COMPARE AND CONTRAST: THE FLOOD STORIES
Below are two mythic stories of a great flood that threatened to wipe out all life on earth. One of these stories comes from the Bible and the other comes from ancient Sumerian Texts. In this assignment, students will compare and contrast these two stories.
-Step One: Complete a Venn Diagram to explore the similarities and differences between the two stories.
-Step Two: using your Venn Diagram, write a four paragraph essay including these parts:
- Introduction (2-3 sentences)
- How is Noah’s story similar to the Sumerian Myth?
- How is Noah’s story different from the Sumerian Myth?
- What does the Biblical story of Noah tell us about God and God’s relationship with humanity?
Noah and the Flood:
God saw how wicked the human race had become and decided to destroy all life on earth. However, among all the people of the earth there was one righteous man and his family, Noah – and he found favor in God's eyes. So God told Noah that he was going to send a great flood upon the Earth, and that Noah should build an ark for him and his family
God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, both male and female, and seven pairs of all the clean animals, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah, as always, obeyed everything God commanded him to do.
After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. And after that, the earth remained flooded for one hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out.
Noah, his family, and the animals waited patiently for the dry land to appear – and Noah sent out animals to search for the dry land. He sent out a raven, but it didn’t find any land. Then, he sent out a dove. The dove came back with an olive branch, showing Noah that dry land had appeared again.
As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.
Finally after an entire year, the earth was dry enough for God to invite Noah out of the ark. Immediately, Noah built an altar and worshiped the Lord and sacrificed with burnt offerings from some of the clean animals. God was pleased with the offerings and promised never again to destroy all the living creatures as he had just done. Later God established a covenant with Noah: "Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." As a sign of this everlasting covenant God set a rainbow in the clouds.
Utnapishtim and the Flood:
Utnapishtim, the survivor of the flood that almost wiped out humankind, and this isthe story he tells:
Once upon a time, he says, he was king of Shuruppak, a beautiful, prosperous city on the banks of the Euphrates. Then the gods met in secret council. They met to decide what to do about humankind, because they were far too noisy and keeping the gods up at night! So, Enlil – the most powerful god – ordered a flood to destroy humankind.
Ea, the cleverest of the gods, had sworn he wouldn’t tell humanity what was about to happen. But, he didn’t like Enlil’s plan. So, he secretly told the gods’ plans to Utnapishtim. Making sure Utnapishtim was close by,Ea spoke the words of the plan loudly from his house so that it could be heard outside! Utnapishtim heard everything!
Ea warned that the gods would be sending a terrible flood, and spoke of a way to live through the flood. Speakign loudly so Utnapishtimcould hear clearly, he proclaimed that a boat should be made: a boat of immense dimensions, ten dozen cubits in height (approximately 180 feet) with six decks and one acre of floor space, and load it up with the seed of each living thing and with his family and possessions.
When the storm came, the gods clambered up as high as they could go and cringed in terror. It rained for 6 days and nights. Ishtar – the mother goddess – wept to see her children being destroyed. But, unknown to the rest of the gods, Utnapishtim was safe in his boat.
Eventually, the boat ran aground on a mountain peak that was close to the surface of the water. After seven days, Utnapishtim released a dove. When it couldn’t find a dry place to land, it returned to the boat. Utnapishtim then released a swallow. It too returned. Then he released a raven, and it never came back – telling Utnapishtim that dry land had appeared.
Upon finding the dry land and getting out of his boat, Utnapishtim prepared a sacrifice. The gods of heaven were famished and gathered around the altar to smell the sweet smells.
Ishtar – the mother goddess – came down wearing a necklace of lapis lazuli made of beads shaped like flies. She was sorry that she didn’t do anything to save humanity. She said she would forget this calamity and would remember to keep humanity safe anytime she looked at her special necklace—nor would she forgive Enlil, since the flood was his idea and he never discussed it with the other gods.
Finally Enlil came down to inspect the sacrifice. He was angry that a human had lived! But, the other gods made him see the error of his ways. Enlil listened and understood. He took Utnapishtim and his wife by the hands and made them kneel. Then he touched their foreheads and blessed them, turning them into gods. For saving humanity, he granted them eternal life. But they alone deserved that gift.