Noah and Gilgamesh

[rpp]

When I tried to go to that site, my firewall came alive and said the site was trying to plant 2 different trojan-horse programs as well as a key-logger.

Unlikely. I see nothing of the sort.

I have tried it a second time and the same thing happened. My firewall will not let me open the site.

 

[SFH]

I see some assumptions here that no one has commented on. Perhaps it is because I do not know the correct answer and one of you kind people can steer me to the correct answer.

The assumption is that the Genesis account of Noah was derived from the Epic of Gilgamesh. How do we know the reverse is not true?

Also, I have never ever heard that Genesis was written during the Babylonian exile. That seems unlikely and quite inconsistent with everything else I have learned. I have heard that the writing of Genesis was contemporary with the writing of Exodus.

Well, the authorship of the Pentateuch is a very interesting question. The latest version of the Jerusalem Bible (French edition) refers to it as a “crisis” because so many scholars now question the established view that Genesis-Deuteronomy was composed post-Exile.

I think the narrative of Noah’s ark could possibly be a combination of two oral traditions – one recognizes the difference between clean and unclean animals, the other does not. One uses Yahweh, the other uses Elohim. Where those oral traditions came from and when they were first written down, we don’t know. It is possible that the oral traditions were part of the Israelite heritage at the time of Moses, but it’s also possible that the oral traditions received more of their familiar elements later on. At some point, however, someone combined the two traditions into a single narrative. That could very well have taken place post-Exile.

By the way, almost every culture has some flood narrative, including the ancient cultures of North America. The fact that Gilgamesh shares many elements with the flood narrative in Genesis does not necessarily mean that the Genesis traditions were borrowed from the Gilgamesh story.

 

[utunumsint]

Spend some time on the Toledoths article.

I finished the first article. I have to admit, this is the first reasonable argument I have heard countering JEPD. I have never found any writings that contradict this theory.

I have to say, I am intrigued. Are there any books on this theory? Are there any other scholars who hold it? Are there any debates on this subject? Has the theory been reviewed by other scholars?

Ut

 

[utunumsint]

Hi,

I’ve recently seen a comparison of the Biblical flood text and the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. It seems as though the Biblical story was taken from the Summerian flood account, which is almost the same. The names are different, and references to “the Gods” is changed to “God”, removing any polytheistic sense.
Ut

I humbly renounce my earlier position.

Thanks to everyone who helped me see the “light”.

Ut

 

[rpp]

I humbly renounce my earlier position.

Thanks to everyone who helped me see the “light”.

Ut

I have always admired intellectual honesty. It is probably the fastest way to earn my respect.