Gender roles on Genesis

Many of those who live by the Bible frequently based their knowledge of civilized mankind off these biblical stories from the Hebrew Bible. The Bible is one of many books that some shed various controversial belief in the prophets that were included within. The Genesis includes fifty chapters that were merely translated many uncertain times over the previous decades. Within the biblical book of Genesis includes the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, the story of Abraham and as well as many countless others. It all begins with the compelling story of the grave sins of Adam and Eve. They defied Gods command about eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Thus, which results in them being punished Eve is to desire her valued husband and have pain while delivering children. God’s punishment seemed to develop the opposite way he intended it too. God’s decree was not fulfilled. Unfortunately, it does not indicate women experiencing any ‘urge’ for men or where women desire men. The sin participated in between both men and women were shared equality. The Hebrew Bible says that God had created all things to work together for the good and not bad.

Men and women were created to see each other are as equals. Also to compliment each other when one might not be able to fulfill what their partner lacks. When God created men and women, they were to be made in his likeness. A man clings tends to his wife once he is married, becoming one with his wife (2:24). Neither men or women are to be seen as superior to one another. God believes that men and women will live in their own problems, but their relationship will have problems as well. When men began to populate the earth, they would take those whose daughters they found beautiful as their wives to produce offsprings. Thus, explains that women didn’t really have an urge when it came to men. In the Lord’s eyes, he then began to see how terrible they were (6:6). He felt as though he had doomed the earth with the way man had turned out to be. The Lord himself said how he will not accept or obey men forever as he breathes(6:3). Thus causing him to create the great flood with Noah that would kill and destroy the earth. The first mistake he had made.

Different relationships with different stories to tend take place in Genesis. The relationship between Abram and Sarai shows equality and a mans desire for women and not the other way around. When Abram goes into Egypt he tells his wife, Sarai to say that she was his sister before they enter the city. If she doesn’t, they will kill him and keep her alive for she is a beautiful woman. Abram then thanks Sarai for remaining alive shows that he sees her as his equal. When it comes to Sarai not being able to bore children, Hagar the maid becomes their solution to a child. Abram “heeded” to Sarai’s request for him to bear a child through Hagar (16:2). This statement concludes that Abram saw his wife Sarai as an equal when it came to problem-solving in their relationship. That to cause fewer problems its usually better to obey your significant other.

However, God’s decree had also been fulfilled. He then had created mutuality between himself and humans. God’s punishment was fulfilled when every woman after had their periods and went through childbirth. Every woman mentioned in Genesis at some point was under male domination. This statement that is said to Eve “your urge shall be for your husband/ And he shall rule over you (3:16)” commands for men to dominate their woman. Meaning a woman’s whole existence to assist and obey only to her husband. The story of Lot’s of daughters is an example of women desiring men. Lot’s daughters believed there were no men on earth to “consort” them and that they were all dead. They believed that to lay/sleep with their father was the only way to maintain life (19:32) was their only way solution. They had indeed succeeded in boring children. They desired a man to bore the children, urging for a man.

During the time of Abraham and Sarah, God commanded Abraham to obey his wife’s command to cast out the slave and her child Hagar, and Ishmael. Abraham did as he, as was told by Sarah and God, made sure to tell him that he will watch over Ishmael, make him fertile and bless him a great nation (17:20). As long as Abraham went by what he was told to do, God would return the favor. Taking everything into account, God’s punishment was not fulfilled. Humans never really had the chance to go off their own intuition, as God was in contact with most of the majority of the time. All beings were created equally and to be equal to one another. He had banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden with punishment that wasn’t fulfilling to his decree. Adam and Eve saw each other as one, regardless of the act that caused them to be banished. Just as much as women obeyed men it was the same vice versa.

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The Book of Genesis vs. the Epic of Gilgamesh

Two Different Books with Similar Stories The Book of Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh have many clear similarities. One major, noticeable similarity is that in both stories, there are flood legends. There is the legend of Noah and the Ark in The Book of Genesis and the story of Utnapishtim in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In both stories, a higher power wants to wipe out the human race and decides to save one person who is then assigned to build an ark to hold himself, his family, and one of each animal. There are also many specifics about this flood that the two stories have in common, not just the basis of the tale.

For example, both stories tell of a long storm. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, it says: “Six days and seven nights the wind and storm” (Gilg. Tabl. XI, 127). In The Book of Genesis, it says: “rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen. 7:12). In both cases, the story is specific about the number of days the storm lasted. Noah and Utnapishtim make sacrifices to their respective higher power– Noah to God and Utnapishtim to Enlil. In the story of Noah and the Ark, it says that he “”offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. :20) which is a sacrifice to God. In the story of Utnapishtim, it says that he “offered a sacrifice” (Gilg. Tabl. XI, 155) by pouring a libation to Ea, which is a form of spiritual sacrifice. These stories do not exist for entertainment, they serve the purpose of teaching people lessons about humankind and God or the gods. These flood legends tell us about a couple of different religious beliefs of the ancient people, one being that people are instinctually bad. A higher power wanted to wipe out the human race in both legends because humans were doing wrong.

If humans were good by nature, the higher powers would not have wanted to destroy them all. The stories of these floods also show flaws in the high powers. Usually the gods or God are considered to be perfect, but in this story we see that the higher powers do indeed make mistakes. They made the mistake of creating an earth populated by flawed people. This is important because it shows that not even God or gods can achieve perfection, and humans certainly cannot. Even though this still makes the gods better than humans, no one is perfect.

These two stories are also very similar in their views of humans versus animals. In both stories, the higher power assigns a man to build this ark and lead a new world with his animals. This shows his authority over the animals. Since he and his family are intended to be the only humans after the flood kills everyone else, this makes the humans the leaders of the living beings. The stories send a clear message that humans are above animals and humans have power over all animals. This tells us that animals are not viewed as equals and certainly do not receive the same respect as humans in either culture.

This explains why people eat meat, have pets, farm, or anything else humans do to control animals and establish a higher power over them. Although there are very major similarities between The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis, there are also many differences. One of the main differences is the attitudes about sex. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh sleeps with all of the women in the town that he rules. Also, after a successful journey with Enkidu, they reward themselves by having sex with prostitutes. Prostitutes are also seen as mystical and powerful.

Even more different from the other story is that the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh sleep with human beings. Sex is much more common and casual in this story. Also, because it is provided to the warriors as a reward for a successful journey, it makes sex almost a trophy. Overall, this tale makes sex out to be a spiritual, powerful, and pleasurable action. This is very different from The Book of Genesis. In The Book of Genesis, sex is not for pleasure. People are not supposed to have sex until marriage, and it is mainly for the purpose of procreation.

This is very different from The Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh sleeps with many women while unwed. The difference in sexual attitudes in the stories exemplifies how sex is viewed differently in different cultures. Some may see it as a form of pleasure, while others view it as a means for creating children. Another minor difference between the stories is the idea of immortality. In both stories, all humans are born mortal. Although Gilgamesh is 1/3 god and 2/3 human, he is still mortal because he can be killed. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is given immortality by the gods before flooding out the human race.

However, in The Book of Genesis, God does not give anyone the gift of immortality. This shows how the Christian culture believes that humans are far less powerful than God and they can never be anywhere near as strong and wise as Him. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, humans can be granted special powers by the gods, and Gilgamesh himself is part god. This puts far less emphasis on the division between humans and gods than The Book of Genesis. The obvious similarities between The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis tell us that the people of the world coming from different cultures still have many mutual beliefs.

The similarities in the stories also show how important these stories are to people, since the beliefs are so widespread that multiple different variations of the stories have been written. It is clear that the people of the ancient world believed that the world was created by a higher power in a number of days, that a higher power created the human race, humans are very flawed, and many other mutual beliefs that can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis.

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The genesis of secrecy by Frank Kermode

Biblical scholarship and the gospels can be useful examples for Kermode because these provide scholarly quality and discipline of the best biblical study and can set a high enough standard that can be exemplary to all. An indispensable instrument of survival in this world is the power to make interpretations. According to Kermode, in all […]

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The Genesis Account of Creation: Myth or Reality

I always do recall, while reading through the first few pages of the Bible, (i. e. the book of Genesis), how highly impressed I was as a child, to see how the world began and how God put everything in place but then kept pondering; who was there with God taking a record of events […]

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