A Little Lesson from Gilgamesh

I was struck the other day while reading the following passage in Gilgamesh of its similarity with a passage from Ecclesiastes.
Gilgamesh is nearing the end of a long journey on a personal path of immortality when he runs into Siduri, a tavern keeper who gives him the following advice…
“Gilgamesh, whence do you direct yourself?
You shall not find the life you seek,
For at the creation of mankind
The gods allotted Death to men.
They retained life in their own hands.
Gilgamesh, let your belly be full,
Make you merry by day and by night.
Make everyday a day of feasting and of rejoicing
Dance and play, by day, by night,
Let your clothes be sparkling and fresh
Wash your hairBathe your body
Attend to the babe who holds you by the hand
Take your wife and let her rejoice in you.For this is the lot of mankind to enjoy
But immortal life is not for men.”
I was surprised to realize that this paralleled almost exactly the “Preachers” advice in Ecclesiastes which reads:
“9:7 Go, eat your food with joy,
and drink your wine with a happy heart,
because God has already approved your works.
9:8 Let your clothes always be white,
and do not spare precious ointment on your head.
9:9 Enjoy life with your beloved wife during all the days of your fleeting life
that God has given you on earth during all your fleeting days;
for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work on earth.
9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands,
do it with all your might, because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave,
the place where you will eventually go.”
While initially I felt I had stumbled across something unique upon further study it seems that this has been examined often and originally by a scholar named Hubert Grimme who saw the parallels between the two texts. So the questions:
1. Did the author of Eccliastes have a familiarity with Gilgamesh?
2. Moreover, did the author have at some time sojourned in Mesopotamia perhaps as a part of the Jewish diaspora?
While the evidence for the former is more likely true there is little to suggest beyond the text that the Eccliastes author was in Mesopotamia. Moreover given the substantial comparison made by Ecc to that of Gilgamesh it would be hard to argue that there wasn’t an assimilation of the two texts.
Beyond the above thematic parallels there are a couple other that show a conflation of ideas.

1. Parallels with God and wind.

In the Gilgamesh version it reads,
“Who is there, my friend, can climb to the sky?
Only the gods dwell forever with the Sun-god.”
In Ecc. it reads in 5:2 on Gods station in the heavens, “Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few.” Among many comparisons.

2. Gilgamesh reminds us

“As for man, his days are numbered, whatever he may do, it is but wind”
Ecc. makes a similar statement in 5:16
“This is another misfortune:
Just as he came, so will he go.
What did he gain from toiling for the wind?”
And
“1:6 The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north;round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns.” (see also Ecclesiastes 1:6, 14, 17, 2:11, 17, 26)
While this has little to do with the original corpus it does ironically parallel a Buddhist imagery when discussing the transcendence of man. In the Heiki Monogatari it reads
“The knell of the bells at the Gion temple
Echoes the impermanence of all things.
The colour of the flowers on its double-trunked tree
Reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall.
He who is proud is not so for long,
Like a passing dream on a night in spring.
He who is brave is finally destroyed,
To be no more than dust before the wind.”

3. The triple knot

The Sumerian version of Gilgamesh gives us a traditional saying: “The towed boat will not sink, a tow-rope of three strands shall not be cut.” In Ecclesiastes 4:12 it reads: “A threefold cord is not easily cut.” While such an analogy seems to be fairly obvious and clearcut the deeper meaning of a triune knotting is not so evident and can probably be laid to a later analysis. For now it is sufficient to point out its usage in both the Mesopotamian passage and biblical passage.
One aspect of the admonition is the clearcut message to “Take your wife and let her rejoice in you” This is consistent with the admonition of the preacher in Ecc. who states, “Enjoy life with your beloved wife during all the days of your fleeting life” The Zohar makes a further interesting comment on this in its commentary on Ecc.:
“This verse has been thus esoterically explained. ‘Enjoy life’ is an allusion to the life of the world to come, for happy is the man who is privileged to gain that life in its fullness.” Commenting on the next verse, “What­soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy strength…” (Ecclesiastes 9:10), the text continues: “‘by thy strength’ alludes to the wife mentioned above, she being a source of strength for both this world and the world to come.” (See R. Simeon, The Zohar, II:196b,
In further evidence of the eternal nature of marriage The Gnostic Gospel of Philip states that “Because of this, Christ came to repair the separation, which was from the beginning, and again unite the two, and to give life to those who died as a result of the separation, and unite them. But the woman is united to her husband in the bridal chamber. Indeed, those who have united in the bridal chamber will no longer be separated.” Furthermore we learn that “If anyone does not receive [eternal marriage] while he is in this world, he will not receive it in the other place”.
Throughout the Book of Mormon such “Wisdom Literature” is scattered throughout. To be sure Alma is replete with advice from a father to a son and to others. More importantly and certainly germane to the point is Lehi’s comments, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Ne. 2:25) which shows some similarity with Ecc.
Finally, Joseph Smith shows the same propensity of wisdom when he proclaims, ““It is the duty of a husband to love, cherish, and nourish his wife, and cleave unto her and none else [see D&C 42:22]; he ought to honor her as himself, and he ought to regard her feelings with tenderness, for she is his flesh, and his bone, designed to be an help unto him, both in temporal, and spiritual things; one into whose bosom he can pour all his complaints without reserve, who is willing (being designed) to take part of his burden, to soothe and encourage his feelings by her gentle voice. “
In summary, while not an earth shattering parallel it is still amazing to see that what was once is true and true again.

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