Nimrod: The Evil One (Biblical Stories Explained)

evil is said to take place in many forms in the bible and often these examples can be quite transparent but there appear to be many facets of evil as a concept and the bible demonstrates these aspects throughout its many characters but there are some entities within the bible that don't really get to show off the magnitude of their wickedness or perhaps even the virtuous traits that an evil character might come to exhibit therefore various apocrypha are available to help us fill in the gaps and assist us in painting a more complete analysis of some of the big and small names that are mentioned in scripture one such name that i hear thrown about from time to time is nimrod and he's a perfect example of a character who doesn't get much content in the bible but certainly earns a mention from his exploits in non-canonical stories as we'll discuss in today's video there can be two ways to identify nimrod either a man who was righteous or an archetype of an idolater a tyrant and a truly wicked person in many who break writings it is not uncommon after all to hear him refer to as nimrod the evil as far as the bible goes his very first mention comes in the table of nations back in genesis 10 where we are told that he was born the son of cush the grandson of ham and the great-grandson of noah and that he would grow up to become a fierce warrior and a notable hunter we also understand that nimrod would be a king a ruler of various great cities of which some if not all he had built from the ground up the bible tells us the cush was the father of nimrod who became a mighty warrior on the earth he was a mighty hunter before the lord that is why it is said like nimrod a mighty hunter before the lord the first centers of his kingdom were babylon uruk akhad and kalna in shinna from that land he went to assyria where he built nineveh rehobother cala and resin which is between nineveh and keller which is the great city there exists two opposing interpretations of this passage those that either promote nimrod in a complementary way or paint him as a more gruesome villain the more flattering version settles on the statement that nimrod was a mighty warrior and hunter before the lord suggesting that he was an exemplary figure in that he was strong bold mighty and exhibited all the characteristics that a man could want he is also painted in this viewpoint as a grand expansionist one who some might say the bible celebrates in the listing of the cities he either conquered or created but the other perhaps more generally accepted viewpoint regards nimrod as a most dastardly character an opinion cemented by his affiliation with the kingdom of babylon where the first mortal rebellion against god was thought to have started in the creation of the tower of babel this structure was also thought to have been commissioned by nimrod in some beliefs not as a testament to god but as a way for man to reach the heavens and the lord's level demonstrating nimrod's attitude and considering himself just as worthy as god himself in this variation the simile in the bible that like nimrod the mighty hunter before the lord is not as complementary as one might think but instead is a sign that nimrod killed before the lord and that he put his thirst for blood above the presence of god furthermore it is believed here that nimrod wasn't a hunter of game but instead a hunter of men this might be substantiated by his conquest of many kingdoms in that it was his ruthlessness and brutality that consolidated his power across so many regions in fact it becomes clear that his dominion over these regions was so absolute that the land of assyria is later dubbed as the land of nimrod in the book of micah because of nimrod's undeniable success in his conquests it is believed he inspired others not to trust in god but to instead trust in their own abilities to get what they want and that if a man wanted something he had the power to take it with or without god's blessing a first century historian flavius josephus wrote of this account saying that nimrod was born physically gifted in comparison to other men and had a strength to him that could not be matched but instead of paying glory to god he chose to turn against him and viewed his advantages as cultivated by himself and thus owed no one anything he sought to incite this mindset on his own people and persuaded them not to ascribe to god or to pay homage to him but instead to believe in their own courage and power to acquire the happiness they sought whilst this way of thinking did catch on josephus continues that it was facilitated by nimrod's eventual usception of government that which he used to pressure the devout into seeing things his way as they became dependent on his power josephus continued that the very idea of god seemed to anger nimrod and that he felt a desire to take revenge on his creator after he had drowned the world in the flood in this the creation of the tower of babel was not to reach god but instead as a reinforcement against a second flood a tower so tall that the waters could not reach it the stark character of nimrod seemed to inspire many of his followers and his commitment to the building of the tower was total josephus proceeds to detail the painstaking efforts taken in building the tower the materials that were used and the strict ethic taken to establish its height josephus account then becomes parallel with the bible where he tells us that when god saw the tower being built he did not destroy it or them because if the flood hadn't scared them then no other form of vengeance would deter them either so he caused confusion amongst them instead implemented a diverse set of language and prevented the workers from understanding each other interestingly another idea exists from rabbinical commentaries that nimrod's despising of god did not waver after his mint had been cast into confusion and that he ended up building a chariot that would be carried by birds all the way to heaven all so that he could duke it out with god one on one we see again a confirmation of nimrod's physical prowess in the first book of chronicles where we are told cush was the father of nimrod who became a mighty warrior on the earth like with the previous example it can be debated as to whether the adjective mighty or the noun warrior are used as accolades to celebrate nimrod or as a means to denounce him the latter appears to be more likely given that god never seems to endorse nimrod in the bible and appears to directly oppose him by preventing the tower of babel from being completed assuming that nimrod was the man who authorized its construction which is often in doubt one thing that is not in doubt is nimrod's physical capabilities in all of the texts available he is unanimously recorded as a proficient warrior something that is made evident by his successful conquests whilst this may simply be chalked up to genetics or maybe even a gift from god to test his morality some jewish traditions suggest that nimrod had inherited the garments of adam and eve from cush and that these garments having been produced in the garden were imbued with divine greatness and thus made the wearer invincible but going back to the doubts about his involvement in the building of the tower of babel it's important to note that the bible never actually names nimrod as the man responsible whilst various josephus believed that it likely was nimrod who directed the construction of the tower or at least gave the go-ahead for such a monument to be built it cannot be said for certain furthermore his motivations for such a decision however are often debated with some saying it was a tribute to god a beacon for his people or a passage to heaven so that nimrod could lead an army to heaven and overthrow the lord it is in various early jewish tales some most notably by fellow of alexandria a hellenistic philosopher who tells in his writings that nimrod was the leader of the hamitz joktan the leader of the semites and fennec as the leader of the jaffarties all of whom were complicit in the building of the tower philo also touched upon the idea of nimrod being a mighty hunter before the lord and asserts that this was not complementary and that it essentially could be interpreted to mean an opposition of the lord but yet again there do exist contradictory views to these ideas pertaining to numerous participation in the building of the tower ephraim the syrian a prominent christian theologian and writer from the 4th century believed that nimrod was against the building of the tower and was in fact righteous such an idea is supported in some jewish traditions in that after learning of the plans to build the tower nimrod fled to assyria after wanting no part in such blasphemy because of his loyalty to god god rewarded him with the territories he is associated with and the land of nimrod became a statement of his devotion to his lord in arabic an ancient work known as kitap al-magal or the book of roles states that nimrod built several towns from the ground up and that he reigned for 69 years in those towns amongst the others he had taken by force an interesting side note here is that somewhere in his lifetime as ruler he saw in the sky a piece of black cloth and a crown the symbolism is not really elaborated on but the takeaway is that nimrod became fixated on what he had seen so much so that he summoned a weaver named sassan and commanded him to make a crown exactly like the one he'd seen allegedly he would therefore become the first king to have worn a crown an idea was spawned here that the crown had come down to him from heaven and was therefore a gift from god and an endorsement of nimrod as a ruler others though regard this site that nimrod had seen as merely a delusion and perhaps a small demonstration of his wavering sanity the book of roles also describes how nimrod became a worshipper of fire and encouraged his subjects to idolize the elements and not god in the midrash rabbi a compilation of jewish scriptural exegesis such element worship is mentioned in an encounter between nimrod and abraham here we see nimrod command abraham to worship the fire before commanding him to worship water and the clouds themselves something that abraham seems to scoff at and proceeds to point out the senselessness in this we are told abraham was given over to nimrod nimrod told him worship the fire abraham said to him shall i then worship the water which puts off the fire nimrod told him worship the water abraham said to him if so shall i worship the cloud which carries the water nirmal told him worship the cloud abraham said to him if so shall i worship the wind which scatters the clouds nimrod said to him worship the wind abraham said to him and shall we worship the human who withstands the wind and said nimrod to him you pile words upon words i bow to no one but the fire in it shall i throw you and let the god to whom you bow come and save you from it so here we see abraham try to debate nimrod by attempting to show him that everything he worships has something more powerful than it fire can be quenched by water but yet the water is carried by the clouds and yet the clouds are at the mercy of the wind by pointing this out to nimrod abraham causes nimrod to sway between the earthly features and prove to him that there is always something that presides over another with god however nothing presides over him and abraham's point here is to show that only god should be worshiped because only god has no weakness the text also shows the fickleness of nimrod in that he changes his worship so quickly upon being outsmarted by abraham to the point that he even looks foolish by the end of it the text also gives a lesser known account of abraham's brother haran who we are told was present when abraham was thrown into the fire by nimrod we are told haran abraham's brother was standing there he said to himself what shall i do if abraham wins i shall say i am of abraham's followers if nimrod wins i shall say i am of nimrod's followers when abraham went into the furnace and survived haran was asked whose follower are you and he answered i am abraham's then they took him and threw him into the furnace and his belly opened and he died and pre-deceased tarek his father we see haran deliberate over whether he should be siding with abraham or nimrod and his loyalty to his brother and god is tested his plan to side with whoever wins the altercation can be viewed as spineless and cowardly but by the time abraham enters the furnace haran shows resolve by declaring he is abraham's follower even after he has seen abraham thrown into the furnace by this despite his earlier uncertainty haran proves to be loyal to his brother in his decision thereafter even after his belly is opened and he is tossed into the furnace as well he does not appear to backtrack and dies with his honor intact this idea of nimrod worshipping the elements is perpetuated in several jewish and islamic traditions that see nimrod come into conflict with abraham in some sense the confrontation becomes symbolic of the conflict between good and evil or the idea of monotheism against polytheism the writings are attributed to the pseudo-fillo an anonymous text containing many biblical antiquities but versions of the confrontation are also featured in the talmud and various rabbinical writings of the middle ages in some of these accounts the conflict between abraham and nimrod is merely a philosophical discussion between the two characters but the longer version is by far more profound in terms of imagery and action it sees nimrod told by his astrologers or soothsayers that a baby will soon be born and will grow into the man that is abraham he who will put an end to nimrod's idolatry and proceed his downfall this interpretation of the coming of abraham is usually detailed by the soothsayers as spotting the birth of a new star that which is either a real life manifestation or an image that nimrod glimpses in his dreams so as to deny any such prediction from coming true nimrod in a similar fashion to king herod orders the murder of all newborn babies but abraham's mother is able to escape and gives birth in secrecy much later after having found god abraham comes face to face with nimrod and orders him to seize his idolatry lest he faces the wrath of god so offended by abraham's request nimrod has his men gather wood for four whole years which was to be used in the biggest bonfire that the world had ever seen he stuffs abraham into the center of the bonfire ready to be burned but when the fires are lit abraham simply walks out unscathed nimrod then challenges abraham to battle and brings an enormous army to destroy abraham but abraham is shown to produce an army of gnats those which destroy nimrod's army in fact a more gory detail exists that one of the nets burrowed into nimrod's head and ended up driving him insane but other versions recount that nimrod surrendered to abraham upon seeing him walk out of the fire and prepares to offer sacrifices to god thereafter he also presents abraham with gifts nonetheless being the giant slave eliza who in these accounts appears to be nimrod's son but if we look at the bible we learned that abraham would come to settle in canaan which some have interpreted as him fleeing from nimrod who was secretly plotting revenge however if this was the case then nimrod would not be the one who built the tower of babel for this would have taken place many years before abraham's birth islamic narratives also seek to establish nimrod and abraham as existing in the same generation for a series of discussions were thought to take place between them the quran gives an example of abraham speaking with an unnamed king that is thought to be the same as nimrod where they discuss god as being characteristic of giving life and causing death prideful as ever this character who is thought to be nimrod responds that he is like god because he too has the ability to give life and cause death some commentaries supply narratives here that nimrod brings forth two men who are sentenced to death and proceeds to kill one before abraham while setting the other one free in this nimrod demonstrates his power to abraham and seeks to equate himself using abraham's example as god himself or at least on the same level as god it would also be an effort by nimrod to liken himself to god by showing his mastery over life and death but abraham is thought to have chastised nimrod here telling him that god brings up the sun from the east and if nimrod was as powerful then he should be able to bring up the sun from the west obviously not being able to do this nimrod exiles abraham despite his minimal mention in the bible itself it's surprising how much nimrod has come to influence both future theories surrounding the bible as well as literature itself a 19th century book known as the two babylons by christian minister alexander hislop depicts nimrod as the son and consort of the of babylon from revelations here these two characters form the inspiration behind polytheism and the idea of goddess worship as opposed to a more traditional male figure in god his love also presents some interesting ideas of the catholic church being an insidious invention by nimrod and his mother to maintain pagan ideals from old babylon nimrod even found his way into dante's divine comedy where he is portrayed as a giant but let me know what you thought about today's video and let me know if you have any other stories about nimrod in the comments below as always if you've enjoyed today's video then don't forget to give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe for more content just like this until next time

Channel: The Legends of History

Views: 1,488,057

Keywords: Nimrod, Legends, History, Legends of History, Biblical Stories Explained, Bible Stories, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Stories, Tower of Babel, Babylon

Id: POg0UhVKOXM

Length: 22min 32sec (1352 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 03 2021