Nimrod, the Son of Cush
A Devotional Series from Genesis
7/24 Reading Portions: Judges 7; Acts 11; Jeremiah 20; Mark 6
Genesis 10:8-12
Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
KINGDOMS
The name of Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, means “the rebel.” By this fourth generation through Noah’s son, Ham, Nimrod was the first one “to be a mighty man” (Gen 10:8), or from the original Hebrew “he profaned to be strong.” Nimrod may have become the first hunter of animals, providing game for the people because it was acceptable to eat the flesh of animals (Gen 9:3; 10:9). Instead of being a prince of his own clan, he led his cousins from other clans, perhaps even lording it over them (Matt 20:25-28). As a “strong hunter,” he was literally “in the face of the LORD;” in other words, defiant toward YHVH God (Gen 10:9). When he set up his kingdom in the land of Shinar (Shinar meaning “two rivers”), Josephus said that “…it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God.”[1] According to Josephus, Nimrod persuaded the people to build the tower in Babel.[2] After the languages were confused by God because of the building of the tower, Nimrod went north into what would later become Assyria, and he built Nineveh, what would later become the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Nimrod built the cities of two empires, Babel, the Hebrew name of Babylon, and Nineveh; empires that would later be used to take the Northern Kingdom of Israel captive (Assyria), and the Southern Kingdom of Judah captive (Babylon).
You and I, however, belong to an eternal kingdom, a heavenly kingdom. Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. He does not lord it over others. He invites souls to enter His kingdom, for in Him is rest for the weary and the hearts with heavy burdens (Matt 11:28). He did not come as a strong hunter who defiantly stood in the face of God but, instead, humbled Himself and became a servant (Phil 2:5-8), ever pleasing to the heavenly Father (Isa 53:10; Matt 3:17; 17:5). Hallelujah! What a Savior!
ENDNOTES
[1] Antiquities of the Jews, Flavius Josephus; Book 1, ch.4, para. 2
[2] Ibid., Book 1, ch.4, para. 2, 3