Episode Transcript
Carey Griffel: Welcome to Genesis Marks the Spot, where we raid the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel and it's another episode about the Flood today. This time, getting into the first bit of parallel literature that is pretty obvious to start with, and that's the Mesopotamian flood stories.
[00:00:31] Because some of you might be fairly new to the podcast, I will just say briefly that there are reasons beyond the question of historicity that will make us want to look into parallel flood accounts. These texts have a lot more value than that. Of course, you'll frequently hear that there are so many flood accounts out there, and this proves that the flood was historical.
[00:00:57] But we don't use these same ancient accounts to prove other things, such as the gods causing epidemics or droughts. And not all of these people will claim that these other flood accounts prove the existence of the Babylonian gods, or any of the other details that happen to be in these stories. So what we need to do is try not to make a case for historicity based on special pleading.
[00:01:24] If we're just picking the elements of pagan literature that we like and saying those are true, but not allowing anything else about the account to be true, that's a case of special pleading. That kind of thing doesn't help your case overall. Now, the idea usually is to try to make a cumulative case. Like, if there are enough widespread ancient accounts out there, then it becomes more likely that they might have arisen from an ancient memory.
[00:01:56] But I really do mean widespread accounts, because we have to realize what an impact Babylonian culture and literature has had on the world. We can even trace specific elements of Greek flood myths back to the Babylonian account. And yes, yes, I know, maybe that's because it's true, but there are often clues when something gets its provenance from something else.
[00:02:23] But all of that is a topic for another time. First, we need to look at each individual flood account and ask what's similar and what's different. And much of the purpose of that is to recognize the uniqueness of the account that we have in the Bible. The similarities are very interesting, but quite often it's the differences that matter more.
[00:02:47] And they matter in this case because there's a strong possibility that the biblical author and editors knew about these other flood myths. And as such, this would be why they're so very similar, and why the differences are going to matter so very, very much. And it's not a coincidence that the closest parallel flood myths we have with the account in Genesis come from Mesopotamia. That's not to say there aren't any parallel flood myths in Egypt or elsewhere, which I will really enjoy getting into in their own rights, But you can't read the Mesopotamian accounts and not see the very, very clear parallels. Other flood myths just don't hold a candle in comparison. There's a reason biblical studies had a bit of a crisis when some of these texts were first discovered and translated, because these Mesopotamian texts are clearly much older than what we have recorded in the Bible.
[00:03:49] And even if it's the case that Moses was recording an ancient account from his day, it's written in a way that obviously, literarily parallels these other accounts. So our first reaction to that tends to be, Oh no, the Bible just stole the idea from these other accounts. But it's easy to see the parallels and forget to look at the differences.
[00:04:16] At any rate, if you are interested in more parallel literature, Early on in the podcast, I did do a reading and discussion about the Mesopotamian creation account called Enuma Elish. So you can go listen to that episode, which I think that's number eight. And if you're not new to this discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallel literature, especially in regards to the creation account and the flood, some of these similarities are already going to be very familiar to you.
[00:04:45] for listening. But I want to dig into some of the details and approach some of the differences with the lens that I have already been introducing with the flood account, which is to see the flood account not primarily or at least solely from the lens of judgment, but rather taking Genesis seriously when it says that God was saddened rather than wrathful. And we'll see that view really does come out when we compare the Bible with other literature. And that's going to come out in both similarities and differences.
[00:05:23] Alright, so the two texts we're going to be looking at are the Epic of Gilgamesh, and another text called Atrahasis. We're going to talk about these two together because they're very, very similar in the story of the Flood. But we also have to keep in mind that there are quite a few variations on both of these stories.
[00:05:44] These are accounts that have been found fairly recently, at least as far as the cuneiform tablets and the ability to read those tablets. We've actually known about the Babylonian flood mythology well before the last few centuries, but it was through copies of copies of copies of variations. I don't know if we'll get into much of that history today, but suffice to say that there are a lot of variations out there. Just with the Epic of Gilgamesh, for instance, in cuneiform tablets, we have 184 different fragments from 73 different manuscripts. None of these manuscripts are themselves totally complete.
[00:06:29] We don't have so many manuscripts of Atrahasis, and it depends on who you ask as to which one of these came first. The most complete manuscript of Atrahasis comes from the 17th century BC, whereas the Epic of Gilgamesh is probably at least a thousand years older than that. But we have to remember that the ancient person really was very comfortable with repurposing stories. They weren't trying to write fiction, they were trying to explain their world. And some places that they have found these manuscripts, which, again, they're clay tablets, not paper or parkhment, They have found in the same location multiple variations of the same story, with different gods and some different details. So it wasn't just the Romans who liked to repurpose mythology.
[00:07:23] Now I considered also reading what is known as the Sumerian Flood Story, but it's so fragmentary that it just, it's hard to read out loud. And it basically tells the same story, only the king who is saved is named Ziusudra, which means life of prolonged days. There's also the Eridu Genesis, which is another account that is very, very close to the ones we'll discuss in detail today. But I think just looking at two of these accounts closely will show how much this stream of thought really saturated the area.
[00:07:59] All right, so for the Epic of Gilgamesh, there is a lot more to it than just the flood account. Gilgamesh was a king who, in the process of seeking immortality, meets the immortal survivor of the Great Flood, whose name is Ut Napishtim. And he sends Gilgamesh on various futile quests to help him realize that immortality is not to be found except through the records of one's great deeds. So then Gilgamesh celebrates that his name will be made great through his great city, Uruk.
[00:08:37] So, certainly the story also has many echoes of Genesis, including a connection to the Tower of Babel. And there are echoes of the Creation story and the Book of Job and Ecclesiastes. But the strongest parallels are definitely with the flood narratives.
[00:08:56] So, the flood narrative for the Epic of Gilgamesh is found on tablet 11 out of 12 tablets. And I'm going to go ahead and read a good portion of this, and I'm going to stop occasionally to help clarify what's going on in the story, and make a few comments regarding the parallels with this and Genesis. It is, in the original language, a poem with a certain amount of beats per line.
[00:09:24] So in this story, Gilgamesh first had to find Utnapishtim, who had been taken far away by the gods after the flood. An odd part about the part that we're going to read here is that the god speaks to, or maybe through the walls of the hut. Now, here, it doesn't give any explanation as to why the god is speaking through the wall, but we do see that parallel also in the flood story in Atrahasis. And that's going to give us a little bit more explanation.
[00:09:57] Another interesting point that is given more explanation in Atrahasis is that Utnapishtim asked what he was supposed to tell the residents of the city when he tore down his house and started building an ark. And basically the answer was to lie to them ,To say that the gods hated him personally and don't worry because after he leaves, The gods were going to rain blessings down upon the people. So that's pretty nice. Way to get people's hopes up there
[00:10:31] Now in the story in Genesis, we don't actually see Noah talking to anybody else about the flood Or warning them, even though that's a common interpretation that came later, but we don't see it in Genesis. In the epic of Gilgamesh, the Noah type figure not only doesn't preach repentance, but he lies straight up to the people as to why he's building the ark. He gets some helpers to help him with the building, and at least he takes those guys with him.
[00:11:01] Okay, so let's start reading this here in tablet 11 of the Epic of Gilgamesh quote.
[00:11:09] Gilgamesh said to him, to Utnapishtim, the far away, As I look upon thee, Utnapishtim, thy features are not strange, even as I are to you. You are not strange at all, even as I am like you. My heart had regarded you as resolved to do battle, yet you lie indolent upon your back. Tell me how joined you the assembly of the gods in thy quest of life.
[00:11:39] Utnapishtim said to him, to Gilgamesh, I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a hidden matter, and a secret of the gods, will I tell you. Shurripac, a city which you know, and which on the Euphrates banks is situated, that city was ancient, as were the gods within it, when their heart led the great gods to produce the flood.
[00:12:05] There was Anu, their father, Valiant Enlil, their counselor. Ninurta, their assistant, Enuge, their irrigator, ninigiku Ea was also present with them. Their words he repeats to the reed hut. Reed hut, reed hut, wall, wall, reed hut, harken, man of Shurapek, son of Ubar Tutu, tear down this house, build a ship, give up possessions, seek you life. Forswear worldly goods and keep the soul alive.
[00:12:47] Aboard the ship take you the seed of all living things. the ship that you will build, her dimensions shall be to measure. Equal shall be her width and her length. Like the Apsu, you shall seal her.
[00:13:03] I understood, and I said to Ea, my lord, Behold, my lord, what you have ordered, I will be honored to carry out. But what shall I answer the city? The people and elders. Ea opened his mouth to speak, saying to me, his servant, You shall then speak thusly to them. I have learned that Enlil is hostile to me, So that I cannot reside in your city, nor set my foot in Enlil's territory. To the deep I will therefore go down, to dwell with my lord Ea. But upon you he will shower down abundance. The choicest birds. The rarest fishes, the land shall have its fill of harvest riches. He who at dusk orders the husk greens will shower down upon you a rain of wheat.
[00:13:58] With the first glow of dawn, the land was gathered about me. The little ones carried bitumen, while the grown ones brought all else that was needful. On the fifth day, I laid her framework. One whole acre was her floor space. Ten dozen cubits the height of each of her walls. Ten dozen cubits each edge the square deck. I laid out the contours and joined her together. I provided her with six decks, dividing her into seven parts. Her floor plan I divided into nine parts. I hammered water plugs into her. I saw to the punting holes and laid in supplies. Six measures of bitumen I poured into the furnace. Three measures of asphalt I also poured inside. Three measures of oil the basket bearers carried, aside from the one measure of oil which the caulking consumed, and the two measures of oil which the boatmen stowed away.
[00:15:04] Bullocks I slaughtered for the people, and I killed sheep every day. Red wine oil, and white wine I gave the workmen to drink, as though river water. That they might feast as on New Year's Day, I opened ointment, applying it to my hand, and on the seventh day the ship was completed. End quote
[00:15:27] Okay, we're gonna break in here for a second and note that the ship took seven days to build and he gave the workers meat and wine. The people thought he was just gonna go out to the deep water to take him away from the people because supposedly the one god, Enlil was angry with him. Even before the rain came, he launched his ship, but it doesn't explain why he was taking animals with him, though we're not told specifically that he's taking all of the different kinds of animals. and in addition to the animals, he takes his family as well as the craftsmen.
[00:16:05] Okay, so we're going to continue on in reading, but I will mention, too, that there are some very interesting things in the description of the flood in relation to the gods. But, spoiler alert, the god who had caused the flood to begin with and wanted humans all to die is not actually there.
[00:16:25] Okay, so, quote, The launching was very difficult, so that they had to shift the floor planks above and below until two thirds of the structure had gone into the water. Whatever I had, I laid it upon her. Whatever I had of silver, I laid it upon her. Whatever I had of gold, I laid it upon her. Whatever I had of all of the living beings, I laid it upon her. All my family and kin I made go aboard the ship. The beasts of the field, the wild creatures of the field, All the craftsmen I made go aboard.
[00:17:03] Shemash had set for me a stated time. When he who orders unease at night, Will shower down a rain of blight, Board thou the ship and batten up the entrance. That stated time had arrived. He who orders unease at night, Showers down a rain of blight. I watched the appearance of the weather. The weather was awesome to behold. I boarded the ship and battened up the entrance. To Batten down the whole ship, the boatman I handed over the structure with its contents.
[00:17:39] With the first glow of dawn, a black cloud rose up from the horizon inside it, the God Adad thunders while Shullat and Hanish go in front, moving as Harold's over hill and plane al tears out the posts forth comes erta and causes the dykes to follow. The Anunnaki lift up their torches, setting the land ablaze with their glare.
[00:18:06] Consternation over Adad reaches to the heavens, who turns to blackness all that had been light. The wide land was shattered like a pot. For one day the south storm blew, gathering speed as it blew, submerging the mountains, overtaking the people like a battle. No one can see his fellow, nor can the people be recognized from heaven. End quote
[00:18:29] So, that's pretty interesting, right? The deities are very connected to the violence of the Flood, and there's language about battle here. But then there's a turn in that.
[00:18:48] Continuing on, it says, quote, The gods were frightened by the deluge, and shrinking back, they ascended to the heaven of Anu. The gods cowered like dogs, crouched against the outer wall. Ishtar cried out like a woman in travail. The sweet voiced mistress of the gods moans aloud. The olden days are at last turned to clay. Because I bespoke evil in the assembly of the gods. How could I bespeak evil in the assembly of the gods? Ordering battle for the destruction of my people. When it is I myself who gave birth to my people. Like the spawn of the fishes they fill the sea. The Anunnaki gods weep with her. The gods, all humbled, sit and weep, their lips drawn tight, one and all. End quote.
[00:19:43] So, here we have the gods, afraid of the flood, and regretting the destruction of the people. They weren't sorry beforehand, but they are sorry to see the destruction of the people that they have created.
[00:19:56] Reading again, we continue with the start to the end of the flood and the resting on the mountain and the sending out of the birds. And then the coming out of the ark and the offering of sacrifice.
[00:20:09] Continuing on, quote six days and six nights blows the flood wind as the south storm sweeps the land. When the seventh day arrived, the flood-carrying south storm subsided in the battle, which it had fought like an army. The sea grew quiet. The tempest was still. The flood ceased.
[00:20:34] I looked at the weather. Stillness had set in. And all of mankind had returned to clay. The landscape was as level as a flat roof. I opened a hatch and the light fell upon my face. Bowing low, I sat and wept, tears running down on my face. I looked about for coastlines in the expanse of the sea. In each of the 14 regions, there emerged a mountain. On Mount Nasir, the ship came to a halt. Mount Nasir held the ship fast, allowing no motion. One day, a second day, Mount Nasir held the ship fast, allowing no motion. A third day, a fourth day, Mount Nasir held the ship fast, allowing no motion. A fifth and a sixth day, Mount Nasir held the ship fast, allowing no motion.
[00:21:31] When the seventh day arrived, I sent forth and set free a dove. The dove went forth, but came back, since no resting place for it was visible, she turned around. Then I sent forth and set free a swallow. The swallow went forth, but came back. Since no resting place for it was visible, she turned around. Then I sent forth and set free a raven. The raven went forth, and seeing that the waters had diminished, he eats, circles, caws, and turns not around.
[00:22:10] Then I led out all to the four winds, and offered a sacrifice. I poured out a libation on the top of the mountain. Seven and seven cult vessels I set up. Upon their pot stands I heaped cane, cedar wood, and myrtle. The gods smelled the savor. The gods smelled the sweet savor. The gods crowded like flies around the Sacrificer. End quote.
[00:22:40] Okay, I'm pausing here again to bring out the parallels. So, here we have the birds, and of course in the Bible, the raven is sent out, and then the dove, whereas here, it's the opposite with the swallow in addition.
[00:22:55] The gods are ravenously hungry and descend on the Sacrifice, because they need it, and they crave it. Now we've gotten to the point that parallels the rainbow in Genesis. And it's, well, it's not a rainbow, though there is a potential connection to the sky, because lapis lazuli is a blue stone.
[00:23:16] It says, quote, When at length, as the great goddess arrived, She lifted up the great jewels, which Anu had fashioned to her liking. Ye gods, hear! As surely as this lapis upon my neck, I shall not forget. I shall be mindful of these days, forgetting them never. Let the gods come to the offering, but let not Enlil come to the offering. For he, unreasoning, brought on the deluge, and my people consigned to destruction. End quote.
[00:23:51] Alright, so the Reminder for the Flood isn't given by the one who actually instigated the Flood, but it is given by the goddess who regrets the Flood. And the Reminder isn't really for mankind, it's really for the other gods.
[00:24:07] And Enlil, who is the one who instigated the Flood to begin with, he doesn't get invited to partake of the offering, because he was the one who caused all of this. So, when he does show up, he's angry, and there's some blame gaming going on, and there's suggestions of other ways that humanity could have been dealt with without actually wiping them all out.
[00:24:30] But of course here, there's nothing given as to why this even happened. Instead of killing them with the Flood, it's suggested, maybe only some of them should have been killed in a different way. A Flood was a sure way to get them all, unless the gods intervened.
[00:24:46] Now, I didn't read anything from the Epic of Gilgamesh before the Flood story here, but again, there's no suggestion as to why the Flood came. Humans aren't described as being wicked, or violent, or even noisy. The point of the Flood narrative seems to be a description of how one couple became immortal. So the whole story really is about immortality. And humans would never again be immortal. All other humans would be immortalized by having their names remembered by the things that they built and the renown that they got from other people here on earth.
[00:25:26] All right, so the next section I'm going to read, Utnapishtim is called Atrahasis, which means exceedingly wise. or possibly exceedingly devoted. So there's a little bit of connotation of Noah being righteous. And we'll be talking about the separate Atrahasis epic next, so don't let that word confuse you here.
[00:25:50] Okay, so quote, When at length, as Enlil arrived, and saw the ship, Enlil was wroth. He was filled with wrath over the Igigi gods. Has some living soul escaped? No man was to survive the destruction. Ninurta opened his mouth to speak, saying to Valiant Enlil, Who, other than Ea, can devise plans? It is Ea alone who knows every matter. Ea opened his mouth to speak, saying to Valiant Enlil, You wisest of gods, you hero, How could you, unreasoning, bring on the deluge? On the sinner impose his sin, on the transgressor impose his transgression, yet be lenient lest he be cut off, be patient lest he be dislodged. End quote.
[00:26:48] Okay, so here there is at least a slight hint that the reason that the people were destroyed was because of some sort of sin or transgression or offense. There's no suggestion of what that is. And quite likely it parallels what we're going to see in Atrahasis, if there is such a reason.
[00:27:09] But continuing on with what Ea is saying, he says, quote, Instead of bringing on the deluge, would that a lion had risen up to diminish mankind. Instead of bringing on the deluge, would that a wolf had risen up to diminish mankind. Instead of bringing on the deluge, would that a famine had risen up to lay low mankind. Instead of bringing on the deluge, would that a pestilence had risen up to smite down mankind.
[00:27:40] It was not I who disclosed the secret of the great gods. I let Atrahasis see a dream, and he perceived the secret of the gods. Now then, take counsel in regard to him. End quote.
[00:27:57] so Ea says, I didn't tell him the secret, I just gave him a dream, and he guessed the secret. Yes, it's very sneaky of you, Ea. So in a strange twist, now Enlil is going to go into the ship with Utnapishtim and with his wife, and they're going to be blessed to become immortal.
[00:28:17] Quote, Thereupon, Enlil went aboard the ship. Holding me by the hand, he took me aboard. He took my wife aboard and made her kneel by my side. Standing between us, he touched our foreheads to bless us. Hitherto Utnapishtim has been but human, henceforth Utnapishtim and his wife shall be like unto us gods. Utnapishtim shall reside far away, at the mouth of the rivers. Thus they took me and made me reside far away, at the mouth of tHe rivers. End quote.
[00:28:57] So there you have it, the Gilgamesh flood story. It continues on, again, with what Utnapishtim is going to tell Gilgamesh to do in order to try to gain immortality. None of those ideas are going to work, and Gilgamesh is going to end up with the idea that his immortality is going to be in his name residing on the earth.
[00:29:20] It's interesting to me that even though the flood story in the Bible is a chiasm, which can be argued to be a form of poetry, It isn't poetry in the same sense as this is with the careful beats and the measures. The reason I don't suggest the flood in Genesis is full on poetry is that the chiasm of the flood isn't fully related in parallel language. It's got some of that parallel language for sure, but a lot of that chiasm is a conceptual framework instead.
[00:29:53] So I find it a little bit amusing that there are people who are offended at the suggestion of anything in Genesis being poetry at all, because they think that infringes on the idea of historicity, and yet they want to pull at least part of the Epic of Gilgamesh into affirming the historical flood, and yet Gilgamesh is 100 percent poetry. Not that any of those people probably knew that.
[00:30:18] But again, what we have so far talked about are different versions of an ancient story. And why was such a story preserved? Why would this be important to the people of the time? We noticed we have different versions of these stories, and often the changes have to do with changing the deities who are involved.
[00:30:39] Okay, so we can ask if the people actually thought that there was a real flood that occurred in primeval history. And honestly, I'd probably say they did believe that. But they also tended to believe in a cyclical history, meaning that things they saw in front of them have happened many times in the past. And it's really interesting that they had the idea that even destructive things happened in primeval times. Which fundamentally means that unlike this Greek perspective where they thought we fell from a golden age, the ancient Near East had an idea that things weren't necessarily great at first, which makes a whole lot of sense when you look at how they described the creation of mankind.
[00:31:25] So I think there's quite a bit more that we can say about the purpose of the epic of Gilgamesh. Some of that we will be leaving for other episodes and deeper discussion about this, whereas today, it's just kind of an overview, an introduction to the story, because I want you guys to be quite familiar with it, because it parallels the Bible's narrative so closely.
[00:31:51] So there's going to be a lot that we can bring out because of those parallels. Now, I want to give a bit of clarification and caution here, because we need to put some boundaries on what we're doing. Because I think there is some caution warranted here when we're comparing the Bible to other ancient works, and trying to use other ancient works to shed light on the Bible.
[00:32:16] Because what I see today, with the availability of information to anyone and everyone, is It's really easy for people to come along and look at the Bible, look at other traditions, look at other mythologies, and say, look, these are all connected. And this happens a lot, especially in regards to something like the Flood.
[00:32:40] It's like, you have the Bible story, and you have this other story on the other side of the world, and we want to compare those two. Now, we're actually going to be doing that, but the idea often seems to be suggested that all of these stories are somehow relating truth to us, right? And I don't want to be Trying to suggest that the Mesopotamian stories are offering us truth in the sense that they are reliable witnesses to what's happened in the past or that they are reliable witnesses to what we think and what we read in the Bible and how we are relating to the unseen realm, because, it's true that, oh, ancient literature has so much to do with other deities and their relationship to mankind, right? Just like, that's what the Bible is about. And so, the problem is that we want to mine those texts for some information, but not for others. Or, we tend to just take it wholesale And we say that, well, the Gilgamesh epic is also giving some sort of revelation from the gods.
[00:33:58] And I want to stop right there, like, come to a screeching halt and say, no, that's not what we're talking about when we're comparing these texts. The reason we're comparing the texts is because they literally were the same time and area, geographically. Right?
[00:34:16] So, the societies of the Ancient Near East were not all that different from each other. The nation of Israel was absolutely unique, but it wasn't unique in a cultural way. Their connections to the other societies around them were very deep and very interlocking. They all connected together and they all had the same associations, the same kinds of basic cultural ideas.
[00:34:44] So you have the nation of Israel. Who is picturing their history in relation to what God's doing up in the heavens, right? Up in the, the unseen realm. And there's that mirroring concept, right? what happens on the earth is reflected in the heavens, and what happens in the heavens can be reflected on the earth.
[00:35:06] So there's that connection between the Unseen Realm and our realm. And other nations around Israel had that same exact concept. And they were thinking of the heavens in relation to the Unseen Realm, and in relation to what was going on Like, boots on the ground, right? And so because of that deep connection and the similar understanding, that's why we can use things like the Epic of Gilgamesh to shed light on what people who were reading the Bible and writing the Bible and editing the Bible were thinking about.
[00:35:43] It's not that the Epic of Gilgamesh is inspired or is giving some truth in revelation. Rather, the Bible is the one that has revealed truth, and it's revealing its truth through the mechanism, at times, of polemics against the other cultures around the Israelites.
[00:36:04] And I just want to give that major caution, because we will be digging more into all of these materials and looking at them in comparison. And it's not that we're saying that the Epic of Gilgamesh is some sort of inspired truth, similar to the Bible. but rather it's that both of these stories are situated in the same cultural context. So, what we can say about the Epic of Gilgamesh, in a cultural and worldview way, some of that is going to parallel what we see in the Bible. Some of that is not going to parallel what we see in the Bible. It's going to be very, very different.
[00:36:44] And we can see that when we look at the relationship with the deities in the Epic of Gilgamesh, right? So the god who caused the flood and the gods who were upset by the flood, they were different gods. And they have almost no relation to the way the God of the Bible is characterized. Yes, at least some of them were sad at the destruction of mankind. But they are greedy, they're narcissistic, and perhaps capricious, because again, there was no explanation for the flood here. And whatever they're doing is, they're doing right in their own eyes, really. And whatever the deities say is supposed to be what has to go, right?
[00:37:29] Now, as far as the explanation for the Flood, the Adrahasis epic does give more information about that. Now, keep in mind that the Flood narrative is only part of the story of Gilgamesh as king, who seeks for his name to be great. This next epic is much more focused of a story, and it reads much more like the Bible's narrative in some ways.
[00:37:52] The Epic of Gilgamesh doesn't explain the creation of man, nor does it give a reason for the Flood. We see a lot of crossover in these stories because of the concepts, because of what's going on, because of some of the words used and the names given to the hero who's saved through the flood.
[00:38:09] So let's go ahead and get into the story of Atrahasis so that we have a comparison with the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible. The story here is about the creation of mankind as a workforce for the gods who accidentally make mankind immortal. Because mankind is immortal and also capable of breeding, pretty soon there are so many humans on the earth that they become too noisy for the gods to tolerate.
[00:38:38] The gods try to ameliorate this by sending first A plague, then a drought, actually two droughts, and finally the flood. And in each of these instances, Atrahasis is saved by the god Enki, who is otherwise known as Ea. It was the name Ea that we saw in the Epic of Gilgamesh,
[00:39:00] I've mentioned the Epic of Atrahasis before in episode 56 about the structure of Genesis as an ancestor epic, but I didn't get into detail about this text, so we'll go ahead and do that, and I'll be reading part of it, but keep in mind it's kind of fragmentary and Sometimes pretty repetitive. So I'm going to pick and choose what I'll be reading to help the story flow in its best way and do a lot of explaining along the way.
[00:39:29] Even though we're talking about the flood aspect here, I think it makes sense to also talk about the creation of man because that plays into why the gods are sad. the Anunnaki are the head deities and the Igigi are the lower deities who initially had to do all of the work before the creation of mankind.
[00:39:48] Okay, so getting into the story here, quote, When the gods, like men, n bore the work and suffered the toil, the toil of the gods was great. The work was heavy, the distress was much. The seven great Anunnaki were making the Igigi suffer the work, end quote.
[00:40:10] Okay, so after 40 years of labor, note that number 40, the Igigi complain. I won't add in the whole list of deities it mentions. But we do need to know Anu, who is the head of the pantheon, and he goes up to heaven, remember, we've got the three tiered universe, heaven, the earth, and the underworld. And Enlil stays on earth, and then there's Enki, who, again, is also called Ea, who goes down to the Apsu, or the deep waters below the earth. So it's the underworld, basically. And Enki is Atrahasis's personal god, the one he turns to in times of need.
[00:40:52] I'll read part of this Uprising of the Igigi in complaint to the other gods, because they're not liking their work. It says, quote, Enlil, counselor of the gods, the hero. Come, let us unnerve him in his dwelling. Now proclaim war. Let us mingle hostilities and battle. The gods heeded his words. They set fire to their tools, fire to their spades they put, and flame to their hods. They held them as they went to the gate of the shrine of the hero Enlil.
[00:41:28] It was night, halfway through the watch. The temple was surrounded, but the god did not know. Enlil's servant got him out of his bed. My lord, your temple is surrounded. Battle has come right up to your gate. End quote.
[00:41:46] So Enli, the God who is on the Earth sent to bring Annu and Enki to come discuss this big hubbub that's going on. The Igigi gods are, they've got their flaming pitchforks and they go up to Enlil's temple and they demand an audience. So Enli gets the other Gods involved here. Some of the gods tell the Igigi to just put up and shut up, basically. But the head deity Anu says. No, no, no. You guys, you know what? They've got a point. They've been working really hard.
[00:42:22] So they come up with this great idea to make mankind, and they call the Mother Goddess into things, and they tell her the plan. The Mother Goddess, who is alternatively named Mami, Mama, Nintu, or Balet'ili, takes blood and flesh of a slain god and mixes it with clay. She also says she can't do it by herself because Enki is so very skilled, so she wants Enki to help her out. So both of them, together, make man.
[00:42:54] And it's a bit annoying how the names keep changing in the text, so I'm gonna try to stick with only one name per god. If I forget, just keep in mind that Mami and Balet Ilai and Nintu are all the same goddess, and Enki and Ea are the same god.
[00:43:13] Now Enki, who is, remember, kind of the god of water and underworld, is also set to purify things. And while it doesn't explicitly mention water, That's probably what this is referring to. And if you're familiar with birth in general, you know that blood and water is literally part of that real physical process. So that's probably what all of this is about in addition to connection with the flood, which is again, we've got blood and water here.
[00:43:46] Alright, so the way mankind is created, it's not done via fiat command. Like, in the Bible, it seems that the creation of man happens instantly, just by God's word. But here in this story, it happens through a genuine process that similar to a real human pregnancy.
[00:44:05] There's a reason for the real birth narrative here, which connects to the whole purpose of the narrative in Babylonian culture. When real people in the real world gave birth, it was done in the same way that it's described here, with the same cultural rituals of midwifery and priesthood cleansing and all of that. remember, part of the point of these stories isn't really just to record history, But to give reasons for why things were currently.
[00:44:34] Anyway, let's keep reading. Quote, Let the birth goddess create offspring, And let man bear the toil of the gods. They summoned and asked the goddess, The midwife of the gods, Wise Mami, You are the birth goddess, Creatress of mankind. Create, that he may bear the yoke. Let him bear the yoke assigned by Enlil. Let man carry the toil of the gods.
[00:45:02] Mami opened her mouth and addressed the great gods. It is not possible for me to make things. Skill lies with Enki. Since he can cleanse everything, let him give me the clay that I can make it. Enki opened his mouth and addressed the great gods. On the first, seventh, and fifteenth day of the month, I will make a purifying bath. Let one god be slaughtered, so that all the gods may be cleansed in a dipping.
[00:45:33] From his flesh and blood, let Mami mix clay, that god and man may be thoroughly mixed in the clay, so that we may hear the drum for the rest of time. Let there be a spirit from the gods flesh, Let it proclaim living man as its sign so that this be not forgotten. Let there be a spirit end quote.
[00:45:56] I also want to point out here that you often hear that man is made of blood and clay in the story, which is true, but the flesh of the god is also mentioned and it's suggested by scholars that it's the flesh of the god, which is really spirit, is what causes man to be more than just animal... like as in, have the ability to live on in a spiritual state after physical death, because Mesopotamians had stories about people haunting others after death, and there's a suggestion of an afterlife. It's the spiritual flesh of the deity that makes that possible.
[00:46:36] Okay, so continuing on, quote, in the assembly answered Yes, the great Anunnaki who administered destinies. On the first, seventh, and fifteenth day of the month, Enki made a purifying bath.
[00:46:53] Weyilla, who had a personality, they slaughtered in their assembly. From his flesh and blood, Mami, mixed clay. For the rest of time they heard the drum. From the flesh of the god there was a spirit. It proclaimed living man as its sign. And so that was not forgotten that there was a spirit. End quote.
[00:47:17] See, there's an emphasis there on the spirit, and that does reflect a bit in comparison to the biblical account of the creation of man.
[00:47:26] Okay, I'll read the rest of this, and you can notice the repetition and the fact that seven men and seven women are made rather than a single couple. Continuing, quote, After she had mixed that clay, she summoned the Anunnaki, the great gods. The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay.
[00:47:46] Mami opened her mouth and addressed the great gods. You commanded me a task. I have completed it. You have slaughtered a god together with his personality. I have removed your heavy work. I have imposed your toil on man. You raised a cry for mankind. I have loosed the yoke. I have established freedom.
[00:48:10] They heard this speech of hers. They ran together and kissed her feet, saying, Formally, we used to call you Mami. Now let your name be Mistress of all the gods. They entered the House of Destiny, did Prince Enki, and the wise Mami. With the birth goddesses assembled, he trod the clay in her presence. She kept reciting the incantation. Enki, seated before her, was prompting her.
[00:48:39] After she had finished her incantation, she nipped off 14 pieces of clay. Seven, she put on the right, seven on the left. Between them, she placed the brick, the wise, and learned twice- seven birth goddesses had assembled. Seven produced males, seven produced females. The birth goddess creatress of destiny. They completed them in pairs. They completed them in pairs in her presence. Since Mami conceived the regulations for the human race.
[00:49:14] In the house of the pregnant woman in confinement, let the brick be in place for seven days. That Mami may be honored. That the wise Mami may be honored. Let the midwife rejoice in the house of the woman in confinement. And when the pregnant woman gives birth, let the mother of the babe sever herself. End quote.
[00:49:35] Okay, so there's the creation of man. And now we'll talk about the Flood, but remember there are several extinction attempts, and they pretty much parallel one another, so I won't repeat reading each bit of this. The two main gods we will see here are Enlil, who is apparently on Earth, and Enki, otherwise known as Ea, who is the god of the underworld and the one that Atrahasis calls out to. It starts with Enlil sending a plague. Namtar is the god who is in charge of the plague.
[00:50:12] Quote, twelve hundred years had not yet passed, When the land extended and the peoples multiplied. He got disturbed with their noise. With their uproar, sleep did not overcome him. Enlil convened his assembly, And addressed the gods, his sons.
[00:50:32] The noise of mankind has become too intense for me. I have got disturbed with their noise. With their uproar, sleep does not overcome me. Command that there be a plague. Let Namtar diminish their noise. Let disease, sickness, plague, and pestilence blow upon them like a tornado. They commanded and there was plague. Namtar diminished their noise. Disease, sickness, plague, and pestilence blew upon them like a tornado end quote.
[00:51:08] Okay, so now we're gonna come to Atrahasis, who calls out to his God Enki, or here known as Ea.
[00:51:16] Quote, the discerning one. The man Atrahasis, kept an open ear to his Lord, Ea. He spoke with his god and Ea spoke with him. Atrahasis opened his mouth to speak and addressed Ea his lord.
[00:51:32] Lord, the human race is groaning. Your disease is consuming the land. Ea, lord, since you created us, will you remove the disease, sickness, plague, and pestilence? End quote.
[00:51:47] So Enki, or Ea, responds and tells Atrahasis that he needs to get all of the people to worship only Namtar, who is the one in charge of the plague. And then Namtar will be so pleased that he'll stop the plague. Notice here that the gods really aren't exclusive in their worship. We actually have Ea encouraging Atrahasis to have everyone worship another god.
[00:52:15] So here's the part describing that. Quote, Ea opened his mouth to speak and addressed Atrahasis.
[00:52:25] Command that heralds proclaim and make a loud noise in the land. Do not reverence your gods. Do not pray to your goddesses. Observe his rights, the offering of sesame meal end quote.
[00:52:40] So that worked out great and it stopped the plague, but another 1200 years passes and Enlil is angry still that there are so many noisy people. So he tells the rain god, Adad. To cause a drought and famine
[00:52:58] enlil convened his assembly and addressed the gods, his sons. The people are not diminished, but have become more numerous than before. I have got disturbed with their noise. With their uproar, sleep does not overcome me. Cut off food supplies from the peoples. Let plant life be in short supply in their stomachs. Let Adad above make his reign scarce. Below, let the river be blocked up, and let it not raise the flood from the abyss. Let the fields diminish their yields. Let Nisaba turn aside her breast. Let the black fields become white. Let the broad plain produce salt. Let the earth's womb rebel. Let no vegetables shoot up, no cereals grow. Let pestilence be laid on the peoples. that the womb may be constricted, and give birth to no child. End quote.
[00:53:58] Alright, what happens from here on out is the same thing that happened with the plague. Atrahasis calls out to Enki or Ea, and Ea tells him to pray and worship only Adad, who would allow some rain. And here's where we get quite a bit more repetition. And if you listen to my episode about Ancestor Epics, you'll know that this is not a mistake, and it's actually part of the flow of the story.
[00:54:23] There is a difference between the second bout of drought, Enlil gets suspicious that he's being thwarted by one of the gods, and he tells Adad to again cause drought, but this time Enlil sets up guards, and Ea has to find a new sneaky way to give them water. And the water comes up from the underground or something like that. It's a little bit hard to tell what happens here because the text is broken up.
[00:54:46] But the next time, the final time that Enlil decides to stop mankind, he says, Okay, you gave him water, well, I'll give him water. And he chooses to send a flood.
[00:54:59] This time, Enlil makes Ea take a vow of silence. Ea gets around this by giving Atrahasis a dream, and the wall speaks to him. So, remember that bit in the Epic of Gilgamesh? That's explained here. It seems like Ea thinks he can get off the hook for telling him, because it wasn't really him who told the secret, it was the wall who did it.
[00:55:23] The version of the Flood narrative I have here is really broken and hard to read. It's really repetitive anyway. So at this point, I think I'm just going to go ahead and tell you the rest of the story. If nothing else, at this point, you can see quite a contrast between the way this is written and the way Genesis is written.
[00:55:41] I mean, of course, we're not looking at the original language, so we can't tell the kind of parallel words and things like that. But the discourse and the way the story is being told here is quite different from the biblical narrative. There's sections that are very similar, but there's a lot of detail in each one that isn't in the other one. So can we say this is just plagiarism and a situation of stealing the story? Well, I mean, They're very alike, but they're not that alike, are they?
[00:56:12] Anyway, let's go ahead and finish up the story. So there are seven days given for the preparation before the flood where Atrahasis has to build the boat. And quite similar to the Gilgamesh epic, he tells the people that Enlil and Ea had a falling out, which is true, and Atrahasis has to leave so that he could go and live with his god Ea. That's very similar to the Gilgamesh epic. And it's like a half truth here.
[00:56:42] Okay, so then Atrahasis gives everyone a big banquet before the destruction, but he's not able to eat because he's very sad about what's going to happen. The flood comes, and the gods are angry at Enlil because of the destruction of their creation of mankind, and because mankind is the source of their work and food.
[00:57:03] The flood lasts seven days and seven nights. And here, in Atrahasis, there is no story about the birds from the ark, but there is a gap in the text, so there could have originally been that, but we don't know. And again, there's an offering immediately after the disembarking of the boat, and very similar to the Epic of Gilgamesh. The gods descend on the offering like flies, and the mother goddess is going to wear her lapis lazuli necklace as a reminder of what happened.
[00:57:34] Now, the resolution to the flood was a series of things that they put in place so that mankind would no longer become too populous and noisy. So there's three different population control measures. The first method is that some women would just be barren and they would be unable to bear children. The second population control method was that there would be a type of demon who would snatch away infants. So even if women are having babies, their babies can be taken away by these demons.
[00:58:07] Now, whether this explains an actual abduction situation with spiritual entities, or it's an explanation for why children die in infancy, maybe we can't really know that. My opinion is that it has to do with children dying in infancy, but that doesn't have to preclude demonic activity. But, keep in mind, this isn't inspired literature. This is them trying to explain their reality. So my thinking errs on the side of this is explaining natural phenomena that they were seeing, just like the first population control method explained barrenness.
[00:58:43] So the third method, and this is probably the key to the story, is that there would be a class of women who would not have children. They would take a vow to not have children so, this lines up culturally speaking to the Babylonian society and would explain the origin and importance of this particular class of priestesses.
[00:59:05] All right, so here we have the two closest parallels to the flood narrative in other literature, and there really are several things that are super close to the biblical account, several things that are going to help inform us about what's going on in the biblical account that we'll be talking about later.
[00:59:22] And we have one person in each story who is chosen. And each of the stories talks about the building of the boat and animals being taken on the boat. And a few other people who are in some sense related to the chosen one. In Genesis it's only a family, but in at least the epic of Gilgamesh we have the people who built the boat as well.
[00:59:44] In each of the stories, there is careful information about the Ark. We also have deities who are saddened, although there is a distinction between God being sad and the reason he is sad, and the reason the Babylonian deities are sad. God is sad because they were so wicked and violent. There's really no sense of wickedness and violence in the Babylonian stories. Some of the deities are sad because they didn't want their creation to be destroyed, but that's kind of a self centered sadness.
[01:00:17] And also we have the parallel with the birds and the parallel with the immediate sacrificial offering upon coming out of the boat. There is a mention of a wind at the end of the flood in all of the accounts as well and the association of seven days with the flood. But the Bible has 40 days and 150 days as well.
[01:00:40] So lots of similarities and some differences. In the biblical account, of course, there's no mention of any other deities who are involved in the decision to flood the earth.
[01:00:51] The only hint of other spiritual beings in the Genesis flood account is with the sons of God. and while that doesn't seem to have much correlation to what's going on in these other stories, we do have rebellious deities. We have the lower deities who are mad at the upper deities for making them do all of that toil. So there's still some sort of divine rebellion going on.
[01:01:18] In both stories, we have the Noah figure, who is wise, and possibly very devoted. He seems devoted. and there is a focus of worship and sacrifice. Now in the future, we're going to be talking quite a bit about how the Genesis flood is connected to the creation of the nation of Israel. And so there's a definite parallel with this flood and with the particular people of God. But that doesn't discount the fact that the flood also gives a higher status to mankind as a whole and not just Israel.
[01:01:56] This also helps enlighten the situation after the flood. If the Genesis flood account flips the fruitfulness narrative on its head, then that leads directly into the problem of the tower. Or, really, I'd like to say one of the problems with the tower. One thing we might ponder from the story with the tower is the question of whether the dispersion at the end is an exile or an exodus. And that's a question for future pondering, and I'm going to be very excited to get into the connections between the flood and the tower narrative, because I think there's quite a few of those.
[01:02:33] As we talk more about parallel literature and the influence of literature on society and the dispersion of ideas through the medium of story, we will get a little bit more into the context of how we know about these stories, because we did know about them prior to the finding of the cuneiform tablets. And it's really, really interesting how similar the story that we knew before Parallels, the story we found in those tablets, but that's for a longer discussion.
[01:03:08] What I'd like to end on here is comparing these stories with the two source hypothesis for the flood. Remember we've talked about source criticism and the idea of the documentary hypothesis And the suggestion that the flood came from two different accounts, the Yahwist account and the priestly account. So I'd like to go ahead and do a little bit of a review , with the question of did one of these accounts parallel the Babylonian accounts a little bit closer than the other one?
[01:03:42] Okay, so I'm going to briefly read two versions of these accounts again. And this is, once again, from Lawrence Boadt's book, Reading the Old Testament, An Introduction. The J, or Yahwist, version says, quote, And the Lord said unto Noah, come you and all your house into the ark, for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast you shall take to you seven and seven, the male and his female, and of the beasts that are not clean, two, the male and his female. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
[01:04:27] And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent forth a raven, and he stayed yet another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dried. End quote.
[01:04:47] Okay, so, I mean, obviously there's parallels to the Babylonian account, as usual, but we still have the addition of the 40 days and 40 nights, and the distinction between clean and unclean animals. So that's not an exact match.
[01:05:03] Now, let's look at the priestly version. It says, quote, And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, For the earth is filled with violence through them, And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make you an ark of gopher wood, Rooms shall you make in the ark, And shalt pitch it within and without with pitch, And of every living thing of all the flesh, Two of every sort shall you take into the ark.
[01:05:31] In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventh day of the month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry. End quote.
[01:06:00] Okay, so again, we don't have an exact match up that's super close to the Gilgamesh epic or Atrahasis. This is maybe kind of a little bit closer, except it doesn't have the seven days. This one has the 150 days. And it has more details about dates and years.
[01:06:21] Okay, so, well, the reason I did that was because it would be interesting if one of these accounts really, really closely paralleled the Babylonian account. But we don't actually have that quite going on. There's still major differences. But it is the case that both of the accounts do parallel the other Babylonian accounts. But I mean you'd expect that because the whole story parallels the other story. So it's not really all that helpful.
[01:06:51] All right, so we're gonna go ahead and wrap up here. My goal today was to get these stories into your heads to get really familiar with the elements of them, kind of the flow of the narrative and some of the ways it describes the deities and how things are going down. And, also pointing out that it's not always just a Flood, right? There's more going on than just the Flood, and I think that's a pretty essential element because in the Bible we just have the flood and it's it's really more of a clean, precise, clear Narrative than what we have in the Babylonian story, which seems to be talking about things on various levels.
[01:07:38] We have the idea of who the gods were. We have the idea of who mankind was to begin with, which isn't such a great picture. And we have some of these elements about what you're supposed to do for childbirth and explaining why people aren't immortal and they're just not going to be immortal. But this is what you can do in order to kind of assuage that and feel better about yourself by creating your own legacy, right? And that is more of the focus than, Oh, the gods destroyed all of mankind and they're not going to do that again.
[01:08:18] Now, in comparison to the goals and purposes of what we see in the biblical text, we have a lot of differences there, right? And so a lot of that is going to be informing our conversation from here on out, and I hope you guys are as excited about that as I am, because understanding the Bible in its own context is such a wonderful, delightful thing. So really good stuff ahead of us, I think. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for all of you who share the episodes and who tell people about the podcast and wherever you're listening, if you rate that podcast, I would really appreciate it because that does help the algorithm. It helps other people find what I'm doing here. a big shout out to those of you who support me financially. You guys are the ones who keep the lights on here and help me get my resources for researching all of this and for bringing you guys this material. If you guys have any questions, or feedback. I would love to hear that. You can find me on Facebook. You can come and join my discussion group. And you can contact me through my website at GenesisMarksTheSpot. com where you can also find blog posts, guest profiles, my artwork, and some other stuff. At any rate, we will close up for this week, and I wish you all a blessed week, and we will see you later.
