Noah And The Flood As A Figurative Allegory

“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.

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

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.

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

God cast Adam and Eve out of garden. The Flood: * God cause rain for first time. * Noah, only good human on earth. * Noah and 3 sons build Ark. *

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.

Noah respected God and did every duty that was asked of him. “Noah was kindhearted and followed the rules” (Genesis 6:7).

The Genesis narrative of the flood also provides a lesson for our Christian faith today. “So, the Lord said, ‘I will

“The earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood,” says John Shimkus, a U.S representative and devout member of his Lutheran church in Illinois. In the epic of Gilgamesh and the Flood of Noah, both stories depict deluges meant to wash the sin and wickedness from man. Both floods are global, both characters righteous, and both men experience some kind of salvation after surviving the spate. Thus, they allow the redemption of humankind. The flood is new beginning, a fresh wash of an existence that humans have tainted and after they are graciously allowed a second chance by their benevolent God(s).

And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

In the Bible God becomes regretful of creating mankind because he sees that they are wicked and they only have evil thoughts. The Lord decides, he "will destroy human beings I made on earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. I will also destroy the birds of the air." (Genesis 6:7) After God makes his

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. For forty days the flood kept coming on earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The water rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.