Comparing the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical Flood Account
The Epic of Gilgamesh and the biblical account of Noah's Flood share striking similarities, leading scholars to compare and contrast these ancient narratives. Both texts describe a catastrophic deluge that destroys nearly all life on earth, with a single individual chosen to build a vessel and preserve humanity and animals [2, 5].
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero Gilgamesh seeks out Utnapishtim, who recounts the story of the great flood. Utnapishtim was warned by the god Ea to build a boat to save himself and his family, along with various creatures, from a flood sent by the gods to destroy humankind [2]. The flood in Gilgamesh is described as a universal destruction, with Utnapishtim and his family being removed to a distant "source of the streams" to live forever [2]. The eleventh tablet of the Epic, where the deluge story is told, corresponds to the eleventh month, known as the month of "rain curse" and marking the height of the rainy season, which may be an intentional detail [2]. The existence of a deluge story in the Hammurabi period, independent of the Gilgamesh Epic, suggests that the flood narrative was a widespread tradition in ancient Mesopotamia [1]. Sumerian versions of creation myths and the Deluge tale also predate Akkadian recensions of the Gilgamesh Epic [3].
The biblical account, found in Genesis 6-8, describes God's decision to send a flood to purge the earth of the corruption and violence that filled it [5, 7]. Noah, described as a "just man and perfect in his generations," was chosen by God to build an ark [5]. God instructed Noah to take his family and pairs of every living creature into the ark [5]. The flood lasted forty days on the earth, with the waters increasing and lifting the ark above the earth [6]. The flood continued for twelve lunar months and ten days, or exactly one solar year, beginning in the 600th year of Noah's life [5, 8]. This extended duration, lasting 150 days for the waters to prevail, is seen by some as a manifestation of God's stern displeasure at sin [10].
While both narratives feature a divine warning, the construction of an ark, the preservation of life, and a global flood, key differences exist in their theological underpinnings. In Gilgamesh, the gods send the flood due to their annoyance with humanity's noise [2]. In the biblical account, the flood is a righteous judgment from God against the extreme wickedness of humanity [5, 7]. The motivation for the flood and the character of the divine beings involved thus present a significant contrast between the two ancient narratives. The biblical account emphasizes God's long-suffering before the judgment, giving humanity 120 years before the deluge [4, 9].
Sources
- Project Gutenberg “Epic of Gilgamesh, section 39: the other hand, the proof for the existence of the deluge story in the Hammurabi period and some centuries later, _independent_ of any connection with the Gilgamesh Epic, raises the question whether in the old Babylonian version, of which our two tablets form a part, the deluge tale was already woven into the pattern of the Epic. At all events, till proof to the contrary is forthcoming, we may assume that the twelfth tablet of the Assyrian version, though also reverting to a Babylonian original, dates as the _latest_ addition to the Epic from a period subsequent ”
- Project Gutenberg “Epic of Gilgamesh, section 37: mankind, and in reply Utnapishtim tells the story of the catastrophe that brought about universal destruction. The moral of the tale is obvious. Only those singled out by the special favor of the gods can hope to be removed to the distant "source of the streams" and live forever. The rest of mankind must face death as the end of life. That the story of the Deluge is told in the eleventh tablet of the series, corresponding to the eleventh month, known as the month of "rain curse" [120] and marking the height of the rainy season, may be intentional, just as it may ”
- Project Gutenberg “Epic of Gilgamesh, section 5: Akkadian versions. All that can be said for the present is that there is every reason to believe in the existence of a literary form of the Epic in Sumerian which presumably antedated the Akkadian recension, just as we have a Sumerian form of Ishtar's descent into the nether world, and Sumerian versions of creation myths, as also of the Deluge tale. [16] It does not follow, however, that the Akkadian versions of the Gilgamesh Epic are translations of the Sumerian, any more than that the Akkadian creation myths are translations of a Sumerian original. Indeed, in th”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 22, section 4: time] at 120, ch. 6. sect. 5. Nor indeed need we suppose that either Enoch or Josephus meant to interpret these 120 years for the life of men before the flood, to be different from the 120 years of God's patience [perhaps while the ark was preparing] till the deluge; which I take to be the meaning of God when he threatened this wicked world, that if they so long continued impenitent, their days should be no more than 120 years.] 13 (return) [ A cubit is about 21 English inches.] 14 (return) [ Josephus here truly determines, that”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Deluge — The name given to Noah's flood, the history of which is recorded in Gen. 7 and 8. It began in the year 2516 B.C., and continued twelve lunar months and ten days, or exactly one solar year. The cause of this judgment was the corruption and violence that filled the earth in the ninth generation from Adam. God in righteous indignation determined to purge the earth of the ungodly race. Amid a world of crime and guilt there was one household that continued faithful and true to God, the household of Noah. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations." At th”
- Genesis “The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. -- Genesis 7:17”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Deluge, The — Sent as a punishment for the extreme wickedness of man -- Ge 6:5-7,11-13,17. Called the Flood. -- Ge 9:28. Waters of Noah. -- Isa 54:9. Noah forewarned of -- Ge 6:13; Heb 11:7. Long-suffering of God exhibited in deferring -- Ge 6:3; 1Pe 3:20. The wicked warned of -- 1Pe 3:19,20; 2Pe 2:5. Noah, &c, saved from -- Ge 6:18-22; 7:13,14. Date of its commencement -- Ge 7:11. Came suddenly and unexpectedly -- Mt 24:38,39. Produced by Forty days' incessant rain. -- Ge 7:4,12,17. Opening up of the fountains of the great deep. -- Ge 7:11. Increased gradually -- Ge”
- Genesis (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Genesis 7:10: In the six hundredth year of Noah's life,.... Not complete, but current, for otherwise Noah would have lived after the flood three hundred and fifty one years, whereas he lived but three hundred and fifty; Gen 9:28. in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month: as the Jews had two ways of beginning their year, one at the spring, and the other at autumn; the one on ecclesiastical accounts, which began at Nisan, and which answers to March and April; and then the second month must be Ijar, which answers to part of April and part of May: and the other on civil”
- CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 (Gen 1-23), section 10.10: stated, that man’s days on earth “shall be one hundred and twenty years”; but in Genesis 7:11 , we are told, that the deluge came “in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life.” This would pare down the one hundred and twenty years to one hundred; and therefore Calvin asks, “Where are the remaining twenty to be found?” To answer this question, he shows that there was something indefinite in the statement of Noah’s age in the first of these passages, and Moses does not say that the flood began precisely in that year. He therefore conc”
- Genesis (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Genesis 7:24: an hundred and fifty days--a period of five months. Though long before that every living creature must have been drowned, such a lengthened continuance of the flood was designed to manifest God's stern displeasure at sin and sinners. Think of Noah during such a crisis. We learn (Eze 14:14) that he was a man who lived and breathed habitually in an atmosphere of devotion; and having in the exercise of this high-toned faith made God his refuge, he did not fear "though the waters roared and were troubled; though the mountains shook with the swelling there”