Humans Vs Gods Essay, Research Paper

In both The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible, the humans are constantly coming into contact with supreme beings; weather they are polytheistic or monotheistic. Each book describes it’s own God, or gods and goddesses, in different manners. In Gilgamesh the gods and goddesses are more personal with the humans and guide them on their way. Where as God in the Bible is more of an observer who contacts only those he wants to save. It seems to me that the deities in Gilgamesh are more willing to help the humans and are more forgiving than the God from the Bible.

In Gilgamesh the many gods and goddesses look upon Gilgamesh with affection. They created him 2/3 god and 1/3 human. They made him the ruler of Uruk, and granted him almost endless power. When Gilgamesh’s arrogance became too much for the people of Uruk they called to the gods to help them. In response the gods created Enkidu. He was the exact opposite of Gilgamesh, and it was thought that he would put an end to Gilgamesh. When the two giants fought it was Gilgamesh who prevailed. They became friends and together they had many journeys. During one of these journeys they sought and killed the great keeper of the forest, Humbaba. After the battle the goddess Ishtar confronted Gilgamesh and asked to marry him. At this Gilgamesh responded by insulting Ishtar by telling of her abominable behavior and hideous acts. Ishtar was infuriated and went to her father Anu to let loose the Bull of Heaven against Gilgamesh. After consideration Anu did as his daughter wanted and sent the bull of heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. When Gilgamesh destroyed the bull Ishtar was again infuriated and pleaded with the gods to do something. They argued amongst themselves quite extensively before reaching the conclusion of killing Enkidu. This argument between the gods shows a power struggle. None of the gods has enough power to do what they want. There is always some sort of checks and balances. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh wandered the earth in search of immortality. He found his way to the garden of the gods and talked to them in order to receive immortality. Gilgamesh did not receive immortality and eventually died. The gods and goddesses proved indecisive in their acts. They were sometimes helpful and sometimes vengeful. They would tell Gilgamesh to accomplish certain acts and then go back on what they had said, after Gilgamesh had completed his task. The fact that Gilgamesh accomplished his trek to the garden of the gods shows that the polytheistic gods are close to their “subjects” and are not distant from them. These polytheistic deities are like the monotheistic deities described in the Bible in many ways. But they differ greatly in some respects.

The Bible portrays God as the omnipotent creator of everything. He starts by creating the world, then light, darkness, water, and air. Then come the plants, fish, and animals. God then creates man in his own image, and then woman from man. He creates man immortal, until they eat from the tree of knowledge, He then decides that man will no longer be immortal, but rather shall die. In the story of Noah, God shows his vengeance. He decides to destroy the whole world but picks Noah to survive because he is a good person. He leaves no warning for other people, but instead completely destroys them. The fact that God acted in his own rage and had nothing to stop his vengeance is unique to monotheistic religions. It puts all of the power in one Supreme Being. This God has no checks or balances to keep Him in line.

The gods in Gilgamesh differ greatly from the God of the Bible. First of all the God of the Bible is a man. He created man in his image, and from man he created woman. The fact that the woman is subordinate to man in the Bible and that God said so is different than the views of the gods in Gilgamesh. In this book some of the deities are goddesses. They have the same powers as the gods, and are shown as equals in the book. Another difference is the gods in Gilgamesh are always in check by each other. They are always arguing and discussing amongst themselves about what to do in a certain situation. There is never an example of all out rage by one of them, without first presenting their case to the other gods. The God of the Bible is the one Supreme Being. He acts out his own fits of rage by doing whatever He feels like doing. There are no others to keep God in check. Another difference in the gods of both books is that the gods of Gilgamesh are more personal than the God of the Bible. Gilgamesh is constantly talking to the gods and by making it to the garden of the gods, Gilgamesh shows that they are not too distant. Where as the God of the Bible is too powerful to be reached by ordinary people, He only talks to those he deems worthy. And nobody can reach his kingdom. This is shown in the story of the tower of Bable, when man tries to build a tower to the heavens and God strikes him down. A final difference between the gods of these two books is that the gods of Gilgamesh created man as mortal. In the book, Gilgamesh searches for immortality but in the end he knows that he will die. The God of the Bible creates man immortal. It is not until he eats the fruit from the tree of knowledge that he becomes mortal. Although there are many differences between the gods in each of these books, there are also some similarities.

The similarities are not as numerous as the differences, but they are there. The first similarity between the gods of Gilgamesh and the God of the Bible is that they are both very powerful. They demonstrate this power by destroying people and things. They are also very jealous, and become angry when they see man as threatening them. The last similarity is that both the gods from Gilgamesh and the God of the Bible are hypocritical. They tell the humans what to do, and then they become mad and vengeful afterwards. In Gilgamesh the gods tell Gilgamesh to destroy Humbaba. When he does they decide that he must be destroyed, and they send the Bull of Heaven to destroy him. In the Bible, God denounces killing people and punishes Cain for killing Abel. But then later he destroys the whole earth with a flood, killing everyone except Noah and his family. The gods in both of these stories are different, and all have their faults.

In each of these books the deities are both similar and different in many aspects. In Gilgamesh there are polytheistic gods. And in the Bible there is a monotheistic God. Each of these deities have their good points and their bad points, but neither seems to be any better than the other. I don’t think that either of these deities are better, but I believe in a monotheistic God, one with omnipotent powers. I think that the idea of gods and goddesses arguing with each other like children in somewhat pathetic. I like the idea of one God, who created everything and who controls everything as well, even if I do not agree with some of the things that He does or has done.