Archetype Of Flood In The Bible

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live 4,000 years ago? When people feared monsters, giants and Gods? The flood stories of Gilgamesh and Genesis are very similar and happen at about the same time, which means there could be two different people who wrote about the same thing. Both of the stories tell about a huge flood that almost destroyed humanity but in different ways. In both of the stories they each talk about a boat that survives the flood. They both have a God or Gods who control what happens.

Throughout the Genesis Flood, Atrahasis Flood and the Epic of Gilgamesh flood, there are many different ways to interpret the different views of The Flood. These different narratives in these stories have their own explanation on how this myth took place and the different beliefs that occurred during this flood. The way you portray each narrative is based on what exactly your beliefs are.

“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)

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.

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

God also told Noah about the plan for the flood, and what he was to do with the ark. Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives would all be on the ark an spared from the destruction the flood would cause. Along with his family, God wanted Noah to bring two of all living creatures, one male, and one female. Brining a male and a female of each kind of creature would allow them to reproduce and repopulate their species. The last thing God commanded Noah to do was to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and stored for his family and the creatures.

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.

(1995-2013) Finally, many evolutionists use the Grand Canyon as proof for millions of years, but evidence shows it actually formed from the overspill from two post-Flood lakes. (Creation Today, n.d.) Obviously, all of this evidence creates major problems for evolution, but is fully explained by Noah’s Flood.

K.A. Kitchen names nine differences and seven similarities in the two traditions. The two narratives claim that the decision to send the flood as punishment was divine (made by deity); a chosen person (man) is instructed to save himself and his family, together with living animals and to do this he is asked to build an ark (boat); the flood destroys everyone else on the earth. The boat eventually rests on a mountain and the birds are sent out off the boat to see if there is any land that is habitable. The chosen man eventually sacrifices to the divine and humanity is renewed on the earth.[footnoteRef:7] For Kitchen, the differences are that in the Genesis narrative, deity (God) observes the wickedness that was done by the humans on the earth

Legends of a great flood exist in the records of many cultures: the Middle East, Asia, South America. One Babylonian document in particular, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” parallels the story of Noah and the flood. The Bible presents the flood as an act of God against rebellious people, not merely an accident of geography or climate. The churning waters described stand as a

This term paper compares the flood story in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible and the flood story in Gilgamesh. It identifies links

In the Bible the reason God sent the flood was because he saw that there was a lot of sinful things in the world and he was upset. He saw that Noah and his family were the only ones that stayed true to want God wanted in his people. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the Gods and Goddesses saw that the people in the earth were evil and they decided that they wanted to completely restart the world and kill every human and animal. Ea went against the other Gods and told Utnapishtim in a dream to build a boat because he saw something in Utnapishim that was not in other people. In the Navajo flood story the Gods did not send the flood to kill the people or to restart the world. The flood happened in this story because the coyote stole the sea monsters baby, and the sea monster wanted his baby

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.

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

Almost all myths around the world have the particular section on the “Great Flood.” It has been universal, indicating that at some point in their lifetime, all of the cultures experienced a flood that almost wiped