Common Stories of the Past
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Common Stories of the Past
Despite the numerous obvious and practically identical parallels, the story of Noahs Ark and the Epic of Gilgamesh hold both complete and subtle differences. The stories have separate beliefs, judgment of character, and attitudes. The similarities range from similar beginnings and endings to similar storylines and the differences range from the cause of the flood to the gifts God bestows upon his people.
In the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh, there are seven stages, which is similar to that of Bible because the number seven is reoccurring. In both stories the actions both God and Gilgamesh either affect the entire nation or seem to completely alter the world. In the Epic of Gilgamesh and in Genesis, when the gods or God is angry, they or he takes out their wrath on the people. The tale of Gilgamesh begins with people feeling discontent towards their king. The gods hear the cries of the people and commence their journey to change Gilgamesh. As in Genesis, when humankind attempts to equate their existence to that of the heavenly Father, they are severely punished. The story of Noah says that man was becoming to righteous, they are punished for their sins because only God can be sinless and blameless for his actions. There is an evident counter theme in which God is displeased with his creation of mankind, and acts accordingly to his displeasure. On the contrary, God has chosen from the people his favorites. On these individuals, God bestows countless blessings of which he creates great nations. When the heroes are bestowed with the opportunity both complain saying that the task is too difficult, yet the divine insists on their allegiance and tells them to build a boat. In both stories, the flood brings out some aspect of human nature in the divine. Genesis and Gilgamesh both include one man being chosen by the gods (or God) to survive the flood. He will build an ark to fill with his family and two pairs of every living creature. Unfortunately, all the rest of mankind is eliminated because God (or the gods) was displeased with them. In both accounts, after the devastation of the flood, the divine regrets the decision that he made in such haste and vows to never do it again. Both stories include the releasing of birds to see if the water had receded and once they found land, both offered a sacrifice resulting in them being blessed. The ultimate resemblance in both tales is that the people anger God and he uses his power to extinguish humanity and start over with one man who is worthy.
The story of Gilgamesh is polytheistic and the story of Genesis is monotheistic. In Gilgamesh, the gods found the noisiness of the people to be interrupting their rest. On a sudden whim of anger, it is decided that a flood will rid of them of their nuisance. In Genesis, God found mankind to be wicked, which was displeasing to Him; therefore He would extinguish them