Gilgamesh tells the story of Noah's Flood
When the tablets were found of the story of Gilgamesh by Mr. Rawlson, he did not have
any idea what he was looking at, but he knew that it was old and valuable for History.
George Smith on the other hand was fascinated by the tablets and he began to study the
writing on them. Mr. Smith found out that he could read parts of the language on the
tablets and began to translate as much as he could of these tablets. While he was
translating the Tablet 11, he was sure that he found the story of Noah and the Flood. I t
was so identical to the Flood in the Bible, everyone that knew about the tablets, became
excited. When everything was translated though they discovered that it was not the story
of the Flood in the Bible instead it was a story of a young man traveling around the
country to find eternal life. He encounter a man (Utnapishtim) who told of a story about
the Flood he had witness and the adventures that had happen. What is hard to believe is
the fact that Gilgamesh's time was 5000 years before the Bible. Could this possibly mean
that the story has been handed down from one generation to another, for so long, that
people incorporated the story into the Bible when it was first written? If this is true, then
how many other stories were told from generation to generation and written in the Bible
without us ever doubting where the stories came from.
The most striking difference between the two stories is why the flood came about. In
the Hebrew Bible, God had become angry for the "wickedness of man..." 1 They had
been worshipping idols and doing other evil deeds. God decided to flood the world. In
Gilgamesh the gods sent the flood "Then came the flood, sent by gods' intent".2
Before the flood, both Noah and Utnapishtim, were warned. Noah because he found
favor in God's eyes and Utnapishtim because Ea had...