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Similarities Between Gilgamesh And Hebrew Bible

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Similarities Between Gilgamesh And Hebrew Bible
The supernatural characteristics within The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Hebrew Bible represent contrasting definitions. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, it portrays a supernatural type of world where every character that it lists holds a certain role in the events that occur so therefore these characters are gods and goddesses in their own respects. As for The Hebrew Bible, characters are mortal and the reason of events occur due to the single force that is the creator of all things in the living world, God. Comparable characteristics to acknowledge with these two texts is the human emotion shown by main characters that therefore detract from supernatural characteristics. Between these two works of literature the contrasting supernatural characteristics …show more content…
Firstly, after Gilgamesh mourns over the loss of Enkidu, he “roam[s] the steppe” and questions if he should die also because of the loss of Enkidu. Gilgamesh and Enkidu form a strong relationship prior to the Enkidu’s death due to their similarity in build, strength and power, but Puchner states in the introduction that “one of them must die” and because Gilgamesh is king of Uruk, the punishment of death goes toward Enkidu for killing the Bull of Heaven (Foster 134). Being that Enlil is the god most similar to the god in The Hebrew Bible, Enkidu’s death is done to reprimand Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s wrongdoing. Anyways, “Woe has entered [Gilgamesh’s] vitals” and with that, one-third of his human genetics overtakes the two-thirds of his divinity; Gilgamesh faces an emotional reaction that supporting characters like Siduri, the tavern keeper, acknowledge and question his divinity with such human-like features protruding (Foster 134). In the same way, characters in the Hebrew Bible face the wrath of God. For example, “the book of Job draws on an ancient folk tale about God and his Accuser testing a just man” (Puchner 155). Throughout all tests that God administers, Job persists in the dedication and belief that God’s ways are a viable act and therefore, Job “does not curse or in any way repudiate [God]” (Puchner 156). With such confusing and mysterious terms that God functions under, Job persists in the idea that “good people sometimes suffer dreadfully” and continues to remain as loyal to God as he previously is prior to the tests of faith (Puchner 156). The supernatural characteristics present ordeals for characters and therefore the acknowledgment to the reaction of the supernatural outcomes give the reader a good understanding as

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