Is the Biblical Flood Account a Modified Copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh?

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/gilgamesh.html#QIruzd1LxbS2 ^

[truthfinder9]

Skeptics claim that the flood narrative of Genesis¹ is a rewritten version of an original myth, The Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Enuma Elish produced by the Sumerians. The flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh is contained on Tablet XI² of twelve large stone tablets that date to around 650 B.C. These tablets are obviously not originals, since fragments of the flood story have been found on tablets that date to 2,000 B.C. It is likely that the story itself originated much before that, since the Sumerian cuneiform writing has been estimated to go as far back as 3,300 B.C.

The dating of Genesis is uncertain, since the preservation of papyri is not nearly as good as that of stone. Liberal scholars place the date between 1,500 and 500 B.C., although the events are claimed to have occurred several thousand years earlier.

Epic of Gilgamesh

Here is a brief background of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was an oppressive ruler of the Sumerians, whose people called to the gods to send a nemesis. One nemesis, Enkidu, became friends with Gilgamesh, and the two went out on many adventures. Enkidu was eventually killed and Gilgamesh then feared for his own life. In his search for immortality, he met Utnapishtim, who had been granted immortality by the gods, following his rescue from the flood. Utnapishtim then recounted the flood and how he became immortal.

Similarities between Genesis and Gilgamesh

Superficially, the flood accounts appear to be similar:

1. Flood occurs in the Mesopotamian plain.
2. Main character is warned to build a boat to escape the flood
3. Main character is told to save himself, his family, and a sampling of animals
4. The boats were sealed with tar
5. The boats came to rest on a mountain
6. Birds were released to determine if the waters receded
7. Main character sacrificed an offering

Differences between Genesis and Gilgamesh

Despite superficial similarities, the differences between the accounts are quite significant. The table below lists most of the differences.

Significant Differences Between Genesis and Epic of Gilgamesh

Characteristic	Genesis1	Gilgamesh2
Reason for flood	human wickedness3	excessive human noisiness
Response of deity	the Lord was sorry He made man because of his wickedness4	gods could not sleep
Warned by	Yahweh (God)5	Ea
Main character	Noah ("rest")6	Utnapishtim ("finder of life")
Why character chosen	a righteous man6	no reason given
Intended for	All humans except Noah and his family7	all humans
Decision to send flood	Yahweh (God)8	council of the gods (primarily Enlil)
Builders	Noah and family9	Utnapishtim, his family, and many craftsmen from city
Character's response	Noah warned his neighbors of upcoming judgment as "Preacher of righteousness"10	Told by Ea to lie to neighbors so that they would help him build the boat
Building time	100 years11	7 days
Boat size	450x75x45 feet12	200x200x200 feet (unseaworthy cube)
Boat roof	wood13	slate (top heavy?)
# Decks	314	6
Humans	Noah and family7	Utnapishtim, his family, and craftsmen from city
Cargo	animals and food15	animals, food, gold jewels, and other valuables
Launching	by the floodwaters16	pushed to the river
Door closed by	Yahweh (God)17	Utnapishtim
Sign of coming flood	none	extremely bright light sent by the Annanuki (collection of Sumerian gods)
Waters sent by	Yahweh (God)7	Adad, with help from gods Shamash, Shullat, Hanish, Erragal, Ninurta
Reaction of deity to flood	in control of waters18	gods scrambled to get away from water like "whipped dogs"
Duration of rain	40 days19	7 days
Duration of flood	370 days20	14 days
Boat landing	Mt. Ararat21	Mt. Nisir
Deity's reaction to human deaths	no regret mentioned	regretted that they had killed all the humans
Birds sent out	raven returns, dove returns second time with olive branch, then leaves22	dove returns, swallow returns, raven does not return
Offering after flood	one of every clean animal and bird23	wines and a sheep
Aftermath	God promises not to destroy humanity by flood again24	gods quarrel among themselves, god Ea lies to Enlil. Utnapishtim and wife given immortality like the gods
Repopulation	Noah and family told to multiply and repopulate the earth25	Ea and Mami created 14 human beings to help repopulate the earth

What would be expected in any flood account?

Among the similarities between the Genesis and Gilgamesh there are some that would be expected to be found in any flood account. Since both cultures existed in the Middle East, it is not unexpected to find that both accounts occurred in the plains of Mesopotamia. The Bible described the creation of humans in the locale of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and never describes them expanding beyond that area prior to the flood. Therefore, this similarity (#1 on our list above) is just due to the nature of where the peoples lived.

Obviously, for humans to survive the flood, there would have to be a means of escape. A boat makes sense, since the cultures did not have the technology to build an airplane. Humans would not know that a flood was coming unless they were told so by someone. Therefore, the idea that the gods or God would warn certain humans would not be unexpected, either. Similarity #2 seems like an integral part of any ancient flood story, so does not constitute an unexpected similarity.

Since a flood would obviously kill livestock in addition to humans, it would make sense that the survivors should take some animals on board with them. They would probably want to eat during the time of the flood, so would be expected that food would be taken on board the boat. Therefore, similarity #3 would be expected in any flood account.

Since there was no glue or other sealing materials, it would be expected that the builders of the boats would use something natural that was water resistant. Hence, it is not surprising to find that both stories recount the use of tar or other natural resin. Eliminate similarity #4 as being significant.

The laws of physics require that wooden boats would float on top of the water (although this is questionable with the Gilgamesh boat, see below). When the waters began to recede, it would not be unreasonable for the boat to come to rest on a mountain or the foothills of a mountain. However, it would probably be expected that the boat would come to rest somewhere on the plains of Mesopotamia. Although superficially similar, the boats came to rest on different mountain ranges. The boat from Gilgamesh came to rest on Mt. Nisir, whereas the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat. Why these details would have been changed is unknown.

Probably the most unique feature common to both accounts are the release of birds to determine when the waters had receded. However, there are some significant differences between the two accounts. In Gilgamesh, a dove is sent out first, whereas in Genesis, it is a raven. The second bird sent is a swallow in Gilgamesh and a dove in Genesis. A third bird, a raven, is sent out in Gilgamesh, whereas the dove is sent out again in Genesis and returns with an olive leaf. In Genesis, the dove is sent out a third time and does not return. If the Genesis account was copied from Gilgamesh, these details were changed significantly for no apparent reason.

The seventh similarity was a sacrificial offering made to the gods or God, when the main character had been delivered from the flood. The details of the offerings were quite different, since the Gilgamesh epic describes the offering of wines and a sheep. Noah sacrificed burnt offerings of all the clean animals on the ark, but no drink offering. Although it may seem like an unusual thing to do, in the cultures of the time, it would be expected that an offering would be made as an act of appreciation. In this age, it would be expected that religious people would offer prayers of thanks or at least a "Was I lucky" (depending upon one's religious worldview). Therefore, similarity #7 should not be seen as significant.

What would be expected if Genesis were a copy of Gilgamesh?

The first striking thing that one notices when reading the Epic of Gilgamesh is how silly the story is. Part of the silliness is because of the obviously human-like behavior of the gods. They are constantly fighting amongst each other, plotting and deceiving each other. One would expect this part of the story to be removed from a Genesis copy. Therefore, we would expect that the Genesis account would be changed to involve some kind of judgment, since Yahweh (God) does not capriciously destroy humans, as was done in the Gilgamesh epic. It would, therefore, make sense that Noah would be chosen for his righteousness although Utnapishtim was chosen for no apparent reason.

Even with these major changes not considered, there are many dissimilarities that would not be expected from a story copied from another story. For example, the timings of the flood accounts are vastly different. The Gilgamesh flood took only 3 weeks, whereas the Genesis flood lasted over a year. The Gilgamesh flood included several 7 day long events. This "perfect" number is found throughout the Bible, so would be expected to be retained if copied from the epic of Gilgamesh. However, the Bible uses numbers like 40 and 150 - much longer timeframes.

The boats in the two accounts are quite different. The Gilgamesh boat was an unseaworthy cube with a slate roof. Obviously, such a design would immediately flip over or roll around in the water. In contrast, the ark had dimensions that were ideal for a seaworthy ship. This fact might be surprising, since both cultures were not noted for their nautical skills. It is obvious that the gods of the Sumerians had no expertise in shipbuilding.

Conclusion

We have examined the similarities between the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis flood account of the Bible. Although there are a number of superficial similarities between the accounts, the vast majority of similarities would be expected to be found in any ancient flood account. Only two similarities stand out as being unique - landing of the boats on a mountain and the use of birds to determine when the flood subsided. However, both of these similarities differ in important details. In addition, there are great differences in the timing of each of the flood accounts and the nature of the vessels. Why these details would be so drastically changed is a problem for those who claim that the Genesis flood was derived from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

There are a couple possible explanations for the existence of multiple ancient flood accounts. One - that Genesis was a copy of Gilgamesh - has already been discussed and does not seem to fit the available data. The other possible explanation is that the flood was a real event in the history of mankind that was passed down through the generations of different cultures. If so, the Gilgamesh account seems to have undergone some rather radical transformations. The story is a rather silly myth that bears little resemblance to reality. In contrast, the Genesis account is a logical, seemingly factual account of a historical event. It lacks the obvious mythological aspects of the Gilgamesh epic.

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Related Pages

• The Genesis Flood- Why the Bible Says It Must be Local
• Psalm 104-9 - Does it refer to the Original Creation or the Flood?
• Genesis 6-9- The Flood
• Enuma Elish, Alas: Did the Babylonian Creation Account Influence Genesis? by James Patrick Holding

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References

1. Genesis 6-9- The Flood
2. Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet XI.
3. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
4. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (Genesis 6:6)
5. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:1)
6. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:9)
7. "Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark--you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you." (Genesis 6:17-18)
8. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:3)
9. Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. (Genesis 6:22)
10. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4-5)
11. Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:32)
    Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. (Genesis 7:6)
12. "This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits." (Genesis 6:15) Cubit is ~18 in.
13. "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. (Genesis 6:14)
14. "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Genesis 6:16)
15. "And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. (Genesis 6:19)
    "As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them." (Genesis 6:21)
16. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. (Genesis 7:17)
17. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. (Genesis 7:16)
18. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. (Genesis 7:2)
19. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. (Genesis 7:12)
20. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (Genesis 7:11)
    In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. (Genesis 8:14) (12 30-day months plus 10 days)
21. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. (Genesis 8:4)
22. and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again. (Genesis 8:7-12)
23. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8:20)
24. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." (Genesis 9:8-11)
25. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." (Genesis 9:1)

[WorldviewDad]

So stating the actual scriptures is now an “obviously emotional occurrence”...interesting.

I also see that you make the claim that sin was in the world prior to Adam without ever giving any scriptural support for this idea. You know for a fact when satan rebelled and that it was before Adam...without scriptural support this sounds more like an “emotional occurrence” to me.
I would suggest that you read Ezekiel 28 it appears that satan was still an angel in the garden of Eden...

Ezekiel 28:13-15 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and diamonds, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw EVERY THING that he had made, and, behold, it was VERY GOOD. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

I would understand these scriptures as telling me that God created every thing (including the angels) and as of day six every thing was very good...do you think that God would think of sin as very good? Not buying that one.

Even the scriptures that you do mention support the idea of death from Adam's sin.

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

These two scriptures are either correct or are a lie...I will hold to them as being the truth and thus being correct so yes “by one man sin entered into the world”.

It would appear to me that scripture is being twisted to try and fit the billions of years into it, thus putting man's ideas over God's word. I will put my faith and trust in God and His word instead of man...if this is your emotional “straw man” so be it.

[WorldviewDad]

Do we have a sample of the original piece of material being tested in order to “prove” our findings with the dating techniques...no. We are assuming the original make up and then applying radioactive decay to that, thus getting an assumed date not an actual date.

Sorry but read Job...a hippo or elephant do not fit the descriptions. As for a literal animal that breaths fire...the only currently living animal that I am aware of that comes close would be the bombardier beetle that actually shoots fire from it's hind end through a chemical reaction to protect itself. If God can create a beetle with this ability then I can believe He could do it on a larger scale.

I do not see how in any of this I am “dumbing down” God's word. God said these things for a reason. I will take Him at His word and let man try to prove Him wrong, which they never will.

[Little Pig]

It would have to depend on how far back you go. According to the current evidence, “man” was pretty intelligent even as far back as 1million years ago. The med flood happened 5 million years ago, at a point when the available evidence doesn’t even show tool use.

[WorldviewDad]

I would disagree with your time line. There is no absolute proof that the earth is over a million years old let alone humans. And again God created man in HIS image. Being that God is all knowing, I would think that the first man was very intelligent (he even communicated directly with God)...even if he did mess up and cause the fall.

[One Name]

I was thinking that back in the day when we looked at some of the Greek that there was a distinction between physical death and spiritual death. ( my lexicons are boxed up but I plan to exhume them someday).

Not all creatures have eternal spirits, and those creatures are not necessarily then capable of free will choosing between good and evil, and hence incapable of sinning and do not suffer a spiritual death when they expire ( which I would feebly submit might be an eternal, conscious separation from God, Gehenna, lake of fire etc.). My recollection is that the wages of sin is the spiritual form of death in the Greek text.

That might change the picture you describe, but I certainly agree there is quite a bit of mystery with respect to giants, “sons of God”, behemoth and so on. I don’t think this is all that germane to our salvation but it does lead to an interesting study as to whether or not Jesus died spiritually or physically in payment for our sins.

I appreciate your thoughts and response.

[WorldviewDad]

I understand the idea of physical verses spiritual death but that still raises issues within the fossil record and scripture. There are fossils of humans...if we apply the spiritual verses physical death idea to these fossils then some how we have to believe that God created a group of humans with no spirit. I cannot find any support for this in scripture. This would also call into question the very character of God...creating humans that He knew would be destroyed with no chance of salvation.

This would also raise the issue that if the death in those verses are speaking of spiritual death only then why did Jesus have to die the very physical death on the cross when He could have just gone through spiritual death? This again would call into question the character of God.

The whole of scripture points to physical death being part of the process set into motion at the fall.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

The first record in scripture that anything had died (needed the skins)

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

[Belteshazzar]

“Maybe the Epic of Gilgamesh was a modified retelling of the actual account of the flood.”

Take out the “maybe” and the sentence reads just fine ... and then has the virtue of being true as well.

[keats5]

Genesis was written by Moses, inspired by God. Obviously, Moses was not around when much of the history recorded in Genesis took place. For example, Moses wrote about Adam and Eve, and the flood, but those events occurred before Moses was born.

Thus, it is entirely possible that the Gilgamesh Epic described the same flood as that later portrayed in Genesis. When Moses wrote of the flood, it was already history to him. What is “new” in the Genesis account is what God revealed about His own hand in the matter, whereas the Gilgamesh account is that culture’s man-made suppositions based on their pagan world-view.

[SunkenCiv]

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[GiovannaNicoletta]

I am a literalist who believes that there have been other ages on the planet, and other cataclysmic events ( at least one other worldwide flood) meteor strikes, etc.

I think you're 100% correct.

[Monkey Face]

Elsie, have you been busy without telling me? This sounds like something you’d espouse. Or try to ‘splain!

[LiteKeeper]

I'll go with the Word of God...the Biblical account.

My 9 years of research on the first 11 chapters of Genesis leads me to believe that the Flood account was written by Noah and Shem, and handed down in the form of cunieform tablets...eventually to Moses.

[LiteKeeper]

Taking the Bible, as I do, the Flood was probably in 2256 BC...a little more recent than what some have proposed.

[bigheadfred]

I don’t think visual acuity has anything to do with it. It is simply sloth. Opprobriumiscuity. It really is amazing how historically magical seven is though. Seven brides for seven brothers. The seven dwarves. The magnificent seven...

[SunkenCiv]

Opprobriumiscuity.

Wow. That's my pick for "coinage of the week".

[Domestic Church]

Catholicism allows for either perspective, you can be fundamentalist or you can agree with the theory of evolution or any number of views between the two. It is not written anywhere that you must be one or the other.

[Elsie]

I’ll have to go along with what was said in #68.

[calex59]

Let me say I am not particularly religious, but would be open to belief if not for one over riding fact.

Here is the problem: Where did the extra water come from? There is only so much water on earth, not enough to cover the entire land mass of the world. If extra water(enough to flood the world)came from some external source where did it go after the flood? It couldn't simply evaporate because it would then rain back to earth again and the waters would never recede as there would be no place for it to drain off to.

Therefore this was not a world wide flood, it had to be localized to some specific area. Granted, God might be able to produce enough water to flood the world and then siphon it off somewhere into space but if he has that kind of power(and he would have) why bother with water? Why not just kill the sinners outright as he did with Sodom and Gomorrah? Why go through the whole messy business of a flood?

I don't think he chose to drown the world with non-existent water, I think a local flood caused such a catastrophe that it was written up as a world wide calamity(which it would certainly seem like considering the state of communications at the time).

[piroque]

"Not well worded, I know, but I have yet to see any science which causes me to even slightly doubt the Word of God."

one name I agree with you

[Monkey Face]

Me too!
:o])