THE FLOOD AND THE NOAH’S ARK

NOAH’S ARK THE FLOOD Japheth- his wife Shem- family and relatives Ham- Anu, his wife- Ninurta And their sons wives - Ea - Enlil - Ennugi

SIZE OF THE ARK OF NOAH o 450 ft. (137 m) long, 75 ft. (23 m) wide and 45 ft. (14 m) high. o It was to have three decks, be divided into rooms and have a door in the side. SIZE OF THE ARK OF THE FLOOD o ten dozen cubits in height (approximately 180 feet) o with six decks o and one acre of floor space

PLOT

NOAH’S ARK There came a time when there was only one good man in all the world, and his name was Noah. Everybody else was bad. God wanted to start over fresh. So He told Noah to build an ark. And Noah did. God told Noah to fill the animals—two of every kind. And Noah did. Noah and went aboard too. Then God made the rain come down. It rained and rained, until there was a great flood that covered the world. Only those who were in the ark were safe and dry. Everybody else was drowned. Then God made the sun shine and dry up the rain. Everyone in the ark came out. Noah said: “Look! God has sent us a sign in the sky. It means that He will never flood the world again.” The sign in the sky was the very first rainbow.

THE FLOOD Utnapishtim, the survivor of the flood was king of Shuruppak, a beautiful, prosperous city on the banks of the Euphrates. Ea had been sworn to secrecy, but he cleverly betrayed the gods’ plans to Utnapishtim. Speaking to the walls of his house, he described the plans, while Utnapishtim heard everything on the other side of the walls. Ea warned him that the gods would be sending a terrible flood. He told him to build a boat. When the storm came, the gods clambered up as high as they could go and cringed in terror. After seven days, Utnapishtim released a dove. When it couldn’t find a dry place to alight, it returned to the boat. Utnapishtim released a swallow. It too returned. Then he released a raven, and it never came back. Enlil listened and understood. He took Utnapishtim and his wife by the hands and made them kneel. Then he touched their foreheads and blessed them, turning them into gods. For saving humanity, he granted them eternal life. But they alone deserved that gift.

CONFLICT

NOAH’S ARK Since the 'world was filled with violence' which was the reason for the sending of the flood. They possibly thought he was crazy, until it was too late. In a literary sense, the conflict is between God and the sinfulness of man.

THE FLOOD Is that Utnapishtim to lie to the people about the tragedy that will happened and the haste of doing the boat. He sacrificed a sheep and offered incense at a mountainous ziggurat where he placed 14 sacrificial vessels and poured reeds, cedar, and myrtle into the fire.

RESOLUTION

NOAH’S ARK Noah released a couple of different birds to help him know if it was possible to leave the ark. The first was a raven that left and returned continuously until the waters receded. Then he released a dove. The dove, which he sent out three times, did not have any place to rest the first time it was released. It returned to the ark. Seven days later he sent the dove again, but this time it brought back an olive branch. Another week later Noah sent out that dove again, but it never returned. This told Noah that it was time to leave the ark since there was proof of vegetation and dry ground. Noah and his children released the animals from the ark. When they exited the ark they built an altar to the Lord

THE FLOOD Eventually, the boat ran aground on a mountain peak. After seven days, Utnapishtim released a dove. When it couldn’t find a dry place to alight, it returned to the boat. Utnapishtim released a swallow. It too returned. Then he released a raven, and it never came back. Upon reaching shore, Utnapishtim prepared a sacrifice. The gods of heaven were famished and gathered around the altar. Ishtar came down wearing a necklace of lapis lazuli made of beads shaped like flies. She said she would forget neither her necklace nor this calamity— nor would she forgive Enlil, since the flood was his idea and he never discussed it with the other gods. When Enlil arrived to partake of the sacrifice, he saw the boat and lost his temper. He demanded to know how anyone escaped the flood, since he intended it to destroy everyone. After Ninurta named the culprit, Ea himself spoke up. He chastised Enlil for creating the flood and said that if he wanted to punish someone, he should have made the punishment fit the crime. Not everyone deserved to die. He said that plagues, wolves, and famine could be used to kill some people instead of all people at once.