Genesis

One of the differences between The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis is that Genesis actually has a backstory that is quite extensive. To be fair, almost the entirety of Genesis is backstory, though. However, The Epic of Gilgamesh has a little bit of backstory mixed in with the story, but there really isn’t a whole lot. Genesis dumps everything on you all at once, although not in a bad way. Genesis literally spells everything out step by step.

Gilgamesh was praised almost incessantly by the writer and by other characters within the story; however, Adam and Eve are not made out to be perfect. They are never made out to be something that they are not, and they both make the same mistake. They ate from the tree, even though God said, “You shall not eat from it and you shall not touch it, lest you die.” They both seem infinitely more human than Gilgamesh, who seems almost untouchable. The only negative thing that really happens to him is that he loses his best friend.

The Epic of Gilgamesh seems to be a lot more action, whereas Genesis is almost always consistently cause and effect. God says [insert phrase here] and something happens. When people listen to God, everything works out, and when they don’t, bad things happen. It seems pretty simple.

This happens time and time again; first with Adam, then with Noah, then with Abraham and his wife, Sarah. All these people listened to God and were blessed, and when they did not, there were consequences. However, this should not make it seem like God is not merciful, though. God talks to Abraham, and he wants to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham tries to fight for the town’s survival. He talks God from saving the town if there are only 50 people who are innocent down to only 10 innocent people, and God still sparing the city. This clearly shows that God is merciful.

Genesis gets more and more in-depth the farther you get within it. The stories start out shorter and simpler, and then they proceed to get more and more complex. You delve more into everyone’s lives the farther you get into the story of Genesis. By the time you get to Jacob, it seems like we learn about almost his entire life.

Another similarity seems to be in relation to how people (in Genesis) are described and how gods (in The Epic of Gilgamesh) are described. In Genesis, there is generally a long drawn out explanation about who is descended from whom, and when the gods are described, there is a long drawn out explanation about who they are related to and what they can do (what they are the god of).

I am enjoying this translation far more than I thought I would. It is not as dense as most things in relation to Genesis. The notes are also surprisingly interesting and helpful.

1. Genesis mentions Nephilim, and in class it was brought up that Gilgamesh could have been a descendant of the Nephilim. Do you think this is still a possibility?

2. Which character seems to have the best life or make the least amount of mistakes in Genesis? It seems like almost all of the characters do something stupid at one point or another in time: again, they all seem incredibly human, unlike Gilgamesh.

3. Do you think the blessings God gives seem to make the commands to follow worth it? This is obviously up for debate, but good things happen when people listen. However, every once in a while people argue with God about whether or not he can actually provide what he says he will.