Compare And Contrast The Flood And Gilgamesh

The first similarity shown in both accounts is the divine planning of the floods. In the Bible, God faces the realization that he has created a human race, one now filled with evil and wickedness. God states he will annihilate man from the face of the earth. Likewise, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods decide man must be eliminated. The gods justification states, “the uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible…” Yet, while God’s judgment is based on the fact man has fallen from his favor, the decision of the gods seems like a choice based on inconvenience and annoyance. However, the resemblance continues between the two stories, as select individuals are chosen to survive the massive destruction. The salvation of

Depicted in both Genesis and Gilgamesh is the origin of the rainbow. In the Bible, God tells Noah, “I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” God gave his promise with the token of the rainbow that the earth will never be encompassed by a worldwide flood again. In the same way, the goddess Ishtar, from the tale of Gilgamesh, gave the gift of the rainbow as she states “O you gods here present, by the lapis lazuli round my neck I shall remember these days as I remember the jewels of my throat; these last days I shall not forget.” Ishtar has given her beautiful necklace to the heavens for all to see, a parable representing God’s gift of the rainbow. However, God promised Noah that a flood of this magnitude would never happen again, while Utnapishtim received no such promise. The similarities between these two ancient stories are uncanny, the global annihilation of humanity the ultimate goal. Yet, although there are resemblances, there are significant differences are well. Seen in the singular God verses the assembly of gods, the direct verse the indirect warning, likewise are the directions given for each boat, the length of the flood, the chosen birds to seek dry land, the differences in sacrifices made, and most important the promise and lack of one against a further flood, of similar nature. Although similarities do exist, nothing in history would forbid these same details from appearing at numerous times. In addition, Gilgamesh’s story is based on Mythology, while the story of Moses’ is not. Yet, one cannot dispute the