Walking With Christ

Genesis 10:8-12 (8)Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. (9)He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” (10)The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (11)From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and (12)Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.(ESV)

Nimrod was the first person listed in the bible as a “mighty man”. Genesis explicitly says that he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. This list alone shows eight different cities ruled by one man. Babel is the beginning of Babylon. Accad is also called Akkad and where we get the famed Akkadian warriors.

The two-part phrase “a mighty hunter before the Lord” can be broken down into two parts; “a mighty hunter” and “before the Lord”. The first part has been interpreted in two different ways. In one reading, it means that he was a great example of a hunter. He was such a good hunter that God recognized his skill. The other interpretation is that he was an incredible warrior.

Other places in the bible use the phrase “before the Lord” in terms that make it obviously not mean to be against God in every use. One such example is Samuel in 1 Samuel 2:18 where it says, “Samuel was ministering before the Lord,” meaning he was serving God, not in opposition. However, this is definitely not the only interpretation.

Jewish tradition and historians, such as Josephus (Antiquities 1.4.2), tend to agree that “before the Lord”, in this case, meant standing in opposition to God. The inference is that he was an oppressive ruler, an empire-building tyrant.

When people hear Babel, they tend to connect with the Tower of Babel which was built in opposition to God. The text does not directly link Nimrod to the tower but this is still considered a contextual clue about the nature of Nimrod. It sheds some light on the type of person he was. He ruled at least eight cities as a part of his kingdom. His was the first true kingdom on earth. Cain went and built a city, but Nimrod controlled eight cities at the same time.

Ruling over eight cities certainly confirms the empire-building, and the attitude in Babel when they were building the famed tower points to an attitude of rebellion against God. The context in the bible combined with extra-biblical resources like Josephus and the Talmud give strong support for Nimrod being an ambitious king who stood in defiance of God.

What do you think? How Nimrod is viewed has strong implications in how we interpret the events surrounding the Tower of Babel.