Comparing Noah And The Flood From The Epic Of Gilgamesh

“I will blot out from the earth the men whom I created--men together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them.” (Noah 171) Both in “Noah and the Flood” from Genesis and “THE STORY OF THE FLOOD” from the Epic of Gilgamesh there is a flood narrative showcased; imposed by the God or gods to erase mankind and all creatures on the earth. In this essay, I will go through how each story explains the God or gods' actions before the flood, the characters' actions and the flood narrative during the flood, and the stories' actions after the flood. While there are some prominent similarities, there are also many differences that split these stories into their distinct narratives. In both stories, the Gods decided to erase all life on earth.

In “Noah and the Flood” God says that he wanted to remove life for the fact that humankind had become too evil. “The Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time.” (Noah 171). On the other hand, the gods in “The Story of the Flood” claimed that the humans were making too much noise. “Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the gods in council ‘The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of babel’” (Story of the Flood 146). After the God or gods made their decision, somebody on earth was notified of the coming disaster. In “Noah and the Flood” God told Noah to his face to make an ark, for Noah was the most righteous person on earth at the time. “God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them’” (Noah 171). In “The Story of the Flood” a god named Ea told Utnapishtim secretly through a dream to build a boat. “So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. Enlil did this, but Ea because of his oath warned me in a dream.” (Story of the Flood