Power

The biggest difference between what the authors of Genesis and Gilgamesh cared about is that in Genesis the authors care about showcasing how powerful God is and in Gilgamesh the authors care about what happens when the gods disagree with the actions of Gilgamesh.

In Genesis there is a constant barrage of evidence of how powerful God is. He creates the world in six days, allowing the seventh for rest. He creates man, woman and all other creatures. If that’s not impressive enough, he is able to flood the earth when humans become too evil. God is all powerful, and the text of Genesis focuses on letting the reader know that. Another example of this is the Tower of Babel. Mankind comes too close to building a “tower with its top in the heavens (46), and so God goes down and mixes up the language so now there is more than one and they cannot build the tower. This example shows just how much the authors are concerned with showing how powerful God is.

In Gilgamesh much more focus is on the results of what happens when Gilgamesh and the Gods disagree. When they send the Bull of Heaven down to fight Gilgamesh and Enkidu and they win the fight, the gods punish them by killing Enkidu. Though there is not one all powerful god as there is in Genesis the gods in Gilgamesh are still powerful enough to cause serious damage when called upon. This indirectly showcases the power of the gods, but that is not the authors main focus. The main focus of Gilgamesh is to warn readers not to disagree with the gods, as they will show no mercy.