Nimrod, the Tower of Babel January 7, 2023
Let’s look at one of the all-time names in the Bible, very
little information about, but surprising many say he was a myth and not true
person. How do we feel or what do we know about
Nimrod. Really not much.
Apostle Paul said we are to learn from the Old Testament
Scriptures and how to apply these lessons to our own lives.
Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was
written to teach us, so that
through the endurance taught in
the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Let’s start with the Book of Genesis.
Genesis 10:1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons
of Noah: Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.
Genesis 10:5 From these the coastland peoples of
the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their
families, into their nations.
The migrations
of the peoples to different lands would have come after the events of the
Tower of Babel, after the confusion of the tongues and people moving out into
the world and around the earth.
Genesis 10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
Genesis 10:8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. {a hint on
what he was like}
We are looking
at the great grandson of Noah. How many
generations. 3
Noah, then
Cush, then Nimrod, how many years between them?
Genesis 5:32 And Noah
was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 7:6-7 Noah was six hundred years old when
the floodwaters were on the earth.
(7) So Noah, with his sons, his
wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the
flood.
Ham was 100 when floodwaters on the earth
Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons and
said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the earth.
Interesting, the tower of Babel goes against God
commandment, God told them to spread around the earth, not stay in one
place.
A form of rebellion, These people were not dumb. They are very smart. Schooling for 100’s of years.
Genesis 9:7 Now as for you, be productive and multiply; spread out over the land and multiply throughout it."
Genesis 9:20 And Noah
began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.
{to make wine}
Genesis 9:29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he
died.
1 Chronicles 1:10 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to
be a mighty one on the earth.
{see C-5}
Nimrod moved
southward and settle in the fertile Crescent area in the land and plain of
Shinar and founded the Assyrian and Babylonian empires.
{see B-3}
·
Nimrod early distinguished himself by his daring
and successful by hunting wild beasts.
·
By those useful services he earned a title to
public gratitude; and, having established a permanent leadership and finally
dictator over the people.
·
Nimrod founded the first kingdom in the world
and built the city state, Babylon.
·
Nimrod built the famous Tower of Babel as the
centerpiece of his rebellion against God.
·
The Tower was the center point of the City of
Babylon.
·
There was also a second wall, with a moat in
between. 250 watchtowers, 100 ft above the wall; Tower of Bel (Bab-El) 600 ft!?
The banquet hall: 56 x 173 ft.
Looking at the Layout of City of Babylon and the Tower of
Babel, We notice the Euphrates River is on the west side of the City of Babylon
and looking close to the map, there was a Water Moat around the north, south
and east side of the city. {See A-1}
The main entrance into the city was the Processional Way
that leads through Ishtar Gate and by the Babel Lion statue. {See A-1, 3, 4}
To the north of the ancient Babylon city was the King’s
Place where Nimrod lived. {See A-1}
Just south of the Ancient Babylon City is where the Tower of
Babel was located, in the center of the city.
{See A-1, B-4}
Some believe Nimrod was the Gilgamesh, who was a hero in
ancient Mesopotamian mythology. Mesopotamia is a historical region of Western
Asia situated within the Tigris – Euphrates river system, in the northern
part of the Fertile Crescent. {See
A-5, B-3}
Today, Mesopotamia occupies modern Iraq. There were all types of stories written about
him. Being worship as a god, hunter –
hero, Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left hand and a snake in his
right hand.
He was considered was two-thirds god and one-third man in the found writings and built
magnificent ziggurats {rectangular stepped tower surmounted by a temple} or
temple towers
When Assyria was advancing on the Northern Kingdom,
Israel. The prophet Micah would use the name Nimrod to describe the region of Assyria,
which would come under God’s judgment
Micah 5:5 And this One
shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our
land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise
against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
Micah 5:6 They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall
deliver us from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads
within our borders.
So what do we know about the man, Nimrod
Genesis 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before
the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod
the mighty hunter before the LORD."
Mighty hunter could be translated: powerful, warrior, giant, strong
·
The description of Nimrod suggests great display
of super-over himself or self-important, overbearing pride over everyone else.
·
Dictator, this is probably why Nimrod was able
to build the city state if Babylon and everything that goes with it.
·
Had the work force and nothing was restrained
from Nimrod.
Different translation gives mighty, great, fearless
hunter, but the most interesting translation was giant hunter, from the Jewish
translation. Was Nimrod a giant in his
day, just as King David killed the giant.
.
As a side, the popularity
of hunting scenes in Assyrian art may have led to a general impression that the
founders of the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms were famous huntsmen. {See C-1}
Genesis 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,
Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Babylon was the
first world kingdom set up under one form of government. The city of Babel, or Babylon, which was
built by Nimrod’s direction and was their king.
Because Nimrod name seems to be connected with the verb
“to rebel”, tradition has identified him with tyrannical power. He was the
founder of the earliest imperial world powers in Babylon and Assyria.
History simply presents Nimrod as a mighty hunter, a
trait found commonly in Assyrian kings. He was founder of several powerful
cities.
The centers he established became major enemies of
Israel. Nimrod began to reign around one hundred and thirty-one years after the flood,
and reigned fifty-six years, and then disappeared or some say he reigned 4
hundred years {we know they had long life},
Babylon deities
was Anu and Istar. {See A-2}
Alexander Hislop, in his book, The Two Babylon’s, gives
the background of how Nimrod was responsible for the Tower of Babel. It was he
who attempted to bring together the human race after the Flood in an effort to
get them united into a nation of which he could become the great world ruler.
He was the rebel, the founder of Babel, the hunter of the
souls of men. He was the lawless one, and he is a shadow or a type of the last
world ruler, the Antichrist who is yet to appear. The first great civilization,
therefore, came out from the sons of Ham.
Genesis 10:11-12 From that land he {Nimrod} went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, (12)
and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city). {Jonah?} {See B-3}
Genesis 11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and
one speech.
This account
speaks of a time soon after the Flood, a time before the family had begun to
disperse throughout the lands. Probably
Hebrew language and was lost with Babylon rules Judah.
We will have one language when Lord Jesus returns to the earth to rule during
the millennium.
Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That
they all may call on the name of the LORD, To serve
Him with one accord.
Restore, an interesting word
Scriptures tell that there is one language at the start
of the millennium.
Genesis 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a
plain in the land of Shinar, and
they dwelt there.
Notice from the east where all people of the earth came
there to live. So the ark is located
east of Shinar and not north towards Turkey.
Very fertile valley, watered by the Euphrates and Tigris
river and became the center of their union and the seat of their power. City of Babylon built.
Genesis 11:3 Then they said to one another,
"Come, let us make bricks and bake them
thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
Harden, became very hard for construction
The use of bricks
for building a large structure was common in this early period. {See C-3}
Genesis 11:4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top
is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over
the face of the whole earth." {See
B-1,2}
Israel thought the cities in Canaan was walled up to
heaven, such as the tower of Babel
Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go up? Our brethren
have discouraged our hearts, saying, "The people are greater and taller
than we; the cities are great and fortified up to
heaven; moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakim
there." ' {giants}
There were giants in the land, individuals said there was
no giants, not true.
Numbers 13:33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and
so we were in their sight."
Tower was built, under construction, viewed as a Temple,
very astrological design, Zodiac, tell the signs of the heaven, this is where paganism
originally came from, Babylon.
The Land of Nimrod has all the following cities
Babel, Accad {Akkad, Agade}, Erech {Uruk, Sumeria},
Nineveh {Assyria}, Sumer {Shinar}, Calah {20 miles from Nineveh} {See B-3}
Genesis 11:5 But the LORD
came down to see the city
and the tower which the sons of
men had built. {See C-6}
First World Dictator: Nimrod. “Bab-El,” the Gateway to
the Gods…
Lord Jesus came down to the earth {from His Throne on the
right hand of the Father} to see for himself what was going on. We know they had not finish building the city
{verse 8}.
John 13:3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all
things under his power, and that he had come from
God and was returning to God;
The Lord came down, a number of times, example: Gen 18:21; Exo 19:11; 19:20, 34:5; Number
11:17, 25.
Lord Jesus wanted to examine every evidence before a
decree of judgment is made and before He makes the judgment.
Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and
they all have one language, and
this is what they begin to do; now
nothing that
they propose to do will be withheld from
them. {future – 1000
years}
To attach the kind of evil they wanted to undertake. God told them to scatter to around the world.
The potential is that humankind will
become as sinful as they were before the Flood. God will not allow this to
happen.
This verse proves that when human beings freely speak one
another's languages, and finally combine their scientific knowledge as they
have begun to do today, then virtually anything man's mind can conceive of is
possible for him to achieve - even to exploring the moon and inventing weapons
capable of destroying all life!
Is this not
what is happing today, Globalism, trying to establish one world ruling
government and religion.
Are we not as a
world, growing more evil. What do we
think Lord Jesus thinks today about mankind, wanting to destroy anyone who
Believes in the Messiah.
Genesis 11:7 Come, let
Us go down and there confuse their
language, that they may not
understand one another's
speech." {See C-2, 6}
GOD has a plan in postponing and restraining the genius
of people until the end times, in our lives?
·
Because people were rebellious against Lord
Jesus Way of Life. People wanted to live by their depraved lusts.
·
Different languages of the different nations are
a barrier against the spread of human evils,
·
If Lord Jesus had not done this, Nimrod and
people would soon have destroyed themselves as happening today.
Did the Father go with Lord Jesus to the Tower of Babel
to check it out?
John 1:1 In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
By many miracles, we learn the true origin of the nations
and languages of the world dispersed this one large group of individuals. Miracle, the confusion of tongues, when men and women were made to forget their
former language, and had another put into their minds, and given ability to speak
the new language they were given.
Genesis 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad
from there over the face of all the earth, and they
ceased building the city. {See C-2}
It seems they had finish the tower, but maybe not the
city. The Jewish Bible translation add “and the tower.”
People not
being able to understand one another, they left off their design, and as many
as spoke the same language joined together, and so parted in bodies; some went
one way, and some another, and settled in different places, until the whole
world had people living there, which was the will of God and should have been done
and was brought about in this way according to the scriptures.
Genesis 11:9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. {See C-2}
Interesting, Mary song {Lord Jesus mother} of Praise, she
says this, is this about Babel:
Luke 1:51 He has shown strength with His arm; He
has scattered the proud in the imagination of
their hearts.
The principal city of ancient paganism, Babylon, is
merely a site of confusion, because the Lord confused the language.
Babel: that is, confusion: Josephus, 1, c-4, sec 2
Nimrod
“persuaded them not to ascribe it to God” and “gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no
other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a
constant dependence on his power”
Quoting
Sibyl: “When all men were of one
language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up
to heaven, but the gods sent storms of wind and
overthrew the tower, and gave
every one his peculiar language” Josephus, 1, c-4, sec 2
What about the tower itself: {See B-1, 2}
Herodotus
informs us, it was a
furlong or 660 feet, in length and breadth; and, according to Strabo, it rose
to the same altitude. It was in a pyramid
form, consisting of eight square towers, gradually decreasing in
breadth, with a winding ascent on the outside,
so very broad as to allow horses and carriages to pass each other, and even to
turn. This magnificent structure, which seemed to menace the stars, was brought
down by very high wind. {tornado ?}
Do we realize that Babylonian religious system started in
Gen 11 at the tower of Babel and Babylon the start of idolatry and false
worship and can be tracked throughout history and into our society today.
Nimrod would
have nothing to do with the faith of his ancestors. Instead of learning from
their experiences, he rebelled against their teaching, and their practices.
This story is for us to learn from. no rebellion, teach us, endurance,
encouragement, so we might have hope,
