A comparison of Hebrew Flood Story, Babylonian and Summarian Flood Story - Research Paper Example

A comparison of Hebrew Flood Story, Babylonian and Summarian Flood Story Introduction The various flood stories written in the first and second millennium BC reflecting separate traditions and approaches tell us how the gods of different people tried to eliminate mankind and land animals using a flood. Only one man and his family were saved in each case. The Hebrew flood story, which is sometimes called the Genesis flood story, tells of a man called Noah, who was the only righteous man in his time. Noah was commanded by God to build an ark and gather a pair of all species of life; a male and a female, into it. These animals joined Noah and his family in the ark when the floods came. In a sense, Noah was the second Adam. He was destined to be the new progenitor of the human race. Those of his generation were destroyed because of their evil ways. The Babylon flood story was the first one to be discovered, and talks of Utnapishtim who is like the Biblical Noah who was used by the gods, to build a ship and save mankind. The Summarian flood story is a myth that talks of a Summarian hero called Gilgamesh who transverse the world to deceive death that is; he wanted to be immortal, and he came across an old man Utnapishtim who told him of the past incidents of the flood in Babylon that made him immortal. The flood story is copied from Babylonian Gilgamesh era, and it is one of the versions of Babylonian flood stories. Although it is not clear if Hebrew flood story was derived from an earlier Babylonian flood story, or the Summarian flood story was the one copied from an earlier Hebrew flood story, or that both of them were imitation of the same source that gives an earlier date for both of them. Similarities between the Hebrew flood story, Babylonian and Summarian flood story The stories shows how mankind had become intolerable to God and the gods and were guilty of sin thus were punished. In Hebrews story, mankind had become so immoral and evil; and in Babylonian story, they had become too many and raucous to god. The Summarian man kind was too noisy for the gods. The floods marked the turning point in the relationship between gods and man kind and he decided to use the floods to punish them for their sins. The Hebrew Flood story talks of Noah’s duty to safeguard mankind after God had punished them. In all the stories, there was a relationship between gods and the hero’s, this shows the cultural and moral perspective of the stories as floods are also used in each story, to show the common origin (Boadt 189). The stories show that there exists a Supreme Being that saw the human beings in the world as wicked and thus they should be punished and hence he destroyed the world by flood. The gods used one person in all cases to build an ark that will withstand the flood when he destroys the world. It is the same person that the gods use to create a new generation. In Hebrew flood story, he used Noah, one man who was his favorite to save his family and the representatives of all living creatures. In Babylonia flood story Ea the god of wisdom used Utnapishtim who was his favourite righteous man and he is the one who was warned and informed of the destruction through a dream. The meanings of the names although differ as Noah means “rest” while Utnapishtim means “finder of life”. None of the people used was faultless but, the gods considered them righteous compared to the people around them. In Summarian flood story, Gilgamesh was a domineering ruler to his subjects and they in turn, called upon the gods, to send him nemesis. It is the same persons that the gods ordered to build arks, which were to have many compartments, and it is the same boats that would eventually escape the floods. The human kind was to escape the floods by boarding the ark. At the same time, the people at that time did not have the technological know how to build such things as vehicles, or airplanes thus the ark was constructed. The gods further used these same individuals to warn the rest of the coming destruction by the flood of the Earth. The arks were build and sealed with tar or natural resin which is, a natural water resistant from the direction of the gods as there was no glue nor any other sealing material during that period. The arks were multi-storey wooden, had single doors, and at least one window as ordered by the gods to the so called hero’s. A world wide flood was sent by the gods, to drown all human kind, eliminate land animals and birds so as to punish and destroy the evil generation. There was a rainstorm that caused the floods. The stories of the floods occurred in the Mesopotamia plain in the Middle East, where, all these cultures in the different flood stories existed. In Hebrews flood story, the creation of human beings is in the setting of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers according to the Bible. The ark was built and on board was the chosen person by god, his family, a sample of all species of land animals and birds. The floods were going to kill all the animals and birds hence the need to take some on board. They also did carry food that they were going to use while on board for that period. A massive rain covered all the land, hills and mountains with water. The ark landed and rested on a mountain peak in all the flood stories in the Middle East after the overwhelming floods. The hero’s then sent out birds in intervals to check if any land was dry. In each case, some three birds were dispatched, and the first two birds flew and returned back to the ark while the third did not return thus signifying dry land around. Sacrifices were offered to the gods in each of the flood stories once the families left the ark. In the Hebrew flood story, God smelled the roasted meat for sacrifice, and In Summarian flood story, goddess Ishtar created a rainbow with her necklace (Dundes 246). The gods blessed them and used them to renew the world. The God of Noah regretted his actions after the destruction, and he promised never to do it again in the same way. In the same vein, in the Babylonian story the gods are indisputably apologetic and distressed about mans destruction that they had caused. In all this the gods are sorry in what they did. The differences between Hebrew flood story, Babylonian and Summarian flood story The Hebrew flood story, indicates that Noah received his instructions directly from God (Jehovah), after God sees the wickedness of mankind; while in Babylonian flood story, Utnapishtim received his instructions through dream after the Mesopotamian gods, are tired of the mankind noises, and the gods also obscure their flood plan from man kind unlike, in the Hebrew case. In Hebrews flood story, Noah is again told; judgment is coming, he has been judged faithful, and so must build the ark; while in the Babylonian flood story, the hero is dishonestly saved by one god. The boats in the stories are quite different as, Noah’s ark was three stories high and rectangular in shape that was ideal for seaworthy ship showing a real craft. The estimated dimensions being 547 by 91ft, and 450 by 75ft, while the Babylonian ark was six stories high and square magnificient boat of about 120 cubits high and wide with slate roof. The gods of the Summarian had no expertise in ship building thus the cubic shape and type of ship. Noah and his immediate family were the only ones in the Hebrew flood story, in the ark, while Utnapishtim invited additional people including his family, a pilot, some craftsmen and a great stock on board according to Babylonian flood. In Hebrews flood story, Noah’s ark landed on Mt. Arafat while in Babylonian flood story, Utnapishtim’s ark landed at Mt. Nisir ye thy were apparently similar. However, these two locations are both in Middle East, and are a few miles apart. According to Hebrew flood story, some water emerged from beneath the earth and the rains from above lasted for forty days and nights which, are symbolized as a period of judgment in the Bible. While, water came from the rain only in the Babylonian version, the water came only in the form of rain, and lasted only six days and nights, the sun was blocked out, and gods were frightened and all men except Utnapishtim were destroyed (King 178). The Summarian lasted only three weeks and included several seven day long events, while the Hebrew flood lasted for over a year. A raven was released once and a dove twice by Noah as per the Hebrew flood story, while a dove was sent first and a swallow sent in the second instance and later a raven is sent on the third time by Utnapishtim as per Babylonian flood story. The Hebrew God is called Yahweh, he did not destroy man kind randomly without warning, and did choose Noah because he was righteous; while the Babylonian god is called Ea and, the Summarian gods have human like nature in that they keep on fighting, plotting and misleading each other. The gods did destroy human kinds on a whim, and Utnapishtim was chosen for no reason. The offering details were also remarkably different; while Noah sacrificed burnt offerings of all the clean animals on the ark, without any drink offering, Babylonian offering consisted of wines and a sheep. The blessing each received was also totally different in the flood stories; Noah was promised to multiply, fill the earth, and have authority over the animals, while Utnapishtim was only granted eternal life. In Hebrew flood story, Noah stays in the boat until God himself summons him upon which he offers sacrifice of thanksgiving and blessing is given, while the Mesopotamian hero leaves the boat on his own accord upon which he offers sacrifices to win the favor of gods. In conclusion, the Hebrew flood story, the Babylonian and Summarian flood story help in conserving and liberalize Christianity as all of them talk of a flood which happened and was used to destroy the world. The vicious nature of gods in destroying the world with all the things in it is also explained and clearly shown. The dissimilarities of the stories do prove that they are not copies of each other, and that the Babylonian stories are a myth that resembles reality, while the Hebrew flood story, and is a logical and factual account of an event. The myths also show how Gods are created by the minds of human rather than being vice versa. Works cited: Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: an introduction. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2005. Print. Dundes, Alan. The Flood Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.Print. King, Leonard W. Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition. San Francisco: Cosimo, Inc, 2010.Print. Read More