he ethical element, as a fundamental note; then, {212} when the
divine mercy is aroused, the Flood ceases; according to the Babylonian
story, the Flood is caused by the capricious anger of Bel, the idea of
punishment for sin cropping out only as an incident in the conversation
between Ea and Bel at the end of the story. The Flood ceases because
the other gods are terrified, and Ishtar intercedes for her own
creation. Moreover, the whole Hebrew conception of the Divine differs
from the Babylonian. In the Hebrew account we find ourselves in an
atmosphere of ethical monotheism that is unknown apart from the chosen
people. Disappeared have all the gods who war with one another, who
rejoice in successful intrigues, who do not hesitate to tell untruths
or instruct their favorites to do so; the gods unstable in all their
ways, now seeking to destroy, now flattering their creatures; the gods
who, terrified by the storm, "cower like dogs" at the edge of heaven,
and who "gathered like flies" around the sacrifice of the saved hero.
All these characteristic features of the Babylonian account are absent
from the Bible. Surely, there is no connection between these deities
and the one sublime and gracious God of Genesis.

Lack of space will not permit us to institute detailed comparisons
between other narratives in the early chapters of Genesis and
Babylonian literature. It may be sufficient to say that the {213}
resemblances are not confined to the stories of creation and of the
Flood. True, no complete Babylonian story of paradise and of the fall
is at present known; nevertheless, there are certain features in the
biblical narrative which strongly point to Babylonia, and in the light
of the known fact that elements in the two important narratives of
creation and of the Flood are derived from Babylonia, it may be safe to
infer that in this case also echoes of Babylonian beliefs supplied, at
least in part, the framework of the Hebrew representation. The
antediluvian patriarchs also seem to have their counterparts in
Babylonian tradition, and the story of the Tower of Babel, though it
does not seem to be of Babylonian origin, presupposes a knowledge of
Babylonia, and it is not impossible that some Babylonian legend served
as the basis of it.

In closing this discussion, attention may be called to a few general
considerations that must be borne in mind in any attempt to answer the
question whether the religious and ethical idea