Noah

Image via Wikipedia

Noah is a a pivotal figure in the Biblical Book of Genesis. He’s depicted as a righteous man and the son of Lamech.

God commands Noah to build an ark, gather up all existing animals and board them in pairs, along with his family so as to escape a massive flood (Genesis 6-9).

In Genesis 10 Noah’s sons Japheth, Ham and Shem are described as the ancestors of all the countries of the Earth.

Later in the Bible, Noah is mostly remembered for his outstanding faith. Although modern criticism has arisen over Noah’s cursing his son Ham after he saw Noah drunk and naked in his tent.

Some feel that this is a Jewish rationalization for conquering the Canaanites and also for bigotry among the Abrahamic religions against those of Black African ancestry, believed to be descendants of Ham.¹

The flood myths of Gilgamesh and Matsu are often cited as parallels to the Noah story (or myth, depending on how you look at it). But there are important differences, most notably in the concept of God, which is central to the Noah story (or myth).

—

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Ham

Related Articles

• Noah’s Ark: A Christian Lesson Plan (brighthub.com)
• “God: Noah, all the people of earth are sinners. You alone are righteous. Noah: Thanks God. Long time…” (contrararian.tumblr.com)
• Genesis 9:18-29′s post-Flood (part 2) and Noah vs. Abraham (schansblog.blogspot.com)
• Genesis 10,11′s genealogies: from Noah to Abraham through Babel (schansblog.blogspot.com)
• An Apologist for Noah? (ahotcupofjoe.net)
• Getting Drunk with the Documentary Hypothesis (unreasonablefaith.com)
• The Twitter Bible: Evangelist translates Old and New Testaments into tweets (guardian.co.uk)

Add more, report errors or voice your opinion by posting a comment

Gilgamesh

Library of Ashurbanipal / The Flood Tablet / The Gilgamesh Tablet by Fæ via Wikipedia

Gilgamesh is a legendary Mesopotamian king of ancient Sumer as depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh, written around 2000 BCE in cuneiform on twelve tablets of clay.

Renowned for his matchless strength, Gilgamesh went into combat with a rough monster-man, Enkidu who was sent by the Gods to keep Gilgamesh in check.

Although Gilgamesh won the bout, the harrowing battle did humble him. He and Enkidu eventually became friends. The Gilgamesh epic also portrays several accounts, some fragmentary, of a Great Flood.

Ea, the Lord, says he will cause a flood and tells Atramhasis to

Enter [the ship] and shut the door…[Bring in] to it thy grain, thy goods and chattels; Th[y wife], thy family, thy relations, and the craftsmen. [Game] of the field (and) beasts of the field, as many as eat herbs, [I will s]end unto thee, and they shall guard thy door.”¹

This is similar to the Biblical account of Noah, and to some extent the Hindu story of Matsu.

—

¹ Alexender Heidel.  The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1946, p. 110.

Related Posts » Hero, Ishtar, Tammuz

Related articles

• Gilgamesh The Hero by Geraldine McCaugheran (collectedmiscellany.com)
• a nice quote… (cherishcheese.wordpress.com)
• ENG2110 Gilgamesh (classesofgcsu.wordpress.com)
• Gilgamesh (allysonway.wordpress.com)
• Gilgamesh and The Shadow (literarylew.wordpress.com)

Genesis

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472- 1553) via Wikipedia

In Religion

Genesis (Hebrew Bereshit = “In the beginning”) is the first book of the Bible, containing the two different versions of the Jewish and Christian the creation story. Among other things, Genesis tells the tale of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark, and God’s involvement with the apparently chosen people, the Israelites.

Although Genesis is the first book to appear in the Bible’s collection of different books, scholars say it’s not the oldest written biblical material. The following is a transcription of the first few verses of Genesis:

1:1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’arets.

1:2 The earth was without form and empty, with darkness on the face of the depths, but God’s spirit moved on the water’s surface.
Veha’arets hayetah tohu vavohu vechoshech al-peney tehom veruach Elohim merachefet al-peney hamayim.

1:3 God said, ‘There shall be light,’ and light came into existence.
Vayomer Elohim yehi-or vayehi-or.

1:4 God saw that the light was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.
Vayar Elohim et-ha’or ki-tov vayavdel Elohim beyn ha’or uveyn hachoshech.¹

The author of Genesis was traditionally thought to be Moses. But modern scholarship looks to several different anonymous sources, and academic theories are always changing as to why and how this book came about.

Genesis concert at the Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., USA. Performing "I Know What I Like" by Andrew Bossi via Wikipedia

In Music

Genesis is also the name of an English progressive rock group which recorded the notable album, Selling England by the Pound (1973), along with other, arguably less achieved albums like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974).

The band’s mature sound was, for the most part, complex and introspective (some nicknamed the band “Genesnooze”) but they remain an important influence in the history of rock.

The band also spawned commercially successful solo careers for Peter Gabriel and drummer/vocalist Phil Collins. When Gabriel left the band in 1975, the remainder of Genesis (with Collins taking up lead vocals) began to produce more radio-friendly singles. But some hard core Genesis fans felt that the departure of Gabriel left behind a watered down, flimsy remnant of the “real” Genesis.

A Genesis collector array in the Genesis clean lab at the Johnson Space Center (photo courtesy of NASA) via Wikipedia

In Space

The Genesis space probe was launched by NASA in 2001 to study and collect samples of solar winds. It was the first spacecraft to return material to Earth since the Apollo missions.

Unfortunately the Genesis recovery parachute malfunctioned. So in 2004 the probe crash landed in Utah, resulting in the loss of some otherwise valuable data.

Genesis I is the name of an experimental space habitat launched by an American firm in 2006.

The habitat is inflatable, making launch easier due to its initial deflated diameter of 1.6 metres. Fully expanded, the Genesis I measures 4.4 by 2.54 metres.

—

¹ Source » http://bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp

Related posts » Cherubim, Divination, Eden, Noah, Tree of Life

Related articles

• Peter Gabriel (earthpages.wordpress.com)
• Genesis 10 (newwestminsterchapel.wordpress.com)
• The Genesis of Modern Psychology (dirteaters.wordpress.com)
• Genesis 1:16-19 (biblicaljournal.wordpress.com)
• Genesis 1-3: History or Allegory? (ldstalk.wordpress.com)
• Genesis 11 (newwestminsterchapel.wordpress.com)

Matsya

Incarnation of Vishnu as a Fish via Wikipedia

Matsya is the first avatar of Visnu in Hinduism.

Matsya is a fish who saves the first man, Manu, from a flood by acting as a vehicle upon which Manu rides to safety.

Scholars have pointed out the obvious parallel to Noah.

And the Sumerian myth of Gilgamesh also contains a flood story similar but not identical to the Biblical account.

Related Articles

• Mysteries Myths (socyberty.com)
• Original Sinners: A New Interpretation of Genesis by John R. Coats (collectedmiscellany.com)
• The New Word for The Great Flood (socyberty.com)
• Cripples & Cockroaches… In A Wicked Age from You Got The Dice To Back That Up? (plainvanilla.typepad.com)
• Letters: Noah should have left two mosquitoes behind (knoxnews.com)
• “God: Noah, all the people of earth are sinners. You alone are righteous. Noah: Thanks God. Long time…” (contrararian.tumblr.com)
• Who wins the Bible’s Quiverfull prize? (dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com)

Add more, report errors or voice your opinion by posting a comment

Avatar

Avatar (Skt.=”descent”) In Hinduism the avatar is an incarnation of God who takes birth on earth to restore dharma.

In Hindu thought, God comes to earth to restore order whenever morality becomes too imbalanced.

Jesus Christ is sometimes seen as one of a series of avatars.

In orthodox Hinduism, there are generally ten avatars of Vishnu.

The first is Matsu, a fish. His story parallels that of Noah‘s ark.

For some medieval Hindus like Sankara and his followers the Buddha is regarded as an evil avatar since he tried to sway the masses away from the sacred Veda.

But Hindu philosophy also interprets this in an overall positive light. Not entirely unlike the Christian idea that God permits evil for a greater but not immediately apparent Good, many Hindus say the Buddha’s deception restores balance as Hindu priestly functions were becoming too hypocritical and elitist.

Hinduism, however, teaches that those who persistently continue to be deluded by evil are on a path to hell-but not forever, as with Christianity. This is because Hindus believe in reincarnation.

The Ten Traditional Hindu Avatars are:

1. Matsya: the fish

2. Kurma: the tortoise

3. Varaha: the boar

4. Narasimha: the man-lion

5. Vamana: the dwarf

6. ParashuRama: the axe wielder

7. Rama: Rama of the Ramayana

8. Krishna

9. Buddha

10. Kalki: the white horse, yet to incarnate

An avatar is also a term used in cyberslang to denote “a digital representation of a participant in an online environment” (Jonathon Keats, Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang, Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2007, p. 11).

This, of course, is a graphical – as opposed to an audio or textual – representation, such as the small icons visible in the “Recent Comments” area at this web site.

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment