Flood in Gilgamesh and Genesis - Essay Example

Flood in Gilgamesh and Genesis Epic of Gilgamesh serves as one of the most ancient pieces of literature describing the ancient civilization of Uruk (present-day Iraq) with focusing on the activities and gallantry of the fifth king as well as the protagonist of the epic i.e. Gilgamesh. Preserved in twelve tablets, the epic depicts the protagonist’s deplore over the death of his companion Enkidu, and his desire to become immortal in order to escape from the clutches of death forever. His intense wish to become immortal led him with his meeting with the renowned flood hero Utnapishtim, who had been blessed with immortal life by the gods. Discussed in Tablet XI, the character of Utnapishtim maintains proximity with the respectful spiritual Biblical personality Noah, story of whom has been elaborated in details in different parts of the Old and New Testaments including Book of Genesis chapter 6 to 8. The similarities and dissimilarities between both these texts is analyzed in the following paragraphs: Genesis portrays the flood hero or Noah as a holy and spiritual personality (and prophet too), who obeyed all the commands of God in their true spirit, and led a pious and sacred life. Contrary to the overwhelming majority of his nation, Noah always avoided practicing evil, and turned down the filthy enticements made by the same satanic forces, which had paved the way towards the fall of Adam and Eve from heavens. Since the large majority of the people had got indulged into malpractices and wickedness of various types, Lord God the Creator, according to the Bible, had turned out to be fed up with the misdeeds of the children of Adam and Eve. Consequently, He had decided to send heavy rains from the sky causing a catastrophic flood, which would drown the entire humanity besides Noah, his family and companions. Thus, God sent command to Noah decreeing order of constructing a huge ark, where his family, companions and one pair each of every living creature could be ridden in the ark in order to preserve the generation of the creatures by protecting them from the ruthless waves of flood. The ark, would carry several apartments and portions, which will receive daylight and air for their survival. Hence, the Noah’s flood, according to Genesis, was the outcome of the wrath of Almighty Lord because of the misdeeds and transgressions and sins and offences committed by humans on the face of the earth; which destroyed the entire human generation consisted of violators, sinners and mischievous individuals. The rain continued for forty days and nights, which destroyed every human being, animal, beast and reptile existing on the earth, and even the high mountains were drowned deep in the water. Hence, the signs of life perished away in the heavy rain, and the earth was deprived of any kind of vegetation and greenery even. At last, the rain stopped, and the ark stayed at its destination after five months. However, it took five more months in drying of the water. Noah relieved raven with the hope of the signs of life on earth, but it returned in a hopeless manner. Then Noah sent the dove, but it also returned in despair; however, its second return was hopeful as it had olive branch in its beak, and on its third relieve, it did not return to Noah. Noah was ordered to step down the ark by the Lord, and he did the same along with his family. He built an altar and offered sacrifice to his Lord, and paid his humble gratitude for His favors and bounties upon him and his family. The epic of Gilgamesh shares many similarities with Noah’s tale, where flood took place in the same river Euphrates according to both the texts on which the ark or boat was to whirl. In addition, like protagonist of Genesis, flood hero of Gilgamesh was also instructed by the deity for building the ark. Moreover, the flood was sent from heavens against the transgressor race named Nephilim according to the Scripture, while the same preparations of building the boat were strictly against the followers of the non-believer and rebel Enlil. Both the tales describe that the flood hero was instructed to keep obedient humans and pairs of every creature in the boat, where wealth, possessions and other worldly things were forbidden to be taken away along with. Hence, the main objective of creating the ark was spiritual in nature instead of pecuniary or worldly at large. However, the epic expresses in details the constructing of boat by providing each and every detail of the structure and compartments of the same; on the other hand, the Scripture lays stress upon the spiritual aspects of building the boat instead of providing details of its interior. In Gilgamesh, the flood hero is called Utnapishtim instead of Noah. Somehow, like Noah, Utnapishtim was also the favorite of gods, who had been blessed with immortality for performing heroic deed of constructing the ark. Being the gods’ beloved and perpetual as well was a matter of great envy for Gilgamesh, who was eager to seek Utnapishtim’s support for obtaining the same kindness in order to avoid and escape death forever at any cost. Somehow, Genesis never declared Noah as perpetual; instead, he had been blessed with a long and vigorous life because of his piousness, dedication to God, and perpetuity through his coming offspring. Thus, Genesis’s flood hero would die after reaching the age of nine hundred and fifty years, while the Epic’s Utnapishtim remained alive forever and ever. Another major difference between both the literary pieces under investigation includes that Epic of Gilgamesh draws out multiple gods, support of one of whom called Ea is sought by the protagonist for building the ark. On the contrary, Genesis lays stress upon the oneness of God, complying with the commandments of Whom is the only motif behind Noah’s constructing the ark as well as leading his life. In addition, Genesis narrated that the rain causing flood lasted for forty days and nights, while the Epic viewed the duration of rain for seven days only. Both the pieces allude to the relieving of raven and dove from the ark by the flood hero in the wake of the end of flood, though swallow was also released by the hero in the epic. Both the stories describe the sacrifice made by the protagonist in the altar, though Noah only sacrificed the clean animals in the way of God, while the unclean animals were set free from the ark to go astray wherever they liked. Another great difference between both the tales includes that Genesis is spiritual in nature, and exhibits direct link and relation with Almighty Lord, where there was no greed of worldly gains behind Noah. On the other hand, Utnapishtim obtained perpetuity and eternity in the life on earth against obeying his god. Similarly, in Genesis, the speaker is God Himself, Who praises Noah for his steadfastness, obedience and compliance; on the contrary, the epic has been narrated in a dialogue form, where both Gilgamesh and Utnapishtim address to one another term by term. To conclude, it becomes crystal clear that both the tales appear to be extracted from the same source, where the protagonists are kind, compassionate, complying, dedicated and sacrificing. Both have been ordered to build the ark, and both are bound to keep the pairs of different creatures. Both the flood hero take the ark to the safe harbors out of the sheer bounties of the Supreme Being, and both the heroes present sacrifice as a sense of gratitude to the Lord. However, Noah looks more sublime in nature, who seeks no further favors on rendering services for God. Noah remains a pious man and prophet, while Utnapishtim achieved the status of deity at the end of the tale. Thus, both the stories depict one of the most significant story of human history in different manners and tones, which affirms and endorses the advent of great flood in the present day Iraq. Read More