Difference between revisions of "Nimrod"

<p> He is generally supposed to have been the immediate son of Cush, and the youngest, or sixth, from the Scriptural phrase, "Cush begat Nimrod," after the mention of his five sons, [[Genesis]] 10:8 . But the phrase is used with considerable latitude, like "father" and "son," in Scripture. "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar: out of that land he went forth to invade Assyria; and built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resin, between [[Nineveh]] and Calah: the same is a great city," Genesis 10:8-12 . Though the main body of the Cushites was miraculously dispersed and sent by [[Providence]] to their destinations along the sea coasts of [[Asia]] and Africa, yet [[Nimrod]] remained behind, and founded an empire in Babylonia, according to Berosus, by usurping the property of the Arphaxadites in the land of Shinar; where "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel," or Babylon, and other towns: and, not satisfied with this, he next invaded Assur, or Assyria, east of the Tigris, where he built Nineveh, and several other towns. The marginal reading of our English Bible, "He went out into Assyria," or to invade Assyria, is here adopted in preference to that in the text: "And out of that land went forth Ashur, and builded Nineveh," &c. The meaning of the word Nineveh may lead us to his original name, Nin, signifying "a son," the most celebrated of the sons of Cush. That of Nimrod, or "Rebel," was probably a parody, or nickname, given him by the oppressed Shemites, of which we have several instances in Scripture. Thus <em> nahash, </em> the brazen "serpent" in the wilderness, was called by Hezekiah, in contempt, <em> nehushtan, </em> "a piece of brass," when he broke it in pieces, because it was perverted into an object of idolatrous worship by the Jews, 2 Kings 18:4 . Nimrod, that arch rebel, who first subverted the patriarchal government, introduced also the Zabian idolatry, or worship of the heavenly host; and, after his death, was deified by his subjects, and supposed to be translated into the constellations of Orion, attended by his hounds, [[Sirius]] and Canicula, and still pursuing his favourite game, the great bear; supposed also to be translated into <em> ursa major, </em> near the north pole; as admirably described by Homer,— </p> <p> Αρκτον θ ', ην και αμαζαν επικλησιν καλεουσιν , Η τ ' αυτου στρεφεται , και τ ' ‘Ωρεωνα δοκευει . <em> [[Iliad]] v. </em> 485. </p> <p> "And the bear, surnamed also the wain, by the Egyptians, who is turning herself about there, and watching Orion." [[Homer]] also introduces the shade of Orion, as hunting in the Elysian fields,— </p> <p> Τον δε μετ ', ‘Ωριωνα πελωριον εισενοησα Θηρας ομου ειλευντα , κατ ' ασφοδελον λειμωνα Τους αυτος κατεπεφνεν εν οιοπολοισιν ορεσσι Χερσιν εχων ροπαλον παγχαλκεον , αιεν ααγες . <em> Odyss. v. </em> 571. </p> <p> <strong> <em> "Next, I observed the mighty [[Orion]] </em> </strong> </p> <p> <strong> <em> [[Chasing]] wild beasts through an asphodel mead, Which himself had slain on the solitary mountains: [[Holding]] in his hands a solid brazen mace, ever unbroken." </em> </strong> </p> <p> The [[Grecian]] name of this "mighty hunter" may furnish a satisfactory clue to the name given him by the impious adulation of the [[Babylonians]] and Assyrians. ‘Ωριων nearly resembles ‘Ουριαν , the oblique case of ‘Ουριας , which is the [[Septuagint]] rendering of Uriah, a proper name in Scripture, 2 Samuel 11:6-21 . But Uriah, signifying "the light of the Lord," was an appropriate appellation of that most brilliant constellation. He was also called Baal, Beel, Bel, or Belus, signifying "lord," or "master," by the Phenicians, Assyrians, and Greeks; and [[Bala]] Rama, by the Hindus. </p> <p> At a village called Bala-deva, or Baldeo in the vulgar dialect, thirteen miles east by south from Muttra, in Hindustan, there is a very ancient statue of Bala Rama, in which he is represented with a ploughshare in his left hand, and a thick cudgel in his right, and his shoulders covered with the skin of a tiger. [[Captain]] Wilford supposes that the ploughshare was designed to hook his enemies: but may it not more naturally denote the constellation of the great bear, which strikingly represents the figure of a plough in its seven bright stars; and was probably so denominated by the earliest astronomers, before the introduction of the Zabian idolatry, as a celestial symbol of agriculture? The thick cudgel corresponds to the brazen mace of Homer. And it is highly probable that the [[Assyrian]] Nimrod, or Hindu Bala, was also the prototype of the Grecian Hercules, with his club and lion's skin. </p> <p> Nimrod is said to have been "a mighty hunter before the Lord;" which the [[Jerusalem]] paraphrast interprets of a sinful hunting after the sons of men to turn them off from the true religion. But it may as well be taken in a more literal sense, for hunting of wild beasts; inasmuch as the circumstance of his being a mighty hunter is mentioned with great propriety to introduce the account of his setting up his kingdom; the exercise of hunting being looked upon in ancient times as a means of acquiring the rudiments of war; for which reason the principal heroes of [[Heathen]] antiquity, as Theseus, Nestor, &c, were, as Xenophon tells us, bred up to hunting. Beside, it may be supposed, that by this practice Nimrod drew together a great company of robust young men to attend him in his sport, and by that means increased his power. And by destroying the wild beasts, which, in the comparatively defenceless state of society in those early ages, were no doubt very dangerous enemies, he might, perhaps, render himself farther popular; thereby engaging numbers to join with him, and to promote his chief design of subduing men, and making himself master of many nations. </p>

<p> Cush's son or descendant, Ham's grandson (Genesis 10:8). "Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth," i.e. he was the first of Noah's descendants who became renowned for bold and daring deeds, the [[Septuagint]] "giant" (compare [[Genesis]] 6:4; Genesis 6:13; Isaiah 13:3). "He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah," so that it passed into a proverb or the refrain of ballads in describing hunters and warriors, "even as [[Nimrod]] the mighty hunter before Jehovah." Not a mere [[Hebrew]] superlative, but as in Genesis 27:7 "bless thee before Jehovah," i.e. as in His presence, Psalms 56:13 "walk before God." Septuagint translated "against Jehovah"; so in Numbers 16:2 lipneey , "before," means opposition. The Hebrew name Nimrod means "let us rebel," given by his contemporaries to Nimrod as one who ever had in his mouth such words to stir up his band to rebellion. Nimrod subverted the existing patriarchal order of society by setting up a chieftainship based on personal valor and maintained by aggression. The chase is an image of war and a training for it. </p> <p> The increase of ferocious beasts after the flood and Nimrod's success in destroying them soon gathered a band to him. From being a hunter of beasts he became a hunter of men. "In defiance of Jehovah," as virtually" before Jehovah" (Proverbs 15:11) means, Nimrod, a Hamite intruded into Shem's portion, violently set up an empire of conquest, beginning with Babel, ever after the symbol of the world power in its hostility to God. From that land he went forth to [[Asshur]] and builded Nineveh. The later [[Babylonians]] spoke Semitic, but the oldest inscriptions are Turanian or Cushite. Tradition points to Babylon's [[Cushite]] origin by making [[Belus]] son of [[Poseidon]] (the sea) and [[Libya]] (Ethiopia): [[Diodorus]] Siculus i. 28. [[Oannes]] the fish god, Babylon's civilizer, rose out of the [[Red]] [[Sea]] (Syncellus, Chronog. 28). "Cush" appears in the [[Babylonian]] names Cissia, Cuthah, Chuzistan (Susiana). Babylon's earliest alphabet in oldest inscriptions resembles that of [[Egypt]] and Ethiopia; common words occur, as Mirikh, the Meroe of Ethiopia, the [[Mars]] of Babylon. </p> <p> Though Arabic is Semitic, the Mahras' language in southern [[Arabia]] is non-Semitic, and is the modern representative of the ancient Himyaric whose empire dates as far back as 1750 B.C. The Mahras is akin to the Abyssinian Galla language, representing the Cushite or Ethiopic of old; and the primitive Babylonian [[Sir]] H. Rawlinson from inscriptions decides to resemble both. The writing too is pictorial, as in the earliest ages of Egypt. The [[Egyptian]] and Ethiopic hyk (in hyk-sos , the "shepherd kings"), a "king," in Babylonian and Susianian is khak . "Tyrhak" is common to the royal lists of Susiana and Ethiopia, as "Nimrod" is to those of [[Babylon]] and Egypt. Ra is the Cushite supreme god of Babylon as Ra is the sun god in Egypt. (See BABEL.) Nimrod was the Bel, Belus, or Baal, i.e. lord of Babel, its founder. Worshipped (as the monuments testify) as Bilu Nipra or [[Bel]] Nimrod, i.e, the god of the chase; the Talmudical Nopher, now Niffer. [[Josephus]] (Ant. 1:4) and the tortures represent him as building, in defiance of Jehovah, the [[Babel]] tower. </p> <p> If so (which his rebellious character makes likely) he abandoned Babel for a time after the miraculous confusion of tongues, and went and founded Nineveh. [[Eastern]] tradition pictures hint a heaven-storming giant chained by God, among the constellations, as Orion, Hebrew Κeciyl , "fool" or "wicked." [[Sargon]] in an inscription says: "350 kings of [[Assyria]] hunted the people of Bilu-Nipru"; probably meaning the Babylon of Nimrod, nipru "hunter", another form of Nebrod which is the Septuagint form of Nimrod. His going to Assyria (Genesis 10:10-11-12) accords with Micah's designating Assyria "the hind of Nimrod" (Micah 5:6). Also his name appears in the palace mound of Nimrud. The fourfold group of cities which Nimrod founded in [[Babylonia]] answer to the fourfold group in Assyria. So Κiprit Αrba , "king of the four races," is an early title of the first monarchs of Babylon; [[Chedorlaomer]] appears at the head of four peoples; "king of the four regions" occurs in [[Nineveh]] inscriptions too; after Sargon's days four cities had the pre-eminence (Rawlinson, 1:435, 438,4 47). </p> <p> The early seat of empire was in the southern part of Babylonia, where Niffer represents either Babel or Calneh, Warka Erech, Mugheir Ur, Senkereh Ellasar. The founder (about 2200 B.C.) or embellisher of those towns is called Kinzi Akkad, containing the name [[Accad]] of Genesis 10:1. Tradition mentions a Belus king of Nineveh, earlier than Ninus; Shamas Iva (1860 B.C.), son of Ismi [[Dagon]] king of Babylon, founded a temple at Kileh Shergat (Asshur); so that the [[Scripture]] account of Babylon originating the [[Assyrian]] cities long before the Assyrian empire of the 13th century B.C. is confirmed. (Layard, Nineveh 2:231). Sir H. Rawlinson conjectures that Nimrod denotes not an individual but the "settlers," and that Rehoboth, Calah, etc., are but sites of buildings afterward erected; but the proverb concerning Nimrod and the history imply an individual; the Birs (temple) Nimrud, the Sukr (dam across the Tigris) el Nimrud, and the mound Nimrud, all attest the universal recognition of him as the founder of the empire. </p>