Nimrod: The Grandson of Ham, The First World Leader and The Builder of Babel - Part 1

The following article is presented by the website, Black History In The Bible, and will be published in a two-part series on the Who's ? Right blog.

PART 1

Nimrod: The Grandson of Ham, The First World Leader, and The Builder of Babel 
February 13, 2018 by Black History In The Bible

Who Was King Nimrod In The Bible?

Nimrod is arguably one of the most important people in the early parts of the Old Testament, but there is very little said about him in scripture overall. However, what is said changes the entire course of human history, mostly because of where he was from.

Nimrod was the son of Cush, the grandson of Ham, and the great-grandson of Noah.

Nimrod: The Son of Cush

Being a son of Cush, Nimrod himself would be classified as a Cushite. According to both scripture and history, Cushites were known for their black skin. 

• Kuwsh (Strong’s #3568): Probably of foreign origin; Cush (or Ethiopia), the name of a son of Ham, and of his territory; also of an Israelite — Chush, Cush, Ethiopia. 

Cushites According To Josephus

“For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Cush; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Cushites.” – Josephus, Antiquities of The Jews

Cushites According To Google   

The ancient area known as Cush, encompassed both modern day Sudan and Ethiopia. The following map shows the African territory that the Bible refers to as Cush.

It was in this area that Nimrod was born, and would eventually depart from to establish the following important “Middle Eastern” Biblical cities (Genesis 10:10):

• Babel
• Erech
• Accad
• Calneh 

These places were located in Shinar, the area currently known as Iraq. As we can see on the following map, Shinar is very close to Africa. We should also note that before African territory was renamed to “The Middle East” in the mid 1800s, this area was accepted as part of Africa, and referred to as Arabia.

Was Nimrod Black?

For those that believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, there is no question that major portions of the Middle East were established by dark skinned Africans. The same dark skinned Africans are related to Nimrod through his grandfather Ham, so there is no reason to believe that Nimrod was anything other than black.

The following picture is of black Arabs that claim descent from Abraham’s grandson Kedar, which proves that not all “Middle Eastern” people are light brown:

This brings us to another rarely made connection to Nimrod is Abraham. Abraham lived in Ur, which was located in Babylon, and fell under the rule of Nimrod. It is out of Nimrod’s kingdom that Abraham was chosen by God.

According to Islamic belief, Abraham and Nimrod were adversaries. While I do not put spiritual stock in the Quran, it does contain several interesting stories concerning people in the Bible. Nimrod’s desire to kill Abraham is just one of those stories.

Nimrod The Mighty Hunter

According to scripture, Nimrod became a mighty hunter before the Lord, but there are scholars that point out that both tradition and the Hebrew word “before” indicates he hunted in defiance of the Lord.

King James Version

“And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” – Genesis 10:8-9 (KJV)

International Standard Version
“Cush fathered Nimrod, who became the first fearless leader throughout the land. He became a fearless hunter in defiance of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a fearless hunter in defiance of the Lord.” – Genesis 10:8-9 (ISV)

As we can see in the translation of the second example, the idea that him being a powerful hunter isn’t always looked at in a positive light. The reason this is viewed as a possibility of being negative is due to the Hebrew word used:

• Before (Strong’s #6440): panim or paneh – accept, anger, as long as, battle, because of, beseech, countenance 

Since one of the possible translation of the words is anger, some believe that the type of hunting he may have been doing is what angered God. It is believed by some that Nimrod was a hunter of humans. While this may be tradition, the story is not found in scripture. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify if there is any truth to the claim that he hunted men for sport. This same verse also gives rise to the theory that Nimrod began changing into a nephilim.

Click Here to continue reading PART 2