Genesis and Gigamesh

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Interaction between Mortals and Devine Beings in Genesis and Gilgamesh
The story of Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh gives an essential view into the association existing between divine beings and mortals through the application of both imagery, prose and power comparison. Importantly, the divine beings get seen as possessing insurmountable abilities and in a way depicting mortals as lesser beings yet highly essential. The essay aims at analyzing the story of Gilgamesh and Genesis with divinity-mortality interaction.
In Genesis, God emerges as the divine being with the depicting of insurmountable power that leaves the men in awe. As a spiritual being, God does not live among humans but exists in the high places with his feet on the ground. In essence, God gets depicted as the more superior being with men and women walking the face of the earth. God does not condone evil and considers it highly punishable even by death. Mostly, with men highly sinning especially with the increased wickedness, God decided as already ensuring success and an ethical’s humankind to wipe the earth with floods (Gen 6:11). On one side, God gets depicted as highly influential as the giver of life as well as the taker. He highly created man and placed him on earth through the first man Adam and women Eve. However, with the increased wickedness spread all over the world, God brings rain in wiping all humankind off the earth. However, God is merciful by saving Noah to continue humanity (Gen 6:9).

In one way, God gets seen as caring for his people as long as they live free of sin. On the other hand, the considering of Noah’s family and living all other men and women to perish depicts God as profoundly uncaring. As men and women, there is the increased sense of fear in God highly equipped with the power to give life as well as take it.
Conversely, in Gilgamesh, the gods have the power to create life and also humankind. As noted in the story, it says “It was you, Aruru, who created mankind” (Carnahan and Kovacs 2). Moreover, the gods have the power to create weapons of punishment such as the mortal Enkidu created by goddess Aruru. On the other hand, the gods have an everyday interaction with beings depicting a sense of bond highly not seen in the story of Genesis. As noted from Gilgamesh Epic, Gilgamesh notes watching Utanapishtim and “your appearance is not strange—you are like me” (Carnahan and Kovacs 43). Significantly, there is a significant connection and form of likeness profoundly depicted in Gilgamesh. As opposed to Genesis in which God resides in the heavens, Gilgamesh describes the homely and social daily interactions between mortals and divine beings. There is the typical talking, sharing beddings and personal conversations.
However, Gilgamesh also depicts divine beings as highly influential and uncaring with the power to bring humanity to annihilation or entire punishment. In comparison to Genesis with God seeing the widespread of evil as the cause for saving Noah alone and killing all people, the story is different in Gilgamesh. In essence, there a sense of fear as well as the care with the gods destroying the earth and allowing humankind to continue through Utnapishtim. It gets noted, “Utnapishtim,..was given eternal life” (Carnahan and Kovacs 33). In a significant way, Gilgamesh aims at finding hope by interacting with Utanapishtim as the favored one to get granted life by the gods after destroying the earth with floods.
Thus, in both stories, it is clear that divine beings depict similarities as well as differences in interacting with humans. Significantly, in Gilgamesh, divine beings have a more personalized relationship compared to the God in Genesis feared and revered and dwelling in the heavens.
Works Cited
Carnahan, Wolf, and Kovacs, Gallery Maureen. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” (1988). Accessed from http://uruk-warka.dk/Gilgamish/The%20Epic%20of%20Gilgamesh.pdf
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998