Nimrod a "Mighty Hunter"

Nimrod is the first King mentioned in the Bible, ruler of Babel and the surrounding cities. After the great flood, the land was dry and clear. Noah and his family were commanded to multiply and fill the earth. Thus, the land was given to Noah sons Shem, Ham, and Japhet. Nimrod is the fourth generation who inhabited the new earth. Nimrod is son of Cush, who is son of Ham, who is son of Noah.

Litograpy of Nimrod by Gustave Dore

Abraham is trow into a furnace by Nimrod

The fist Biblical mention of Nimrod is found in Genesis chapter 10 verse 8 and 9 who describes him as a “mighty one in the earth” and a “mighty hunter before the LORD”. When I first read this verse my conception of Nimrod was that he was righteous man who stood for the LORD will. However, the Islamist conception of Nimrod differed mine. According to the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an, Nimrod is not mentioned in the Qur’an. However, in the Islamic tradition Nimrod was the Antagonist of Abraham. And the one who ordered to burn Abraham in a furnace, from which he was saved by the LORD. This fact caught my attention because the bible never mentions any interaction between Nimrod and Abraham. Furthermore, there are a separation of seven generations between them. The difference between epochs in the Bible and the Islamic tradition are different for that reason I decided to research now the Jewish point of view. the Jewish Encyclopedia says that “Nimrod is the prototype of a rebellious people, his name being interpreted as "he who made all the people rebellious against God"”. Hence, this information made me rethink about what I just read in Genesis 10. However, further in Chapter it is told that Babel was part of Nimrod kingdom. Although the Bible never mentions that Nimrod requested the building of the Babel tower, it is widely accepted in the Christian and Jewish belief that Nimrod was the one who ordered to build the tower, after all he was the king of the whole region where Babel was part of the kingdom, also the tower was being built under his regime.

Stone panel dedicated to Nimrod an the British museum 

Besides being a king, Nimrod was also a “mighty hunter” according to the Jewish encyclopedia, Nimrod was the first hunter in the human history and the one who introduced the people to eating meat. Furthermore, it is believed form the Jewish community that he possessed the coats of skin that God made for Adam and Eve when they left the garden of Eden. Those clothes were believed to be in Noah possession, and stolen from him by Ham who passed them to Cush who did the same and handed them to Nimrod. Who used them to attract animal who crouched before him whenever they saw him wearing the clothes, making extremely easy for him to catch his prey. This version totally blew out my perception of “mighty hunter” or at least the traditional idea that we have about how a hunter acts.  

As I mentioned before the tower of Babel is believed to be requested from Nimrod. Furthermore, the tower is also one of the most popular stories of Christianity because its is believed that during its construction language was split into different ones, that rendered the tower impossible to complete. As a consequence the people fled the place and scattered throughout the world. What happened to the tower of Babel after the people fled is not known, the Bible does not mention the destruction of the tower. But still, it is accepted in the christian community that the tower was destroyed while the people were leaving Babel.  

Engraving confusion of tongues by Gustave Dore

Gilgamesh

Additionally, something that definitely grabbed my attention is a prominent theory about who Nimrod was. This theory was  held by George Smith it  mentions that Nimrod can be related to the Babylonian hero Izdubar (Gilgamesh). Izdubar was a hunter who was always followed by four dogs who accompanied him into his journeys of hunting. Also he is named in some Sumerian poems and it is believed that he was the king of the city of Uruk. The Legends of Izdubar are recorded in twelve tablets dated from between 1800 and 2000 B.C.  

In conclusion, for this first edition of the blog I can mention that reading and finding out more information about who this king were make me very exited to know more about who I am and I what I believe in, research about Nimrod made me realize that he was not as good as I first though. This exercise gives me the lesson that an effective comprehension of the bible does not only require reading but also a little more research to get to know those forgotten kings.