Packing it Up: The Flood

 

In your group (and as appropriate for your group) share:

1. The best thing that happened to you this week
2. The worst thing that happened to you this week
3. A time in the last week you saw God at work in our community or in another person

 

Many of the colorful details in this story come from the Old Epic writer, J, and some are “borrowed” or at least very similar to the Babylonian Gilgamesh flood epic.  It is the part of the story that give us the picture of God shutting the door of the ark from the outside (how else would it close?), and the story of Noah sending out the birds to determine if there was any dry land around (Like Gilgamesh).

 

The story invites us to imagine what the important things really are. God told Noah to outfit the boat with a pair of each animal, and food, and his wife, and their three sons and daughters-in-laws.  This would serve as the “stock” from which all the earth would be restored. Of course, this story is set before the Exodus, before the 10 Commandments, the Promised Land, the Temple, and certainly before there is any idea of Jesus.

 

Imagine that you were in this situation now – a sort of pioneer wagon or Pilgrim ship – and that what you take with you will determine the character of the world for the future.  Assuming that you believe the Lord would want the world to continue as an expression of Christian life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Besides keeping the gene pool intact, what do you imagine the Lord would instruct you to bring:

1. 1.     Packing the boat

• To express the love of God with heart, mind, soul, and strength?
• To ensure love of neighbor as self?
• To instruct the generations?
• If you could not bring a book or other media, how would you pass on the messages?
• Do you think there are things God would prohibit you from bringing?   (Are any of them in your house?)

1. 2.     Our boat.

• Sometime The Church is depicted metaphorically as an “ark” Even the vaulted ceiling of the nave (a word deriving from “boat” that indicates the place where the congregation sits in church) is compared to the hull of  a huge ship.  What do you think of our crew?
• If we are on an ark, what does that imply about how we live together?
• If we see people who are not on the ark, what should we do about it?  Suppose they don’t believe it is raining?
• Who got you onto the ark?  Why did they do it?  What response do you think they hoped for?

 

 

Take a minute to pray our thanks for the creation and for the gifts we will enjoy in our parks.  Your group can decide whether to do this out loud or to write down a prayer to put in your prayer box and take home.  Sometimes it is hard to pray aloud in front of people we don’t know very well!   You can save that for family time if you prefer.

 

Bless one another.   You can just say, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” 

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Gilgamesh (not needed for discussion – just a bonus!)

Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, is amongst the earliest surviving works of literature. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five, independent Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Apparently, four of these were used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. This first, “Old Babylonian” version of the epic dates to the 18th century BC and is titled Shūtur eli sharrī (“Surpassing All Other Kings”). Only a few fragments of it survive. The later, Standard Babylonian version dates from the 13th to the tenth centuries and bears the title Sha naqba īmuru (“He who Saw the Deep”). Fragments of approximately two thirds of this longer, 12 tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

The story centers on a friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Enkidu is a wild man created by the gods as Gilgamesh’s equal to distract him from oppressing the people of Uruk. Together, they journey to the Cedar Mountain to defeat Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later they kill the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. As a punishment for these actions, the gods sentence Enkidu to death.

The later half of the epic focuses on Gilgamesh’s distress at Enkidu’s death, and his quest for immortality. In order to learn the secret of eternal life, Gilgamesh undertakes a long and perilous journey to find the immortal flood hero, Utnapishtim. He learns that “The life that you are seeking you will never find. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping.” His fame however lived on after his death; because of his great building projects, and the his account of what Utnapishtim told him happened during the flood. His story has been translated into many different languages, and he has become an icon of popular culture.

History

The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian

Many distinct sources exist over a 2,000-year timeframe. The old Sumerian poems, and a later Akkadian version, are the chief sources for modern translations, with the Sumerian version mainly used to fill in lacunae in the Akkadian version. Although several revised versions based on new discoveries have been published, the epic remains incomplete.^[1]The earliest Sumerian poems are now generally considered to be distinct stories rather than parts of a single epic.^[2]:45 They date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (2150-2000 BC).^[2]:41-42 The earliest Akkadian versions are dated to the early second millennium^[2]:45, most likely in the eighteenth or seventeenth century BC, when one or more authors drew upon used existing literary material to create a single epic.^[3] The “standard” Akkadian version, consisting of 12 tablets, was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC and was found in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh.

Relationship to the Bible

Further information: Panbabylonism

Various themes, plot elements, and characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh can also be found in the Bible, in particular in the stories of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (both stories involve a serpent) and the story of Noah and the Flood.

Andrew R. George claims that the Flood episode in Gen. 6-8 matches the older Babylonian myth so closely, that few doubt that it derives from the Mesopotamian account.^[13] What is particularly noticeable is the way the Genesis flood story follows the Gilgamesh flood tale “point by point and in the same order”, even when the story permits other alternatives.^[14] Jump to: navigation, search

 

 

Bible Study – Epic and Priestly Perspectives

In your group (and as appropriate for your group) share:

1. The best thing that happened to you this week
2. The worst thing that happened to you this week
3. A time in the last week you saw God at work in our community or in another person

Mark these verses in your Bible from the Old Epic (J) source:

Chapter 6, v. 1-8

Chapter 7, v. 1-10  v. 16b-17-a; v.21-23;

Chapter 8 v2b-3a; v6, v8 -12, v. 13b-14, v. 19-22

Chapter 9 v. 18-28

The remaining verses of Ch. 6-9 are from the Priestly (P) source. Mark them with a different color.

Here are a few questions:

• What is the difference between the description of how God caused the Flood (see 7:4 and 7:10 versus 7:11). 
• How do the two descriptions of how the flood happens continue the 2 different stories of creations  (remember the description of the “cosmos” from the Priestly account of Creation, Gen. 1:6-8 versus the description of the primordial earth in Genesis 2:5).
• What are the bigger implications of the way the P writer describes what is happening in the Flood?  What about the story is bigger than just a bad rainy season or alluvial inundations?
• God does something entirely new in 9:11.  What is it? Why does it make sense that this text comes from the P writer?

 

Take a minute to pray our thanks for the creation and for the gifts of the knowledge of God passed down through the ages.  Your group can decide whether to do this out loud or to write down a prayer to put in your prayer box and

Documentary hypothesis (From Wikipedia)

 

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The documentary hypothesis, (sometimes called the Wellhausen hypothesis), holds that the Pentateuch (the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses) was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors (editors). These four sources came to be known as the Yahwist, or Jahwist, J (J being the German equivalent of the English letter Y); the Elohist, E; the Deuteronomist, D, (the name comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, D’s contribution to the Torah); and the Priestly Writer, P.^[1]

• the Yahwist source ( J ) : written c. 950 BC in the southern Kingdom of Judah.
• the Elohist source ( E ) : written c. 850 BC in the northern Kingdom of Israel.
• the Deuteronomist ( D ) : written c. 600 BC in Jerusalem during a period of religious reform.
• the Priestly source ( P ) : written c. 500 BC by Kohanim (Jewish priests) in exile in Babylon.

P, Priestly source

The documentary hypothesis describes the Priestly source as using the title Elohim as the general name for God in the primeval period (Genesis 1-11).. Yahweh is the personal name for God that is revealed to Moses and never set in the mouth of any speaker by the Priestly source prior to Moses.^[25] The Priestly source portrays God/Yahweh as the creator of the whole world, which he declared to be good, and on which he has bestowed his blessing. Humanity is created in God’s image (or as God’s image) implying dominion over the whole earth.^[26] P includes many lists (especially genealogies), dates, numbers and laws. Portrayals of God viewed as distant and unmerciful are ascribed to P. P partly duplicates J and E, but alters details to stress the importance of the priesthood. P consists of about a fifth of Genesis, substantial portions of Exodus and Numbers, and almost all of Leviticus.  Written 600–400 BC.^[5]

The Priestly source portrays Yahweh as a God who is interested in ritual. The covenant of circumcision, the dietary laws, and the emphasis on making a tabernacle according to a divinely revealed plan are all ascribed to the Priestly source.^[27] Yahweh’s presence and Yahweh’s blessings are described in the Priestly source not to be mediated by the king, but by the high priest mediating at the central place of worship.

The Priestly source depicts a formal structure in terms of space, time, and social structure. The spatial center of the universe is the sanctuary which is first modeled in the tabernacle and later in the temple modeled after the pattern revealed to Moses. It is at this specific location that Yahweh wanted to make himself present to his people.^[28] Yahweh has arranged the temporal order around progressive layers of Sabbaths: seven days, seven months, seven years, seven times seven years.^[29] In terms of social structure, the Priestly source portrays Yahweh as granting his presence to the particular people “who know his name.”

J, Jahwist source

The Jahwist presents a theology of history, rather than timeless philosophical theology. Yahweh’s character is known by his actions. The Jahwist picture of Yahweh begins with the creation of human beings and the early history of mankind in general (Genesis 2-11). The Jahwist contributions in this material do not intend to present an exhaustive history, but rather certain episodes with particular importance to later generations. These episodes explain human mortality, the need to work for a living, the existence of many languages, rivalry among brothers, and man’s attempt to break through God’s limits. The family is often in view in theological contexts, and the sequence of sin-punishment-mercy appears several times.^[6]

The Jahwist picture of a theology of history continues with the call of Abraham and the subsequent history of Israel and their ancestors. The Jahwist presents the nation of Israel as Yahweh’s own people, which he brought into being, protected, and settled in the land of Canaan, in fulfillment of promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Jahwist source presents a history of Israel that also illustrates themes of sin-punishment-grace, but more especially one that portrays Yahweh as a powerful deliverer and provider of his people’s needs. Faith in Yahweh alone is the primary virtue.^[7] The Jahwist also emphasizes Israel’s destiny to be a great nation who will rule over her neighbors and have a king from the tribe of Judah.^[8] The theology of the Jahwist extends beyond Israel and includes notice that all nations will be blessed through Abraham (or bless themselves through Abraham);^[9] furthermore, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is attributed to the Jahwist.^[10]