Ancient Babylonia - The Biblical Differences
Differences
Various theological concepts between Babylonian mythology and the biblical
account are quite obvious:
Hebrew: One true God (monotheism)
Babylonian: Many gods (polytheism)
Hebrew: A Holy God
Babylonian: The gods quarrel and disagree crouching in fear "like swarms of
flies"
Hebrew: God saw that all of mankind had become corrupt and evil in all their
ways.
Babylonian: There is confusion as to why the flood came.
Hebrew: The Creator and sustainer of all executed His judgment upon His
creation.
Babylonian: Adad brought thunder, Ninurta brought winds, Annunaki brought
lightning.
Explanation
It is nearly impossible to give an explanation without some sort of bias or
presupposition. The likely explanation is that though the Babylonian account is
older than Moses and the Biblical account, both the accounts go back to a common
source of fact, which originated in an actual occurrence. The flood occurred
long before the time of Abraham or Hammurapi. The memory of this awesome event
passed on through tradition and somehow it was or became corrupted through
various cultures. It is my view that the Bible records it as it actually happened,
and as it was spoken by God, through the Holy Spirit to meet special needs in
the history of redemption.
Ancient Babylonia
Return to Bible History Online