Glenn wrote:
Take the Flood account. It must be
based upon a real history. It can't
have been made up whole cloth. I don't care if Noah took 2 or 200
pairs
of each kind on the ark. Details can be wrong, but there must be a
real
history behind it.
A point I have tried to make repeatedly. I posted this before, but
for those who missed it, or weren't paying attention, here it is
again:
Parallel accounts of the flood, some written hundreds of years before
Genesis was written, support its historical basis. In his book,
Noahs
Ark and the Ziusudra Epic, Robert Best states: "Distinctive
story elements and phrases that are common to two or more of these six
stories indicate a common origin. Parallel quotations make it obvious
that these six flood stories did not originate
independently."
Certain words and phrases used in Genesis and parallel accounts such as
heart, roof, cubits, seed, pitch, animals, fountain(s) of the deep,
raven, dove, sweet savor, etc, make a compelling case for a common source
for all the narratives and help corroborate a historical flood.
The flood texts are from Ziusudra (in Sumerian), Atrahasis (in Accadian),
the eleventh tablet of Gilgamesh (written in four languages), Genesis
6-9, Berossus, and a version from Moses of Khoren.
.
"Side-wall ... pay attention" Ziusudra iv, 155
"Wall, listen to me." Atrahasis III,i,20
"Wall, pay attention" Gilgamesh XI,22
"when their
heart led the great
gods to produce the flood." Gilgamesh
"every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil." Genesis
6:5
"the decision that mankind is to be destroyed" Ziusudra
iv,157-158
"The gods commanded total destruction" Atrahasis
Il,viii,34
"The great
gods decided to make
a flood" Gilgamesh XI,14
"
God ... decided to make an end
of all flesh" Genesis 6:13
"Destroy your house, spurn property, save life" Atrahasis
III,i,22
"Tear down house, abandon property, save life" Gilgamesh
XI,24-26
"Enki...over the capitals the storm will sweep" Ziusudra iv,
156
"He [Enki] told him of the coming of the
flood" Atrahasis III,i,37
"God said to Noah ...I will bring a
flood" Genesis 6:13,17
"Kronos...said ...mankind would be destroyed by a
flood" Berossus
"...the huge boat" Ziusudra v,207
"Build a ship" Atrahasis III,i,22
"Build a ship" Gilgamesh XI,24
"Make yourself an ark" Genesis 6:14
"build a boat" Berossus
"who protected the
seed of
mankind" Ziusudra vi,259
"Bring into the ship the
seed of
all life" Gilgamesh XI,27
"to keep their
seed alive"
Genesis 7:3
"Draw a design of it on the ground." Atrahasis
"The ship that thou shalt build" Gilgamesh XI
"And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of ..."
Genesis 6:15
"Ten dozen
cubits the height of
each of her walls" Gilgamesh XI
"... three hundred
cubits, the
breadth of it fifty cubits" Genesis 6:15
"Like the apsu you shall
roof
it" Atrahasis 111j,29
"Like the apsu you shall
roof
it" Gilgamesh XI,31
"Make a
roof for the ark"
Genesis 6:16
"...and addressed the elders" Atrahasis 111,01
"I answer the city people and the elders" Gilgamesh
XI,35
"I cannot live in (your city)" Atrahasis III,I,47
"I cannot live in (your city)" Gilgamesh XI, 44
"
pitch I poured into the
inside" Gilgamesh XI,66
"cover it inside and out with
pitch" Genesis 6:14
"some people scrape
pitch off
the boat" Berossus
"your family, your relatives" Atrahasis DT,42(w),8
"he sent his family on board" Atrahasis III,ii,42
"into the ship all my family and relatives" Gilgamesh
XI,84
"Go into the ark, you and all your household" Genesis 7:1
"he sent his wife and children and friends on board"
Berossus
"
animals which emerge from the
earth" Ziusudra vi,253
"all the wild creatures of the steppe" Atrahasis
DT,42(w),9
"The cattle of the field, the beast of the plain" Gilgamesh
XI,85
"clean
animals and of animals
that are not clean" Genesis 7:8
"and put both birds and
animals
on board" Berossus
"
Enter the boat and close the
boat's door" Atrahasis DT,42(w),6
"Pitch was brought for him to close his door" Atrahasis
III,ii,51
"I
entered the boat and closed
the door' Gilgamesh XI,93
"And they that
entered ... and
the Lord shut him in" Genesis 7:16
"Ninurta went forth making the dikes [overflow]" Atrahasis U
rev, 14
"Ninurta went forth making the dikes overflow" Gilgamesh
XI,102
"One person could [not] see another" Atrahasis III,iii,13
"One person could not see another" Gilgamesh XI,111
"the storm had swept ... for
seven
days and seven nights" Ziusudra
"For
seven days and seven nights
came the storm" Atrahasis III,iv,24
"
after seven
days, that the waters of the flood were upon the
earth. " Genesis 7:10
"consigned the peoples to destruction" Atrahasis
III,iii,54
"All mankind was turned to clay" Gilgamesh XI,133
"And all flesh died ... and every man" Genesis 7:21
"Below the
fountain of the deep
was
stopped" Atrahasis
"The
fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were
stopped"
Genesis 8:2
"Ziusudra made an
opening in the
large boat" Ziusudra vi,207
"I
opened the window"
Gilgamesh XI,135
"Noah
opened the window of the
ark" Genesis 8:6
"he
pried open a portion of the
boat" Berossus
"On Mount Nisir the boat grounded" Gilgamesh XI,140
"the ark came to rest upon the mountains" Genesis 8:4
"the boat had grounded upon a mountain" Berossus
"After Khsisuthros...landed ...a long mountain" Moses of
Khoren
"The
dove went out and
returned" Gilgamesh XI,147
"sent forth the dove and the
dove came back to him" Genesis
8:10
"let out the birds and they again returned to the ship"
Berossus
"Then I
sent forth and set free
a raven" Gilgamesh XI
"And he
sent forth a raven"
Genesis 8:7
"He
offered [a sacrifice]"
Atrahasis III,v,31
"And
offered a sacrifice"
Gilgamesh XI,155
"
offered burnt offerings on the
altar" Genesis 8:20
"built an altar and sacrificed to the gods" Berossus
"The gods
smelled the
savor" Atrahasis III,v,34
"The gods
smelled the sweet
savor" Gilgamesh XI,160
"And the Lord
smelled the sweet
savor..." Genesis 8:21
"That I may
remember it [every]
day" Atrahasis III,vi,4
"I shall
remember these days and
never forget" Gilgamesh XI,165
"I shall
remember my covenant
...I may remember' Genesis 9:15-16
"How did man survive the destruction?" Atrahasis
III,vi,10
"No man was to survive the destruction" Gilgamesh
XI,173
"[on the criminal] impose your penalty" Atrahasis
III,vi,25
"On the criminal impose his crimes" Gilgamesh X1,180
"Who sheds the blood of man, by man his blood be shed" Genesis
9:6
"he touched our foreheads to
bless us" Gilgamesh XI,192
"And God
blessed Noah"
Genesis 9:1
"elevated him to eternal life, like a god" Ziusudra
vi,257
"they shall be like gods to us" Gilgamesh XI,194
"I lived in the temple of Ea, my lord" Atrahasis RS
22.421,7
"go down to dwell with my lord Ea" Gilgamesh XI,42
"he had gone to dwell with the gods" Berossus
"Noah walked with God." Genesis 6:9
______________________________
On the basis of substantial historical evidence, what reasonable
conclusions could we make?
1. There is a likelihood that a flood event actually happened. Why
would the ancients invent such a story unless there was some historical
element?
2. Considering it as a historical event, it was local to southern
Mesopotamia about 2900 BC, rather than having been a global
deluge.
3. Judgment would have been specific to the sinful, local Adamite
population rather than a universal pronouncement upon all
mankind.
Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
"Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History"
www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Tue Apr 27 12:46:02 2004