Flood Stories

8-30-13                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Sidneynature1  HS

The Bible Vs. The Epic

2 Accounts of The Flood

There one was the earth and the people of the earth where a creative species. The people of the earth where artisans and storytellers. One of these stories, told by many cultures and religions is the flood story. Two famous accounts of this event are: Noah and The Ark and The Epic of Gilgamesh. These two accounts have many important differences.

The first major difference is the reason for the worldwide flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh the pagan gods were in a rebellious mood and decided to destroy the worlds creatures for entertainment. However the Bible has a fair, just reason for the flood: Earths people had rebelled and grown wicked and corrupt. God wanted to start over with a new beginning.

Second, the warning and the preparation in the two accounts are different. In the Bible, God comes to Noah and tells the exact dimensions and materials to use. God calls the animals and God Himself closed the door to seal Noah and his family safe inside.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh Ea, one of the gods, has to sneak off and tell Utnapishtim about the plans to destroy the earth. Ea was scared and powerless as he told Utnapishtim to build a boat out of the boards of his house. Ea then stood by and watched.

Last, the timeline described is vastly different. In The Epic of Gilgamesh Ea warns Utnapishtim, Utnapishtim finds someone to build the boat, the animals come, it rains for 7 days, the waters go down, he sees dead bodies on the beach, he sends out a bunch of birds and they find land, the boat land, everyone gets out and repopulate the earth. In the Bible account, God tells Noah to build an ark, Noah and his sons build the ark over a few years, and a week after completion the animals cease coming to the ark and God closes the ark. The rains begin, 40 days later the earth is covered and the water begins to go down. 150 days later the ark rests on Mt. Ararat, the second dove to be sent out finds that the earth is safe; God makes a promise never to flood the entire earth again.

There are such vast differences in these two stories. We just have to look to see witch one is reasonable.