The Purpose of the Biblical Flood narrative - 1977 Words

The Old Testament can be described as â€Å"an anthology of the literature of ancient Israel and early Judaism† (Coogen 2008) that contains many forms of writings and stories which address not only myth, main historical events and laws, but also those that follow the Israelites unique relationship with God. The first book of the Old Testament is known as Genesis, which is highly concerned with the world’s creation and its initial stages. It is also the origin of the biblical Flood Narrative concerning Noah and the Ark. The story is characterised by a man that is instructed to build an ark under the guidance of God, and take with him family members and pairs of animals, to survive a catastrophic universal flood. â€Å"The flood narrative belongs†¦show more content†¦Ea, a god that is unhappy with the idea of flooding the world, secretly instructs Utnapishtim to build a boat and to take with him animals in order to survive the impending flood. â€Å"Tear down the house and build a boat! Abandon wealth and seek living beings! Spurn all possessions and keep alive living beings! Make all living things go up in the boat! The boat which you are to build, its dimensions must be equal to each other:† (The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI). Similarly God says to Noah; â€Å"I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself and ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it:† (Gen 6:13 - 15, NRSV). Later in the chapter God reveals to Noah; â€Å"For my part I am going to bring a flood of water to the earth† (Gen 6:17, NRSV) and instructs Noah to bring into the ark â€Å"of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you:† (Gen 6:19, NRSV). Another example of the parallels within each story is the description of everything being submerged by water. In the Epic of Gilgamesh it reads â€Å"The sea calmed, fell still, the whirlwind (and) flood stopped up. I looked around all day long – quiet had set in and all the human beings had turned to clay! The terrain was as flat as a roof.† (The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI). TheShow MoreRelatedGENESIS AND ANCIENT MYTHS OF THE NEAR EAST930 Words   |  4 PagesWhen one approaches the biblical text, it is important to explore the cultural context in which the text occurs. With regard to the Book of Genesis, it is important to examine the writing with other contemporary works of similar geography and topics. The people of ancient Mesopotamia, where the oldest civilizations originated, produced a number of stories of creation and natural occurrences. 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Ugarit and Ebla.[footnoteRef:1] Many scholars have argued on the implication of the similarities in the Genesis flood story with Noah and the flood epic that was told in Mesopotamia ? Gilgamesh.[footnoteRef:2] Alexander Heidel has made several comparisons between the flood narrative in Genesis and the epic of ?Gilgamesh?. He discusses the problem with theirRead MoreComparitive Flood Stories Essay3018 Words   |  13 PagesComparitive Flood Stories Most comparisons between Genesis and ancient Creation or Flood stories can be classified as comparative religious studies. They generally involve one text isolated from its original historical context (e.g., the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish or the Flood tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic) and one related biblical narrative. 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Old Testament narratives serve two main purposes: (1) to chart the ongoing progress of salvation history, and (2) to provide illustrations of God’s nature and purpose and the appropriate responses of the people to God’s purpose (Fee and Stuart, How to read the Bible for all its worth, 2014) There a few main things to remember when reading Old Testament narratives; as the reader need to recognize the levels at which narratives function, keep the focus on God and his purpose for theRead MoreEpic Of Gilgamesh Literary Analysis1837 Words   |  8 Pagesmanner, the book of Genesis explains how God created Adam from a speck of dust from the ground (Bird 99). The similarities in the process of creation of Adam and Enkidu in each book set the tone for their future generations. According to Bird, the biblical story of Adam’s transition from the grace and tranquility he enjoyed in the Garden of Eden to his fall from the Garden of Eden is symbolic of the theme of love, disobedience, and its accompanying punishments. He noted that the accounts of the events