Using Bullinger’s King James Version Companion Bible (Kregel)
Nimrod/Nimrud
Genesis [10:6] “And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.”
Genesis [10:8] “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.”
Genesis [10:9] “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, “Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”
Genesis [10:10] “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”
[ed: Nimrod, son of Cush, and other peoples are spreading from the upper Nile river area into Arabia and into the land called Shinar (Mesopotamia).]
Genesis [10:11] “Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh (and the city Rehoboth) and Calah,”
Genesis [10:12] “And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.”
A very good resource to find more info on the cities that Nimrod and other kings of Assyria did build in that region can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud
There is a very helpful note written by E.W. Bullinger. The associated appendix #28’s of that KJV Companion Biblehas references of Nimrod.
https://therain.org/appendixes/app28.html or also at
https://www.levendwater.org/companion/append28.html
Below are some of the exerpts of this appendix not:
The Targum of Jonathan says :
" From the foundation of the world none was ever found like
Nimrod, powerful in hunting, and in rebellions against
the Lord. "
The Jerusalem Targum (aka "Targum of Jonathon") says :
" He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord,
for he was a hunter of the sons of men, and he said to them,
'Depart from the judgment of the Lord, and adhere to the
judgment of Nimrod!'
Therefore is it said :
'As Nimrod [is] the strong one, strong in hunting, and in
wickedness before the Lord.' "
The Chaldee paraphrase of 1st Chronicles [1:10] says :
" Cush begat Nimrod, who began to prevail in wickedness,
for he shed innocent blood, and rebelled against Jehovah. "
Also, the historian Josephus (Ant. Jud. i. c. 4. 2) says :
“Nimrod persuaded mankind not to ascribe their happiness to God, but to
think that his own excellency was the source of it. And he soon changed
things into a tyranny, thinking there was no other way to wean men
from the fear of God, than by making them rely upon his own power.”
[ed: Going back to the man named Cush, the 1st son of Ham.]
Genesis [10:8] “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.”
[ed: Ham’s 1st son, Cush, would have 6 sons, with the 6th son being named “Nimrod”.]
Genesis [10:9] “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, ‘Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.’ “
[ed: Nimrod placed himself before (above) YHVH in the eyes of his ruled people – self accession.]
Genesis [10:10] “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”
[ed: Shinar is pre-babylonion Sumer. Nimrod was known to the Sumerians as Enmerkar. He is the hero of the “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta” epic. The Aramaic name of “Erech” is called as “Uruk” in Sumerian/Akkadian. Erech is the 2nd city of Nimrod.
Nimrod: In Hebrew the four letters that make up the name Nimrod roughly translate to n-m-r-d.
The Actual Masorectic text of Genesis [10:8] ” נִ מְ רֹ ד ” == “nmrd”.
Enmerkar: In Sumerian, the name Enmer translates to n-m-r, while the
suffix “kar” simply means “hunter.”
Note the same letters of “n-m-r” are used in the name of Nimrod and Enmerker.
In the Bible he is “Nimrod the Hunter” and in Sumerian myth he is “Enmer the Hunter.”
From Wikipedia [and heavily edited by moi]:
” In Sumerian myth, Eridu and Enmerkar (Nimrod) are both intimately
associated with the Sumerian god Enki. With Enki’s support Enmerkar
was able to conquer the civilized world, re-inhabit and rebuild Enki’s
pre-Flood capital city of Eridu, and begin building a great Temple or
Tower in honor of Enki. “
Note that Eridu is very close to the man’s name of “Irad”, grandson of Cain, son of Cain’s 1st son named “Enoch” – Genesis [4:18].
Enoch – #H2585 in Hebrew is “chanuk” and means to “initiate”.
Irad – #H5897 in Hebrew is “lyrad”, means “fugitive”.
Enki (aka “Ea” in Akkad) was characterized as the “Lord of the Abzu” (Apsu in Akkadian, perhaps equivalent of Greek abýssos, English “abyss”), the freshwater sea or groundwater located within the earth.
“Enki” means “Lord of Earth”: the Sumerian “En” being translated as a
title equivalent to “lord” (a title originally given to the High Priest))
while “Ki” means “earth”.
Guess who the “lord of the Earth is”, that same phrase is also associated with satan.
There is a lot of literature on this god named Enki, he is going to be
defined methodologically, but this Enki character quintessentially represents satan.
[ed: Nimrod would go on to build other cities in other places, such as Assyria.]
Genesis [10:11] “Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh
(and the city Rehoboth) and Calah,”
[ed: Nineveh would become the capital of Assyria, note it is NOT the city
that would exist in the area known today as Syria and which was mentioned during the time of Jonah’s visit thereof.
[ed: We’Ill now see how Nimrod has decided to reject YHVH’s command and has become the leader for creating cities and to make the people stay together and to worship a false idol god that will be located at the top of this new towering building complex.]
Genesis [11:1] “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”
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.”
Genesis [11:4] And they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
[ed: This location called “Shinar” is the lower, Southerly part of the nation of Iraq. Nimrod is setting up a Kingdom for himself, and uses force and the violence of war to obtain the resources for his efforts to build up a temple to his own god. The “tower” is no longer standing in place. It is thought that this building was something akin to the stepped pyramid design that can be found in certain locations of Sumer (Shinar). Such a stepped design can also be found in Saqqa Egypt, said to be the oldest such pyramid in Egypt.
The ziggurat pyramid design was always built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick. It had no internal chambers and was usually square or rectangular. The sloping sides and terraces were often landscaped with trees and plants to be used as gardens and a food source. (hence the Hanging Gardens of Babylon).
The Mesopotamian s believed that these pyramids temples connected heaven and earth. The ziggurat at Babylon was known as (in Sumerian) “Etemenankia” or “House of the Platform between Heaven and Earth”.
Genesis [11:5] “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.”
[ed: Here we have the Adamic men (Noah’s sons’ generations) building their own salvation, even though God promised there will be no more flood waters, these same men who knew of the flood were placing their trust into Nimrod’s rebellious actions who has decided that all people will stay together and build up a new temple for another god.]
Genesis [11:6] “And the Lord said. Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Genesis [11:7] “Go to, let Us go down, and confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Genesis [11:8] “So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build a city.”
Genesis [11:9] “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
[ed: Nimrod is the leader of this group of men, but all of these men together wish to go against the command of God to go about replenishing the Earth, and to believe God’s promise to never again cause it to experience destruction by flood waters.
The sons of God (angels) and God himself will directly intercede
into the lives of these men.
The action of changing their language comes after a decision in judgement is made – “Go to, let Us go down”. There is some intercession
into the actions of these men, and there are angels that are going to assist in changing their languages.
Now these descendants of Noah have different languages and they are confused in understanding one another. They are going to finally move away to their own lands, by God’s “hand”. They will now go about the Earth and replenish as directed before.
Genesis does not explain if there was anything else that these descending angels did to affect the men of Babel.]
For more info on the immediate decedents of Noah, please see the study of “Noah’s Generation’s” found here:
https://www.ourgoodshepherd.org/noahs-generations
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