The Structure of the Bible 3: The Covenant with Noah

The background to the flood episode in Genesis 6-11 is the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, written in the Akkadian language of Babylonia and Assyria, particularly Tablet 11, kept in the British Museum.

These findings are in keeping with the writing down of the Bible story while the Israelites were still in exile in Babylonia. The Babylonian epic is assumed and transformed into the Israelite myth through the theology of the covenant and God's special relationship with his people. The narrative follows the covenant structure adding another layer to the interpretation of Israel's history in the light of the covenant.

• Epiphany: God now appears as Creator and also Judge.
• The promise of a new covenant is offered where their will be no more universal destruction, the reversal of creation.
• However, the Israelites default on their part of the covenant and build religious shrines, ziggurats, copying their Mesopotamian neighbours. Their is also the case of Sodom & Gomorra.
• The curse is a confusion of languages and the dispersion of the 12 tribes, something witnessed by the Israelites in their divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions.
• The story immediately follows up with that of Abraham, the promise that Israel will be the chosen people. (Gen 12)