Most biblical historians and theological scholars have determined that the Great Flood as told in Genesis occurred sometime around 2500BC. In Genesis 6 through 8 it tells of how God who became dissatisfied with the wickedness of mankind causes a flood in order to destroy mankind. Before the flood, however, God finds a righteous man and tells him to build an ark for his family and the animals of the earth in order for them to repopulate the Earth after the flood. The rains begin causing a flood that kills every living creature of the Earth except for those that are on the ark.
Eventually, the rains stop, the flood waters finally recede, dry land is found allowing Noah and his family along with all of the animals to leave the ark. Just like the Creation of the World, Garden of Eden as well as Adam and Eve there are Sumerian and Babylonian “Great Deluge” mythologies with similarities to the Old Testament story about Noah and The Flood. To start with, Noah is the ninth generation of Adam and Eve’s lineage and its assumed that Noah lived in the Mesopotamian Valley. Archaeological evidence has proven that the earliest Mesopotamian flood occurred around 3500BC and again around 2600BC.
Mesopotamian deluge or flood myths such the Eridu Genesis, the Epic of AtraHasis and the Epic of Gilgamesh all have similarities to the biblical version of Noah and the Flood. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the most well-known as well as the best detailed of the three Mesopotamian deluge myths and contains many similarities to the Old Testament version of The Flood. The main character, Gilgamesh, appears as a mythic character in Mesopotamian literature but in fact was a real person. Historians generally agree that Gilgamesh lived in the period of 2700 to 2600BC which coincides with the timeline of the floods that occurred in Kish and Shuruppak.
The first similarity occurs when the gods and God becomes unhappy with mankind. From the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ea wants to destroy mankind because of the noise that they make. Then in Genesis 6:5-7, God wants to destroy mankind because of their wickedness. The gods or God decide to destroy all of mankind except for those that they find righteous. Found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Ea talks to a wall in a house hoping that he will be heard. In Genesis 6:8, God finds Noah to be righteous and will be saved. Written in both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament the gods or God explain on how to construct an ark.
Utanapishtim is told by Ea on how to build this boat. Noah is told by God on how to build an ark in Genesis 6:14-16. Continuing on, Utanapishtim’s boat and Noah’s ark are filled with the survivors. Utanapishtim and his family fill the ark in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Noah and his family along with the animals go onto the ark in Genesis 7:13-14. Recorded in both the Old Testament and the Epic of Gilgamesh the rains begin. Epic of Gilgamesh, the rains begin. Genesis 7:10-11 the rains begin.. With the storms the boats come to rest on a mountain.
From the Epic of Gilgamesh, storm is over. In Genesis 8:4 the storm is over. In order to find dry land, birds are released. Utanapishtim releases birds in hope of finding dry land. Noah releases birds in hopes of finding dry land in Genesis 8:6:12. The rains have stopped, the waters have receded and dry land is again available. Here Utanapishtim leaves the boat to pray. Finally, Noah and his family can leave the ark in Genesis 8:20-21. Numerous writers, scholars and philosophers now accept the theories of two different versions of Noah and The Flood present in the Old Testament.
For instance, two versions of reasons for the flood, two versions about number of animals to be taken on board the ark, two versions of the timeline of how long the flood lasted along with different places where the water came from that caused the flood. Detailed in Genesis 6, 7, and 8 it tells of the Noah and The Flood story. In these 3 chapters there are two different versions that were written by two different authors. One version which is printed in blue was written by the Jahwist source and other version that was written by the Priestly source is printed in orange with additional writing from the Redactor source printed in red.
Notice, also, the Jahwist source refers to God as “the Lord” and the Priestly source refers to God as “Elohim. ” The two reasons why God caused the flood can be found in Genesis 6:1 and 3, by the Jahwist source, where the Lord observes the wickedness of mankind. Where as, in Genesis 6:2 and 4, by the Priestly source, God is concerned because of the Nephilim also known as the “Sons of God or Fallen Angels” are having relationships with human women. In Genesis 7:2-3, by the Jahwist source, writes of seven pairs of clean beast, two pairs of unclean beasts and seven pairs of birds that are to be taken aboard the ark.
Later in Genesis 7:15, by the Priestly source, describes that there are two of each type of animal taken onto the ark. Described in Genesis 7:12, by the Jahwist source, writes that it rains for forty days and in Genesis 7:17 the water remained for another forty days. Then in Genesis 8:3 it takes one hundred and fifty days for the water go away followed in Genesis 8:6 when Noah waits for another forty days before opening the door of the ark and in Genesis 8:10 Noah waits another seven days before sending out a dove.
In Genesis 8:12-13 Noah waits gain for another seven days before sending out another dove and when the dove does not return he opens the door of the ark and sees that the earth is dry which totals to two-hundred and eighty-four days. By contrast, verses written by the Priestly source in Genesis 7 and 8 establish a different timeline of the flood. In Genesis 7:11, Noah is 600 years of age when the flood begins and verse 24 tells that water was on the Earth for one-hundred and fifty days. Written in Genesis 8:13-14 the earth is dry when Noah is 601 years of age.
According to the Priestly source, the flood lasted for three-hundred and eight-two days which is different from the Jahwist source timeline of two-hundred and eighty-four days. According to Genesis 7:4, by the Jahwist source, only rain will be the source of water for the flood then in Genesis 7:11, by the Priestly source, both fountains from earth and the rain from heaven were the source of water for the flood. Found in Genesis 7:6-12, by the Redactor source, Jahwist source and the Priestly sources. In verse 7 the Jahwist source mentions Noah, his sons, his wife and his son’s wives.
In verse 13 the Priestly source writes that Noah, his three sons by name, his wife and his son’s wives all board the ark. In Genesis 7:6-12, Noah and his family board the ark, the animals board the ark, the rains begin, the rains continue then in Genesis 7:13, Noah and his family board the ark again after the rains begin. In Genesis 7:21, by the Priestly source, the animals become the first to die followed by mankind, however, in Genesis 7:22-23, written by the Jahwist source, a reverse order of death with mankind first followed by the animals.
The Jahwist source in Genesis 8:21-22, tells that God will not again destroy mankind and in Genesis 9:11-12 the Priestly source tells that Elohim will not again destroy mankind. During the 1928 to 1929AD, archaeologists at two southern Mesopotamian excavation sites at Ur and Kish discovered flood deposits which they identified with the biblical flood in the Hebrew scriptures along with Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform sources. Sir Charles Leonard Woolley first excavation and again a year later with a number of other excavations included an enormous pit.
In a seventy-five foot long by sixty foot wide and sixty-four foot deep pit he found a deposit of clean soil that was up to eleven feet thick. S. Langdon and L. Watelin also found evidence of smaller floods at Kish just before Wooley’s discovery at Ur. The first thought was that the evidence of the floods at Ur and Kish were identical which provided evidence that the Genesis flood story was true. After closer examination of the artifacts and soil the Ur flood was dated to around 3500BC.
The evidence from the floods at Kish showed that these two floods occurred around 3000 to 2900BC along with another flood around 2600BC. This proved that the floods at Kish happened much later that the flood at Ur. A few years later at another excavation side in Shuruppak more evidence of an ancient flood was discovered. This was of interest because shuruppak was the home of Ziusudra from the Sumerian flood myth, Eridu Genesis. The flood that occurred in Shuruppak dated to around 2950 to 2850BC with preliminary evidence showing that this flood happened at the same time of the earlier Kish flood of 3000 to 2900BC.
A debate exist about the contradiction of scripture verses science and the flood of Mesopotamia became the origin of the Old Testament story of Noah and the Great Flood. Even if most religious groups recognize the story of Noah and The Flood to be symbolic, numerous religious groups still accept the story as actual fact. For the past one-hundred and twenty-years, the consensus of contemporary history and scientific scholars the biblical flood story is not historically accurate and more than likely is based on mythology from the Mesopotamian Valley.
It has been well documented by historians and archaeologists that the ancient Mesopotamia were devastated by a great flood. Currently there has been no scientific evidence that a global flood ever happened and despite many expeditions no evidence of the ark has ever been found. Another point to be made, the number of animal species known about at the time of the flood which included over four-thousand six-hundred species of mammals alone would not fit into Noah’s ark as dimensioned in the Old Testament.
