This sheet on Genesis 7 was written by Gabi Barzilai for 929 and can also be found here
On December 3, 1872, George Smith took the podium at the Society for Biblical Archeology in London to deliver the most important lecture in his life. The theme of the lecture was "Discovering the Ancient Source of the Biblical Flood." In a wide and complex plot written on twelve clay tablets - the plot of Gilgamesh - Smith found a story very similar to the story of the Flood in the Torah that pre-dated the Exodus from Egypt. But with all the similarities between the stories, there are also important differences. In Babylon the Flood is a caprice of the gods. In the Torah it is a justified punishment for the sins of mankind. In Babylon, the survivor is a king who had connections. In the Torah, the survivor is a righteous and blameless man. In Babylon the gods of the Flood lose control over the tremendous power they have unleashed. In the Torah God is in full control all along, and so on. Evidently, the Torah deliberately used a well-known and famous story, perhaps the most famous in the world at that time, to highlight and sharpen the important differences between the worldviews of the ancient Near East and the new spirit of biblical monotheism. In the face of the power struggles and cynicism of polytheism, the Torah held up for emulation righteousness and justice, equality and man’s responsibility for his actions.
Dr. Gabi Barzilai is a lecturer at the Herzog Center in Bible, Land of Israel Studies, cinema and the Hebrew folk song.
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