Ponder what these variations tell us about the people of that particular culture. Are their gods limited? Are their gods reliant on humans? In other words, how do the gods of most other cultures and the God of the Hebrews compare? What does this say about the people who do the believing?

As is evident, the accounts of the flood story in Gilgamesh and Genesis are quite similar in many ways. We see a world wide flood consume the inhabitants of the earth because of their wickedness, with one righteous man as the representative of purity among the whole. However, the stories do show a few differences, some of them regarding details such as the size of the boat and the types of birds involved or landing place of the ark. The most substantial difference, and the focus of the questions provided, is the portrayal of divinity in each story.

In the Hebrew story, God by the name of Yahweh executes the flood and interacts with Noah. He is the one God, the personal God who speaks with men and chooses a people. So far in the Genesis story, we know that he loves his creation, that he is gracious towards those who disobey him, like Adam and Eve, and he also hates sin and will punish it. The Gilgamesh epic, however, presents a pantheon of gods. They seem less magisterial than Yahweh but also quite powerful.

Overall, I think that the biblical God appears much less reliant on humans and seems much less human himself. Other cultures, outside of the ancient Near East and later in history, show the main pattern of non-Hebrew divinity. The gods resemble humans much more than an almighty deity. This might say that the believing Hebrews encounters something distinct and quite non-human in comparison with the other cultures. But it also suggests that all people search and try to present a deity of some sort. Humans know or want to know a god figure.