The Bible vs the Epic of Gilgamesh - Assignment Example

The Bible vs. the Epic of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest poem known to mankind. It even pre s the Bible.IT was carved onto twelve tablets and shares several stories with the Bible. They both have an account of a flood wiping almost all of creation away, a story about a plant that gives desirable attributes, and a story about the downfall of a man by a harlot. The stories have similar plot lines but convey different meanings. Plants with Special Qualities In Genesis, God forbids Adam and Eve from eating from a certain tree. A serpent deceives Eve into eating the fruit. Eve in turn convinces Adam to eat the fruit. God punishes Adam and Eve for their disobedience and casts them off from the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were immortal before eating from the tree, and lost their immortality from eating from the tree. A sword of fire protects the garden to prevent future re-entry. God punishes the snake as well, by taking off its legs, causing it to slither on the ground on it belly eating the dirt for all the days in its life. God also puts a sword of fire so that Adam and Eve cannot attain immortality. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh about a plant which will restore his youth. Gilgamesh is able to acquire this plant, despite it being at the foot of the ocean. Instead of eating the plant right away, Gilgamesh decides to take a bath in a spring, placing the plant at the edge. A serpent takes the plant and carries it away and it Iis assumed that the serpent eats it, thus gaining the ability to shed its skin. This story lacks any involvement by the gods. Both stories depict that humans have intrinsic weaknesses. Gilgamesh loses his chance at immortality through his own folly as id the case with Adam and Eve. Gilgamesh was a human that is more closely related to the biblical depiction of Humans. Utanapishtim is nothing like a human even when he is human. This is why his flood story is in such contrast with the biblical counterpart. Though there are serpents in both stories, the biblical serpent has clear evil intent. The serpent tricks Eve by using the instructions God had given her about the tree of knowledge, in a cunning manner making the instructions sound unreasonable. Eve succumbs and convinces herself that God was being unfair and disobeys. It is unclear as to why the serpent does this, perhaps it is depicted as a tool used by the Evil one. It is punished and cursed and enmity between serpent and human is born. The serpent of Gilgamesh lacks evil intent and is quite simply an animal following its instincts. It smells the plant and seeing that it’s edible, takes it. Gilgamesh is unaware of this as serpents are naturally stealthy. This serpent doesn’t lose anything either, in fact he regains his youth. There is a clear stab at Gilgamesh in this story. Gilgamesh is not smart enough to eat the plant when he acquires it. The snake however quickly eats the plant after he takes it away from Gilgamesh. Though the snake is an animal, the story seems to praise his nature by rewarding him with youth. The people were perhaps envious of the snake, because of his ability to shed its skin, and its stealth. In each story, immortality is lost as a result of human folly. The biblical version depicts the presence of good and evil and the power of choice. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had been blessed with immortality but due to their own choices, they lost it. Gilgamesh did not have immortality to begin with, therefore he went in search of it. His loss isn’t as great, because he had nothing to begin with. Adam and Eve lose everything. In the bible, God is both active and perfect and because of this none of the mistakes happening can be put on him. All the blame is put on Adam and Eve. Gilgamesh however has no omnipotent being caring for him, which gives room for sympathizing. The Great Flood Humans from many different cultures, by nature, have a certain relationship with water. The differences between the stories highlight the views of the people that directly stem from their cultural beliefs. In this very manner do the Bible and the Epic Gilgamesh differ. The first difference between the two epics is the manner in which God is depicted. The epic Gilgamesh depicts gods as cruel and only marginally powerful while the Bible depicts God as all-powerful, all-seeing and all-knowing. This is evident through the accounts given. The gods of Gilgamesh are bent on destroying all of humanity. Utanapishtim, the hero of Gilgamesh survives the flood despite the god’s effort. This depicts the gods of Gilgamesh as limited in the reach of their power. In the account of the flood in the Bible, God is intent on saving Noah and his family as they are righteous and His plans are executed to the letter. The principal point being that the God of Noah is omnipotent. In each epic, the protagonist builds an Ark. However, there is a difference in what goes into the Ark that was built. Utanapishtim fills the ark with gold and silver, depicting a culture that valued materialism and wealth over the rest of creation. Utanapishtim does this in spite of the instructions of the god Ea, who had told him about the impending flood. The god Ea, had specifically stated that he should abandon all materialistic things but instead, to seek only the living to fill his boat. This shows that Utanapishtim was at liberty to disregard the god’s instructions, to defy in every sense of the expression. In contrast, Noah followed the instructions of God concerning populating the ark with living creatures to ensure their continuity. The God of the Bible has total control, there is no flexibility as is depicted with the gods of Gilgamesh. The flood in the epic Gilgamesh lasted seven days. In contrast, the biblical flood lasted approximately three hundred and seventy days. Near the end of the flood, each hero sends out birds to find dry land. Noah sends out a raven and a dove twice. The raven comes back, the first dove comes back with an olive leaf and the last dove does not return. Even though this signifies the presence of dry land, Noah waits for God’s instructions to exit the ark. On the other hand, Utanapishtim sends out a dove, a swallow and a raven. The swallow and the dove both return while the raven does not. When this occurs, he freely exits the act as he sees fit and offers a sacrifice. In addition to that, there’s a difference in the sacrifices they make. Noah sacrifices several animals by cutting them in half. God then makes a covenant with Noah, promising never to destroy the entire earth with floods again. In contrast, Utanapishtim sacrifices one sheep and boils perfume. The gods swarm like flies around his sacrifices after smelling the perfume and Utanapishtim curses Enlil, the god which brought the flood, saying his actions were both foolish and harsh in nature. He bans Enlil from His sacrifice, shunning him for destroying all creation. It is then that Enlil turns him and his wife into immortals, perhaps so that he would not hold a grudge for too long. In a nutshell, Utanapishtim has control over the gods. The gods of Gilgamesh are rash and lack foresight. This is a clear reflection of how Mesopotamians felt about their surroundings being a result of the nature of their gods. The biblical God has control over the environment and has foresight, reflecting how it’s people feel about the environment even if it’s unforgiving. A Man of Great Strength Meets His Downfall The last story is where a harlot brings down fall to a man chosen by God or gods. In the bible is story is about Samson and Delilah. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story is about Enkidu and Shamhat. In the bible, Samson was the last prophet before Israel decides to have a king. He is chosen by God to help Israel overcome its oppressors, which at the time were the Philistines. Samson falls in love with Delilah, whom the Philistines had paid in order to discover the secret of Samson’s strength. Samson is reluctant at first to reveal his secret and the first three attempts on Delilah’s part, bear no fruit. Each time he is ambushed, but he recovers as his secret is still hidden. The final time, Samson tells Delilah the truth and his enemies capture and blind him. While in captivity, he manages to regain a bit of his legendary strength, which he uses to push two columns apart in a large area where the Philistines were mocking him. He kills them all along with himself. Enkidu was created to Aruru, the creator of all humans. He was created to be Gilgamesh’s equal and to teach him the ways of friendship and humility. Enkidu’s creation is somewhat similar to creation of Adam and Eve. Enkidu was created from clay and with a certain intimacy. Enkidu is created in the forest, brought out by Shamhat and brought to Gilgamesh. He rebukes Gilgamesh for some of his ways. He then later dies regretting the day when he turned into a human. Samson and Enkidu are nearly the same. This basis for each character for some reason remained unchanged in both stories. They both do not drink wine, both have long hair, both have super human strength and they both have the same weakness for a woman that leads to their demise. Their stories however end on a different note. The bible looks at the defeat and flaws of Samson, while Gilgamesh looks at the good aspects of Enkidu while we was still alive. Enkidu’s downfall is much later in the tablets, he is created in the first tablet and he dies in the seventh. Because the tablets are missing many lines at the end, it is unclear about the exact death of Enkidu. However, there are things that are evident, Enkidu died with remorse for becoming human. He wishes to be a wild animal again and blames Shamhat caused his downfall. He curses her and is rebuked by Shamash. Shamash presents Shamhat in better light, which fills Enkidu with remorse. Enkidu ends up blessing Shamhat. There is plenty of ambiguity over the meaning of these actions. Enkidu’s death was tragic, Gilgamesh mourned over him over the entire eighth tablet. This reflects such a love of life and a grief over death. The biblical story did not mourn over Samson. Samson’s final act destroyed both him and a few thousand philistines. There wasn’t any lament on his part, and further more he failed Israel. The view of two harlots is on opposite odds of the spectrum. Shamhat is put in good light for bringing Enkidu out of the wilderness. Delilah is hated for causing the downfall of Samson. Even though each of their actions causes the eventual down fall of the hero, the intention is vastly different. Shamhat was following the instructions of Gilgamesh. She had no intent that was wicked or any kind of self-gain. Delilah sold Samson for pieces of silver. Though the story goes down a similar path, the intent of all the characters is different and gives us a different feeling. We feel differently for Samson than we do for Enkidu. Samson clearly saw that Delilah was deceitful. Delilah tied him up three times. Samson fully realized that Delilah was going to be his downfall and he still gave her the secret of his strength. There’s no sympathy for a character like that. Enkidu was more animal than he was man. He had no idea that Shamhat was going to be his downfall. Conclusion The bible and the epic of Gilgamesh have similar storylines but differ in the manner in which humanity and divinity is portrayed. The first story of Noah and Utanapishtim give us a great idea of how each culture views god. Noah’s story describes its God as omnipotent and omniscient. He is portrayed as the ultimate good in the story, sparing the good and destroying the bad. The gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh are almost on the opposite side of the spectrum. The only similarity is that they have some control over nature. Each is able to bring on the flood. The gods of Gilgamesh, however, after starting the flood run away like “dogs with their tales in between their legs”. These gods are put in a constant bad light. They are foolish and irrational, and Utanapishtim has every right to scorn them. God in the bible and the gods in Gilgamesh is clearly the most paramount character in which they establish their different views. The stories of the serpents are a commentary on the nature of human beings. The bible judges its humans in a much more unsympathetic way. Adam and Eve were given everything, including immortality, which they lost because of their disobedience. This is the starting point for the rest of humanity. While, Gilgamesh also loses his chance at immortality, we don’t judge him in an unsympathetic way. The outcome of his actions wasn’t entirely his fault. The snake coming by and taking the plant was purely chance. His bad luck was just as much as a factor as him putting down the plant to bathe. The epic does admit to human folly but it doesn’t blame it entirely on the human, giving leeway by explaining that things do happen by chance, and we can’t foresee them because we are human. These stories, though similar in plot, offer vastly different views on how the world is. The epic of Gilgamesh offers us a world where our fate is the hands of powerful beings who are chaotic and irrational, where humans are constantly struggling and suffering due to this. This view does explains how the first civilizations viewed our world in a sense. People make mistakes and the world can be a menacing place when it seems as though powerful forces are against you. The Bible gives us another view of the world where an omnipotent being works through a story where though it seems at times things are bad, it will always work out. This view of the world is equally valid. Though we bring about a lot of misfortune to ourselves, God is always willing to protect us when we turn to him. God also must be fair and punish us according to our sins. The world is how the ancient Jewish people viewed it. There is always a consequence to our action. When we humble ourselves and follow a righteous path we often find ourselves in a better place. These two works are ones that give us another window of understanding. We can understand our world in a better way when we see it through the eyes of others. The Bible and the epic of Gilgamesh have a profound impact on their readers by opening their minds to different ideas about how the world is. References Academy for Ancient Texts. Epic of Gilgamesh. Ancient texts library, n.d. Web. 7 November 2009. Amy-Jill Levine. The Jewish Study Bible: featuring the Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. Print. Read More