rlogan

Pre-exilic authorship isn't necessary in that the myths mentioned do predate by a millenia the earliest Genesis versions. I know you know that JD - its for MS Tree.

If you type in Gilgamesh and Noah into a search engine, you'll find a lot of stuff on the flood. Try this one:

Quickie creation/babylonian link

Not really a lame question. A decent model of religion would be for God to create Adam and Eve - then leave them with instructions, as it were.

But there are different objectives being served in different periods, and it would be impossible to forsee them all.

contracycle

The Sumerians had a big idea about the name being the thing. All this ritual naming of things is a very magical act in their world view - this seems another data point indicating the mythology is directly drawn from prior beliefs. In fact, it puts Adam on a similar plane to that of Sumers creator gods.