Of Covenants, Noah’s Ten Commandments’ Moment

All creative work is derivative

Nina Paley

What is new may in fact be old.

Painting with a different color scheme; playing music in a faster tempo; or re-purposing medications for a different disease. Incremental innovations can constitute newness. Slight changes may be just as impactful as radical innovation. The latter may, in fact, be mythical.

Modern Scholarship has rendered Noah’s Ark story to be a “flood myth.” [Note: while a myth, the source may be prehistoric localized catastrophic floods.] Scholars believe that the ancient Mesopotamian poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, was employed in drafting the scriptural story.

The Epic of Gilgamesh approximately dates to 2100 BCE. Thus, it was crafted approximately one thousand years before Torah’s Exodus. Noah’s tale bares many similarities to the Epic of Gilgamesh. Both characters are tasked to build boats. Also, they both employ birds to ascertain the flood’s resolution.

Innovation?

Was Noah’s tale merely a reboot of Gilgamesh? Or, does it offer something innovative?

While Noah’s story, per Modern Scholarship, is based on existing literature, what significant story changes were made? And, why has the Pentateuch’s flood story supplanted the ancient Epic rendering it of little modern utility?

The Gilgamesh Epic’s reason for the flood is frankly bizarre. Noise? Yes. the Gods felt that Humans were too noisy!

On the other hand, the Torah’s flood rational was humanity’s moral corruption; the earth had become filled with violence. Genesis 6-11-13. [Note: Mass prehistoric killings have been found throughout the world. Were the prehistoric floods and mass killings conflated to generate a morality tale?]

The tales’ main characters, at times similar, differ. While the Gilgamesh hero- Utnapishtim- possessed positive qualities, he was also immortal- God like. In contrast, while Noah also possessed positive qualities- virtuous and unblemished in his generation [Genesis 6:9]- he was mortal.

Finally, beyond the Epic, Noah’s Ark tale included a formal Deity-Human covenant.

In essence, Noah’s tale offers up the notion that humans’ good fortune is tied to moral conduct. The Belsize Square Synagogue’s Rabbi in discussing the Torah Portion this year, alluded to a karma effect. Perhaps the Bible has generated a level of superstition; one good conduct leads to good things. And bad, to the contrary.

The Covenant

The divine covenant is the central difference between Gilgamesh and Noah’s Ark.

The Torah Portion Noah’s divine-human covenant is: “Every creeping animal that is alive will be yours for food; I’ve given every one to you like a plant of vegetation. , except you shall not eat flesh in its life, its blood, and except I shall inquire for your blood, for your lives, I shall inquire of it from the hand of every animal and from the hand of a human. I shall inquire for a human’s life from the hand of each man for his brother. One who sheds a human’s blood; by a human his blood will be shed, because He made the human in the image of God. And you, be fruitful and multiply, swarm in the earth and multiply in it.” Genesis 9:3-7.

The covenant was capped off with a sign; the rainbow. Genesis 9:13-17.

With this, the Noah tale introduces a Deity who has partnered with humanity. The partnership, however, is bargained upon moral conduct.

The Begging Question

As not scriptural analysis is complete without exploring outside of a particular passage, Noah’s tale leads to a bigger question. Why was there the need to have additional covenants?

Conclusion

In sum, with the Torah Portion Noah, the Pentateuch’s innovation was injecting morality into a mythic story. Arguably, two prehistoric events, catastrophic flooding and mass killings may have been the cultural memory which solidified the tale’s significance. It advanced the notion that human existence is tied to moral behavior.

Be well!!

Please like, follow, comment or share

---