will have been
noted that the Sumerian account is on the whole far simpler and more
primitive than the other versions. It is only in the Babylonian Epic,
for example, that the later Hebrew writer finds material from which to
construct the ark, while the sweet savour of Ut-napishtim's sacrifice,
and possibly his sending forth of the birds, though reproduced in the
earlier Hebrew Version, find no parallels in the Sumerian account.(1) As
to the general character of the Flood, there is no direct reference to
rain in the Sumerian Version, though its presence is probably implied in
the storm. The heavy rain of the Babylonian Epic has been increased
to forty days of rain in the earlier Hebrew Version, which would be
suitable to a country where local rain was the sole cause of flood. But
the later Hebrew writer's addition of "the fountains of the deep" to
"the windows of heaven" certainly suggests a more intimate knowledge of
Mesopotamia, where some contributary cause other than local rain must be
sought for the sudden and overwhelming catastrophes of which the rivers
are capable.

(1) For detailed lists of the points of agreement presented
by the Hebrew Versions J and P to the account in the
Gilgamesh Epic, see Skinner, op. cit., p. 177 f.; Driver,
_Genesis_, p. 106 f.; and Gordon, _Early Traditions of
Genesis_ (1907), pp. 38 ff.

Thus, viewed from a purely literary standpoint, we are now enabled to
trace back to a primitive age the ancestry of the traditions, which,
under a very different aspect, eventually found their way into Hebrew
literature. And in the process we may note the changes they underwent
as they passed from one race to another. The result of such literary
analysis and comparison, so far from discrediting the narratives in
Genesis, throws into still stronger relief the moral grandeur of the
Hebrew text.

We come then to the question, at what periods and by what process did
the Hebrews become acquainted with Babylonian ideas? The tendency of the
purely literary school of critics has been to explain the process by the
direct use of Babylonian documents wholly within exilic times. If the
Creation and Deluge narratives stood alone, a case might perhaps be made
out for confining Babylonian influence to this late period. It is
true that during the Captivity the Jews were directly exposed to
such influence. They had the life and civilization of their captors
immediately before their eyes,