Deluge in Old Testament and Gilgamesh - Essay Example

Module Module ID: Deluge in Old Testament and Gilgamesh It has frequently been viewed thatthe accounts of similar incidents have been narrated in different ways in the historical records belonging to diverse societies and cultures of the world. It is particularly the case with description of Noah’s deluge in Hebrew Bible, and other historical pieceshave been preserved in literature. The present research aims to make a comparative analysis of the account of Noah’s deluge narrated in the Book of Genesis with the similar tradition of massive flood discussed in the Epic of Gilgameshbelonging to ancient city of Ur situated in primitive Mesopotamia, present day Iraq. The study is also interested in elaborating the differences both the sources of history maintain in their nature and scope. Since the incidents taken place in the world are described and preserved in different styles and manners, the same events could witness some dissimilarity because of the difference in diction and expression. The Old Testament serves as one of the most primitive Scriptures attributed to Abrahamic faiths, which provides the account of God’s commandments revealed for the complete spiritual guidance of humanity (Brown 10-11). The Holy Scripture, with the help of the tales of previous nations, warns the humans of the consequences of demonstrating non-compliance with the commands of the Lord of heavens and earth (Beckerlegge 64-5); the narration depicting Noah’ deluge and its causes, chronicle of events, and consequences, also serve as the source of inspiration for the followers of the Abrahamic faiths (Dimont 18); where the great incident of enormous flood has also been discussed in the Old Testament and latter Scriptures including New testament and the Holy Qur’an (Oommen 8-9). Noah’s character and the challenges he had to undergo had been elaborated in the Book of Genesis, which has depicted the plight of human society during Noah’s time (Genesis 6:6-8), some twenty-two centuries before Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Samuel 311).Being the most pious man of his nation, Noah had been appointed as the spiritual leader of his people, where he kept on preaching the worship of God, performing noble deeds and abstaining from wickedness for several decades, though an overwhelming majority of his people turned a deaf ear to his words(Blumenthal 90). As a result, the Lord ordered Noah to build a mammoth ark, where only the followers of the word of God could enterinto (Blumenthal 91). Noah was also asked to take the seven pairs of every clean beast, animal, bird and other living beings into the ark, so that their generations could be safeguarded from the subsequent annihilation (Genesis 6:14-16). Since Almighty Lord had found the offspring of Adam and Eve involved into sins and misdeeds, He had decided to shower heavy rains from the high heavens, which would destroy all the transgressors from the face of the earth eventually (Genesis 6:13). Hence, Noah was order to build a roof over the ark, so that he and his companions could remain protected from the heavy rains leading to the ruination of the entire community of transgressors subsequently(Blumenthal 92). In other terms, the Noah’s deluge, as per the argument made in the Scripture, served as the outcome of the wrath of Almighty Lord, where He intended to punish the transgressors for their malpractices and wickedness. Thus, the humans’ getting indulged into transgressions and sins led to the ruination of the entire generation of sinners and wicked individuals (Genesis 6-7). The Biblical accounts maintain that Noah’s ark consisted of different apartments, which had been constructedin such a way that all of them could get daylight and air that was essential for the survival of the living beings boarding the ark (Beckerlegge 132-3). As soon as Noah, his companions, selected members of his family and the pairs of living beings taken by Noah boarded the ark, it started heaving rains that were to continue for the next forty days and nights without interval or break altogether, which caused the annihilation of every human, animal, and other living beings existing on the earth and outside the ark. Consequently, the high peaks of hills and even the mountains were drowned deep into the rain water in the aftermath of consecutive rains(Beckerlegge 133). As a result, the signs of life looked perished away in the aftermath of great deluge. Despite the fact that the rain had stopped after forty days;nevertheless, there required the time of five more months in drying of the water from the surface of the earth. As soon as the water started getting dry, Noah sent a raven to enquire whether there had appeared any signs of life; however, the ravenreturned immediately because of the unavailability of anything to eat(Beckerlegge 132-3). Somehow, a dove was sent with the hopes after few days, which first returned with an olive branch, and departed soon never to return to Noah again (Genesis 8:6-11). The tale portraying Gilgamesh as the flood hero maintains close proximity with Noah’s deluge story narrated in the Old Testament. Created around 1800-2000 BC, the epic of Gilgamesh maintain several similarities with the tale depicting Noah’s deluge (George 3-4). The epic portrays King Shulgi of Ur (2094–2047 BC) named Utnapishtimas the flood hero, where the flood has been claimed to be taken place in the same river Euphrates according to both the texts on which the ark or boat was to whirl. In the same way, identical with Noah as the central figure of great deluge according to Genesis, the protagonist of the epic had also received the decree from the Lord with regards to constructing the gigantic ark (George 5). Furthermore, in Gilgamesh, a sinful and transgressor racial community, served as the follower of an evil called Enlil, had been punished by the Lord, because of their committing of sinful deeds. On the other side, the Biblical tale maintains that the flood was inflicted upon the wicked people of Nephilim because of their disobeying the commands of the Lord (Machiela 15). Both the tales discussed in Scripture and epic also elaborate the similar kind of preparations made by the hero while constructing the ark, where they were mocked at by the evil people for making the boat on land. Another similarity maintained by both of the ancient era tales argue that only the pious persons had obtained permission of boarding on the boat, though Biblical account also maintains that Noah had made requests to the people to enter the ark to escape the ruinations to be caused by the imminent flood. Both Noah and Utnapishtim have been portrayed as the favorites of Divinity, which had been bestowed special blessings and bounties from the heavens. However, the former had been portrayed as a pious man in Genesis, while the latter has been depicted as a king in the records narrating the Epic of Gilgamesh. Tablet XI of the epic has elaborated the character of Utnapishtim, where he has been demonstrated as a vigorous, dedicated and brave man (Frymer-Kensky 147). 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 benevolence in order to avoid and escape death forever in one way or the other (Frymer-Kensky 148). On the other hand, Noah had never been declared as perpetual or everlasting in any area of Genesis. Rather, God had bestowed His bounties upon Noah, along with blessing him with a long life because of his chastity and commitment towards God. Hence, Genesis’s flood hero would die after reaching the age of nine hundred and fifty years, while the Epic’s Utnapishtim remained alive forever (Frymer-Kensky 148). In the same way, one of the most significant differences between both the two works included Noah’s preaching the unity and oneness of Deity the Supreme Being, though the epic has referred to numerous gods, including Ea and others, whose help is begged for by the hero of the epic on the eve of construction of the gigantic ark. Furthermore, Genesis presents a picture that looks more inclined to spiritualism, and conveys the message of man’s true submission to his Master, Almighty Lord, and Noah does not look for any worldly pursuits. Nevertheless, Utnapishtim appears to be desirous for achieving eternity in his worldly life as a reward for complying with the commands of Ea (Frymer-Kensky 149). By making a conclusion on the basis of the above discussion, it looks evident that both the tales appear to be extracted from one and the same source. The chastity, devotion, benevolence, commitment and compassionate, could be noticed in both of the characters. In addition, two most noteworthy matters including the construction of ark and waiting for the eventual flood prove them the outcome of same source, though different traditions. Even the location of both the tales appears to be one and the same, which is ancient Mesopotamia. Nevertheless, Genesis portrays Noah as the most pious devout and prophet of God; on the other hand, Utnapishtim had turned out to be successful in attaining the divine status as soon as the deluge had abated. Thus, both the stories depict one of the most significant narratives of human history in different manners and tones, which affirm and endorse the advent of great flood in the present day Iraq. Works Cited Beckerlegge, Gwilym. The World Religions Reader. New York: Routledge. 2000. Print. Blumenthal, Fred. “Noahs Ark as Metaphor.” Jewish Bible Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 2 , April-June 2012 1-4. http://jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/402/jbq_402_NoahsArk.pdf Brown, Lawrence B. MisGod’ed: A Roadmap of Guidance and Misguidance within the Abrahamic Religions. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2008. Print. http://protectedpearl.webs.com/Books/MISGOD%27ED.pdf Dimont, Max I. Jews, God and History.Second Edition. New York: Penguin Publishing, 2004. Print. Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. “The Atrahasis epic and its significance for our understanding of Genesis 1-9.” London: Biblical Archaeologist. December 1977 147-55. George, A.R. The Epic of Gilgamesh.http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/2791031.pdf Machiela, Daniel A. The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation with Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13-17, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 79, Boston: Brill, 2009. Oommen, Varghese Chakkummootil. “The Bible and Quran as Basis for Christian-Muslim Relationship with Special Reference to Abraham.” A thesis submitted to the faculty of the free University of Amsterdam in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Theology. Henry Martyn Institute: International Centre for Research, Interfaith Relations and Reconciliation, Hyderabad, India. November 2003 5-58. Web: http://dayacenterforpeace.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Bible-and-Quran-as-the-Sources-for-Christian-Muslim-Relationship.pdf Samuel, Gabriella. The Kabbalah Handbook: A Concise Encyclopedia of terms and concepts in Jewish Mysticism. New York: Penguin Books Ltd. 2007. Print. Read More