Gilgamesh Vs. Genesis

The floods seem to be the greatest comparison between Genesis and Gilgamesh, yet have many differences. In Genesis, God realizes that things haven’t gone as planned and is not pleased with the evil that is now settling upon the earth he has just created.  “And the Lord saw that the evil of the human creature was great on the earth and that every scheme of his heart’s devising was only perpetually evil” (G6:34).God then decides to destroy the earth as it is and start over. “I will wipe out the human race I created from the face of the earth, from cattle to crawling thing to the fowl of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them. But Noah found favor in God’s eyes” (G6:34). Noah is the one man chosen, by God to survive this terrible flood he is planning to send forth along with a group of selected animals so there is something to start from once the flood is over.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is the character closest related to Noah and is also told to build a ship and is promised to survive the flood that is to come and wipeout mankind. The Gods reasons for the floods are the following. In Genesis it was man’s wickedness, in Gilgamesh it was the loudness of the people that irritated the Gods who then decided to destroy all the people below them. “The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood” (GigameshPg.91/14). Although there are a few differences between the stories such as the size of the ships and the length of the floods, the main point is the same. The Gods in both stories are unhappy with what is taking place on the earth below them and feel it is necessary to destroy everything on the earth and start over new. In Genesis the Gods ultimately regret their decision and in Genesis God promises to never do something of that nature again.