, but the father’s plans do not go as he had expected. Genesis 29 is a story recorded in the Bible about a man who works for years for the woman he would like to marry. Malamud wrote “The First Seven Years” as an epiphany of the story in Genesis 29.
Setting
The times and places of these two stories contrast and do not seem to share any similarities. “The First Seven Years” took place around the 1950’s in a metropolitan area. Most of the plot takes place in or around the shoemaker’s store. Genesis 29 took place thousands of years ago in a more rural setting, Paddam Aram. I believe the settings are so distinctly different because it portrays the same theme applied to separate
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“The First Seven Years” begins with Feld and Sobel working in the shoe repair store. Max enters to get his shoes fixed, and Feld convinces him to call his daughter Miriam. Sobel is angered by this and leaves his job. Feld does not understand why. Miriam goes on a couple dates with Max, but is dissatisfied. Feld is disappointed, and searches for Sobel. Sobel confesses his feelings for Miriam, and claims he continued to work for five years in hopes of receiving Miriam for his work ethic. Feld decides he would approve if Sobel would work two more years. Genesis 29 begins with Jacob traveling to Laban. Jacob falls in love with Laban’s daughter, Rachel. Laban and Jacob compile a deal. If Jacob works for him for seven years, Jacob may marry Rachel. However, Laban deceives Jacob and gives him Leah instead. Laban tells Jacob to work for him for another seven years in order to marry Rachel. Jacob did
The Aqedah as narrated in Genesis serves as a prefigurement to the Passion of Jesus Christ. There are great typological similarities in these two narratives, but in the Gospel we find the reality of truth, Jesus, who is the completion and fulfillment of the type modeled by Abraham in the Aqedah.
Another way that these creation stories are similar is that the land came from beneath or was brought up above the water. In Genesis 1:9 "God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear '" here God pulled the water away from some land and it became dry and livable. The Sky Tree depicts that "all of the water animals began to dive down and bring up soil... and placed the soil on Turtle 's back. " this is what created the
...nt in both style and content. Where Genesis I portrays a creation in which an omnipotent God forms order from chaos and places mankind at the center of this new world, Genesis II delves deeper into the roles and origins of man and woman and their reason for existence. This juxtaposition of simple story and deeper meaning further illustrate the Hebrew culture's societal evolution and its conscious shift to a patriarchal system - a parallel transition from chaos to order.
Over the course of history many different people and cultures have tried to explain human existence. Many forms of arts have been used to express these theories and myths but nothing more popular than literature. Two of the most popular stories of creation include the biblical tale of Genesis and the Babylonian epic, Enuma Elish. Many historians have debated over which of the two stories was derived from the other. While both stories are different and depict different ideals of how the universe came to be they due hold striking similarities.
The Enuma Elish mirrors the subordinate disordered lives of the Babylonians that created it. Genesis mirrors the newfound freedom and idealism of the Jewish people who created it after years of oppression. These two writings contrast the differences between the ancient Babylonians and the ancient Hebrews. Creation stories give great insight into the lives of the people who created them.
There are many similarities between The Hymn to the Sun and Genesis. They are both insights of how the world was created, however there are many ways the two stories can be interpreted. The Hymn to the Sun focuses on the people of the land worshiping the sun because of its benefits. Light was the main symbol because it was a representation of life and positivity. The comparison of Genesis and The hymn to the Sun ranges from how light was created to how humans were created.
Chapters thirty-nine through forty-one of Genesis chronicle a portion of the life of Joseph, the eleventh, and most favored, son of Jacob. “The book of Genesis is an account of the creation of the universe (Genesis 1-2), the origins of human communities (Genesis 3-11), and the beginnings of the people set apart by God (Genesis 12-50)” (Hauer and Young 67). The Joseph story begins in chapter thirty-seven, and spans nearly fourteen full chapters; the book ends, in chapter fifty, with the death of Joseph. The narrative of Joseph’s life is well crafted and highly detailed. It is, in fact, the most comprehensive narrative in the book of Genesis. The story flows, from beginning to end as a novel would. “Unique, too, is the somewhat secular mold in which the biography is cast. The miraculous or supernatural is conspicuously absent” (Sarna 211). Although God is mentioned, as a presence, he never overtly presents himself as he did with the many of the heroes that came before Joseph. The ending chapters of Genesis are a coming of age story; the tale of a boy, becoming a man.
Other similarities closely tie these two Flood Myths almost mirroring the symbolic ideas within both stories. The number seven is very significant in both of these stories. In the story of Utnapishtim, the Boat he built was finished on the seventh day. Also the rain that flooded the earth, stopped on the seventh day. In the Hebrew story of Noah, the waters of the flood were upon the earth seven days after Noah constructed the arc. After the earth was flooded and the rain subsided, during two seven day instances, Noah sent forth a dove to determine if dry land existed nearby. The two stories also showed that the Gods gave specific instructions down to the dimension regarding the construction of the two boats and both men were ordered to keep the blood line of animals alive by sparing the lives of a male a female being of each species.
story. The account of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-3 is extremely similar to the
The flood of Gilgamesh was written before 2000 B.C, while the Genesis story was written in 400 BC Which was much later then the Gilgamesh flood. Biblical writers probably knew of the much older flood but revised it so that it fit with their own history and worldview. They most likely intended the original story with their own mythology. Despite the many similarities between the two stories, the differences are revealed in a number of different topics that distinguish the biblical version of the story from the ancient version.
Genesis, Job, and Antigone all discuss matters regarding the laws of god and law of man, punishments for disobedience, and the role of knowledge.
Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.
Within the texts of Genesis which belong to the biblical scriptures of the Hebrews, and the myths of Egyptian origin, there are a multitude of similarities and differences. When compared side by side, the most obvious factor of both texts is that a single God was the creator of all that we know today. In Genesis that creator is simply referred to as God, while in Egyptian mythology, the creator is known as Neb-er-tcher. Both creators have striking resemblances, such as the ways they went about the production of the world.
In this paper I will discuss three similarities and four differences between Enuma Elish-The Epic of Creation (King,1902) and Genesis 1:1-3:24 as described by Michael Fishbane (Fishbane, 1979). These writings are selected to describe the story of creation of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth. However, each author has a very different view and way of explaining what they have interpreted the sacred texts to mean.
Genesis is the first creation story. God creates, establishes, and puts everything into motion. After putting all of this in motion he then rests. He creates everything on earth in just seven days. Before creation Gods breath was hovering over a formless void. God made earth and all of the living creatures on earth out of nothing. There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was produced. Reading Genesis 1 discusses where living creatures came from and how the earth was formed. It’s fascinating to know how the world began and who created it all. In Genesis 1 God is the mighty Lord and has such strong power that he can create and banish whatever he would like. His powers are unlike any others. The beginning was created from one man only, God.