Afraid of High Water?
Global flood stories are documented as history or legend in just about every region on earth. Old World missionaries were undoubtedly amazement at finding remote tribes in the American New World that possessed legends with many similarities to the Holy Bible's account of a worldwide flood. Other ancient civilizations such as China, Greece, Mesopotamia, Wales, Russia, India, Hawaii, Peru, and Polynesia, to name a few, all have their own versions of a giant flood which destroyed most of the people who populated Earth. In fact, some historians estimate that there may be as many as 500 accounts of such an event world wide.
Such flood accounts frequently run parallel with the Biblical account such as: a warning of the coming flood, the construction of a boat prior to the incident, the housing or safe keeping of animal pairs, the survival of a family so as to ensure re-population, and the release of birds to insure that the water level had receded.
A global flood can be found in a Mesopotamian (the oldest known civilization on Earth) flood story that’s called the Epic of Gilgamesh which is remarkably similar to the one described in the book of Genesis of the Holy Bible. Note the directives given in each case:
Take the seed of all And of every living
creatures aboard the ship... thing of all flesh you
shall bring ...
The ship is boarded and the Come into the Ark
door is shut... The Lord shut him in...
A Dove is sent out ... the dove Noah sent out a dove
returns, for lack of a resting place... she found no resting
place and therefore
returned...
Next time a raven is sent out Later Noah sends out a
to see if the water had receded, raven which kept going to
and it flew about to and fro, and fro until the waters
it didn’t return... dried up ...
A libation (offering) is made Then Noah built an
on the peak of the mountain Alter to the Lord
where the ship had landed ... on the mountain for
burnt offerings ...
The Epic of Gilgamesh is believed to be the oldest written story on Earth. It comes to us from the Ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia; it was originally written on clay tablets sometime between 2750 BC and 2500 BC.
On the other hand, Genesis is generally believed to have been written by Moses; most likely in his latter years, which would have been between 1200 and 1255 BC.
There is a classic Chinese story called the “Hihking” that tells about “the family of Fuhi,” that was saved from a great flood. This legend says that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters were the only people that escaped the great flood. Since he and his family were the only people left alive on earth, they were burdened with repopulating the world.
Here’s a few more of the colorful World Flood stories:
In Greece, a very long time ago, perhaps before the ‘golden age’ had past, humans became a bit to proud which really bothered Zeus (Greece’s king of all the gods), especially since they kept getting worse with the passing of each day. Finally Zeus, being seriously disgusted, decided to destroy man-kind. Before he did, the lesser god Prometheus, who was the creator of humans according to the Greeks, warned his human son Deucalion and his daughter-in-law what Zeus had in the store for the world. Prometheus ended up placing this young fertile couple in a rather large wooden chest which ultimately saved them because it could float.
In the lands of the South American Aztec nation of long ago a man named ‘Tapi’ once lived free and wild but he was a very virtuous or pious man. The creator told Tapi one afternoon to build a boat to live in. He was told to take his wife and a pair of every animal (male and female alike) that was alive onto this houseboat. Naturally just about everyone thought he was some kind of a nut case. Then it started raining and a flood soon followed but when the rain ended and he soon there after concluded that the water had dried up when he let a dove loose that did not return.
And finally, this one which comes from India
Yet again a really long time ago there lived a man named ‘Manu’. While bathing one day in a large stream or creek, he saved a small fish from the jaws of a much larger fish. The fish surprisingly spoke to Manu suggesting that, “If you care for me until I am fully grown I will save you from terrible things to come”. Naturally Manu asked the fish what kind of terrible things were to come. He was promptly told that a great flood would someday destroy everything upon the earth. The fish then suggested that Manu place him inside a clay jar for protection from the next big hungry fish. The fish grew and grew and each time he outgrew one clay jar Manu was ready with a larger one. Eventually the fish grew into one of the largest fish in the world. Shortly there after the fish instructed Manu to build a large ship since the flood was sure to happen soon. At about the time the rains started Manu tied a rope from the ship he had built to the huge fish so it could guide the ship as the waters rose. The whole earth was covered by water in a matter of days. When the waters began to lower or recede the fish pulled the ship to a mountaintop where Manu departed to parts unknown.
Yet again a really long time ago there lived a man named ‘Manu’. While bathing one day in a large stream or creek, he saved a small fish from the jaws of a much larger fish. The fish surprisingly spoke to Manu suggesting that, “If you care for me until I am fully grown I will save you from terrible things to come”. Naturally Manu asked the fish what kind of terrible things were to come. He was promptly told that a great flood would someday destroy everything upon the earth. The fish then suggested that Manu place him inside a clay jar for protection from the next big hungry fish. The fish grew and grew and each time he outgrew one clay jar Manu was ready with a larger one. Eventually the fish grew into one of the largest fish in the world. Shortly there after the fish instructed Manu to build a large ship since the flood was sure to happen soon. At about the time the rains started Manu tied a rope from the ship he had built to the huge fish so it could guide the ship as the waters rose. The whole earth was covered by water in a matter of days. When the waters began to lower or recede the fish pulled the ship to a mountaintop where Manu departed to parts unknown.
I’m betting that Manu had at least one young wife with him in that ship, considering the population of India
Sources ... http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/ http://www.nwcreation.net/noahlegends.html http://newapologia.com/when-was-genesis-written/ http://www.timelineindex.com/content/select/1563/44,1574,1563 http://www.wpclipart.com/weather/weather_scenes/infamous_weather/flood.png.html
I watched a really awesome documentary on History Channel that had to do with the story of Gilgamesh (sorry about my spelling). I was wanting more info on it and here it was!! Thanks so much! I was wondering if you knew anything about the story of Lilith aka the woman some people believed was Adam's first wife? The documentary mentioned her too and I would love to hear more if you felt like writing something about it. Thanks ya so much :)
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