THE ORIGIN OF THE FLOOD

Flood is like a trauma for all of the nations in the history. It is mentioned in the stories or in the sacred books. We read in the sacred books how a man called Noah and his family were saved from the flood with the help of the “God”. Everybody in the world has a basic knowledge about that story: Noah gets informed about the coming catastrophe; he builds a ship and then sails away on the day of the flood and so on.

Religious people believe in that story without questioning because it is written in their sacred books. It is written in the Bible and in the Quran. A passage from the Old Testament about the flood story:

“Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.  You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” (Genesis)

And let’s look at the Quran:

“It was revealed to Noah: “None of your People will believe except those who have believed already! So grieve no longer over their (evil) deeds. But construct an Ark under Our eyes and Our inspiration, and address Me no (further) on behalf of those who are in sin: for they are about to be overwhelmed in the Flood.” (Quran)

In principle it is the same story although there are little differences. However it is not the flood story itself that we will discuss here but its origin. On the contrary to the believes, the flood story wasn't told first by the God of the Jews or Muslim. That story dates much earlier in the history. The Bible isn’t the first source where we read that story. It is firstly mentioned in a Sumerian epic called Gilgamesh which dates back to somewhere between 2750 and 2500 BC (That is the date when Gilgamesh, a king, was supposed to have lived). Now let’s analyze the story together. 

Gilgamesh who searches for immortality arrives at a place at the mouth of rivers where he meets a man called Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim is one of Gilgamesh’s ancestors and he was given the eternal life by the God Enki. Here Utnapishtim takes the role of Noah. He says to Gilgamesh that he will reveal something hidden, a secret of the gods to him:

"Shuruppak, a city that you surely know,
situated on the banks of the Euphrates,
that city was very old, and there were gods inside it.
The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.” (Epic of Gilgamesh)

Here he reveals to Gilgamesh that there was a flood in the past. And then he goes on telling what happened later:

“Ea (Enki), the Clever Prince(?), was under oath with them (Anu, Enlil, Ninurta and Ennugi)
so he repeated their talk to the reed house:
'Reed house, reed house! Wall, wall!
O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubartutu:
Tear down the house and build a boat!” (Epic of Gilgamesh)

A man in the city of Shuruppak (Utnapishtim) was informed by the God Enki secretly. The other gods had decided to bring the flood and destroy the mankind but they wanted it to be kept secret. However, Enki, the “father” of the mankind doesn’t approve it. He secretly informs Utnapishtim and tells him to build a boat. Till here everything is almost same with biblical stories. A man is informed by the God and builds a boat. What about the living beings? The story goes on like that:

“Abandon wealth and seek living beings!
Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!
Make all living beings go up into the boat.” (Epic of Gilgamesh)

He is ordered to get the living beings into the boat as well. However Utnapishtim is worried. He asks Enki what he should tell the others in the city if they ask why he builds a boat. That is Enki’s answer:

“You, well then, this is what you must say to them:
"It appears that Enlil is rejecting me
so I cannot reside in your city,
nor set foot on Enlil's earth.
I will go down to the Apsu to live with my lord, Ea,
and upon you he will rain down abundance,
a profusion of fowl, myriad fishes.
He will bring to you a harvest of wealth,
in the morning he will let loaves of bread shower down,
and in the evening a rain of wheat!" (Epic of Gilgamesh)

He lies to the people in the city. He gives them false hopes. We read the same kind of story in the Bible too:

“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away…” (Matthew 24:37-39)

How to build the boat?

 As it is clear from the both texts, the other people except Noah/Utnapishtim don’t know anything about what will happen. In both Bible and Gilgamesh we read also about the construction orders:

“And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.“ (Bible)

“…Its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height,
the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each.
I laid out its (interior) structure and drew a picture of it (?).
I provided it with six decks,
thus dividing it into seven (levels).
The inside of it I divided into nine (compartments).
I drove plugs (to keep out) water in its middle part.
I saw to the punting poles and laid in what was necessary…”  (Epic of Gilgamesh)

The boat was finished by sunset and the next morning the heavy rains start with the order of the gods…

“All day long the South Wind blew ...,
blowing fast, submerging the mountain in water,
overwhelming the people like an attack.
No one could see his fellow,
they could not recognize each other in the torrent.
The gods were frightened by the Flood,
and retreated, ascending to the heaven of Anu.” (Epic of Gilgamesh)

“So We opened the gates of heaven, with water pouring forth. And We caused the earth to gush forth with springs, so the waters met (and rose) to the extent decreed.” (Quran)

“And, behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:17)

However the gods are very sad about their deeds:

“The gods--those of the Anunnaki--were weeping with her (Isthar),
the gods humbly sat weeping, sobbing with grief(?),
their lips burning, parched with thirst.
Six days and seven nights
came the wind and flood, the storm flattening the land.
When the seventh day arrived, the storm was pounding,
the flood was a war--struggling with itself like a woman
writhing (in labor).” (Epic of Gilgamesh)

What is striking above is the duration of the flood. Compare it please with the text from the Bible below:

“And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”

Mount and the dove

In the epic of Gilgamesh the boat lodges in the Mt. Nimush and in the other stories we know as the Mount Ararat.

And the seventh day in the boat. Utnapishtim says “I sent forth a dove and released it.”  

And that is from the Genesis: 

“Noah opened the window of the ark… and… He… sent out…a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground”

You can read the whole text about the flood in the epic of Gilgamesh in the eleventh tablet of the epic. So do you still believe these are all just coincidence? Or are the stories told in the sacred books just copies of the previous stories form the ancient cultures? What does it mean then? Can it be that what is told to be the words of the God actually not the words of it?