Nimrod

Biblical account

The first biblical mention of Nimrod is in the Generations of Noah. He is described as the son of Cush, grandson of Ham, and great-grandson of Noah; and as "a mighty one in the earth" and "a mighty hunter before the Lᴏʀᴅ". This is repeated in 1 Chronicles 1:10, and the "Land of Nimrod" is mentioned as a synonym for Assyria or Mesopotamia in Micah 5:6:

Who will shepherd Assyria’s land with swords,

The land of Nimrod in its gates.

Thus he will deliver [us]

From Assyria, should it invade our land,

And should it trample our country.

Genesis 10:10 says that the "mainstays of his kingdom" (רֵאשִׁית מַמְלַכְתּוֹ rēšit̲ mamlak̲to) were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Calneh in Shinar (Mesopotamia). This is understood variously to imply that he either founded these cities, ruled over them, or both. Owing to an ambiguity in the original Hebrew text, it is unclear whether it is he or Ashur who additionally built Nineveh, Resen, Rehoboth-Ir and Nimrud (Kalaḥ); both interpretations are reflected in various English versions. Walter Raleigh devoted several pages in his History of the World (1614) to reciting past scholarship regarding the question of whether it was Nimrod or Ashur who had built the cities in Assyria.

Traditions and legends

In Jewish and Christian tradition, Nimrod is considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar, although the Bible never states this. Nimrod's kingdom included the cities of Babel, Uruk, Akkad, and perhaps Calneh, in Shinar (Gen 10:10). Josephus believed that the building of Babel and its tower probably began under his direction; this is also the view found in the Talmud (Hullin 89a, Pesahim 94b, Erubin 53a, Avodah Zarah 53b), and later midrash such as Genesis Rabba. Several of these early Judaic sources also assert that the king Amraphel, who wars with Abraham later in Genesis, is none other than Nimrod himself.

Josephus wrote:

Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if He should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.

Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, He did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but He caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion ...

Nimrod vs. Abraham

In Islamic and Jewish traditions, a confrontation between Nimrod and Abraham is said to have taken place. Some stories bring them both together in a cataclysmic collision, seen as a symbol of the confrontation between Good and Evil, or as a symbol of monotheism against polytheism. Some Jewish traditions say only that the two men met and had a discussion. According to K. van der Toorn and P. W. van der Horst, this tradition is first attested in the writings of Pseudo-Philo. The story is also found in the Talmud, and in rabbinical writings in the Middle Ages.

In some versions, such as Flavius Josephus, Nimrod is a man who sets his will against that of God. In others, he proclaims himself a god and is worshipped as such by his subjects, sometimes with his consort Semiramis worshipped as a goddess at his side.

A portent in the stars tells Nimrod and his astrologers of the impending birth of Abraham, who would put an end to idolatry. Nimrod therefore orders the killing of all newborn babies. However, Abraham's mother escapes into the fields and gives birth secretly. At a young age, Abraham recognizes God and starts worshipping him. He confronts Nimrod and tells him face-to-face to cease his idolatry, whereupon Nimrod orders him burned at the stake. In some versions, Nimrod has his subjects gather wood for four whole years, so as to burn Abraham in the biggest bonfire the world had ever seen. Yet when the fire is lit, Abraham walks out unscathed.

In some versions, Nimrod then challenges Abraham to battle. When Nimrod appears at the head of enormous armies, Abraham produces an army of gnats which destroys Nimrod's army. Some accounts have a gnat or mosquito enter Nimrod's brain and drive him out of his mind (a divine retribution which Jewish tradition also assigned to the Roman Emperor Titus, destroyer of the Temple in Jerusalem).

In some versions, Nimrod repents and accepts God, offering numerous sacrifices that God rejects (as with Cain). Other versions have Nimrod give to Abraham, as a conciliatory gift, the giant slave Eliezer, whom some accounts describe as Nimrod's own son (the Bible also mentions Eliezer as Abraham's majordomo, though not making any connection between him and Nimrod; Genesis 15:2).

Still other versions have Nimrod persisting in his rebellion against God, or resuming it. Indeed, Abraham's crucial act of leaving Mesopotamia and settling in Canaan is sometimes interpreted as an escape from Nimrod's revenge. Accounts considered canonical place the building of the Tower many generations before Abraham's birth (as in the Bible, also Jubilees); however in others, it is a later rebellion after Nimrod failed in his confrontation with Abraham. In still other versions, Nimrod does not give up after the Tower fails, but goes on to try storming Heaven in person, in a chariot driven by birds.

Islamic narrative

The Quran states, "Have you not considered him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because God had given him the kingdom (i.e. he was prideful)?" Abraham says, "My Lord is He Who gives life and causes death." The king answers, "I give life and cause death". At this point some commentaries add new narratives like Nimrod bringing forth two men, who were sentenced to death previously. He orders the execution of one while freeing the other one. Then Abraham says, "Indeed, God brings up the sun from the east, so bring it up from the west." This causes the king to exile him, and he leaves for the Levant.

Although Nimrod's name is not specifically stated in the Quran, Islamic scholars hold that the "king" mentioned was him. Other traditional stories also exist around Nimrod, which have resulted in him being referenced as a tyrant in Muslim cultures.

According to Mujahid ibn Jabr, "Four people gained control over the Earth, east and west, two believers and two disbelievers. The two believers were Solomon (Sulayman in Islamic texts) and Dhul Qarnayn, and the two disbelievers were Nebuchadnezzar II and Nimrod. No one but they gained power over it."

Midrash Rabba version

The following version of the confrontation between Abraham and Nimrod appears in the Midrash Rabba, a major compilation of Jewish Scriptural exegesis. The part in which this appears, the Genesis Rabbah (Chapter 38, 13), is considered to date from the sixth century.

Historical interpretations

Historians, Orientalists, Assyriologists and mythographers have long tried to find links between the Nimrod of biblical texts and real historically attested figures in Mesopotamia or its surrounds, with no success. Significantly, no king with a name similar to Nimrod appears on any historical king-list from Sumer, Akkad, Assyria or Babylon, nor has the name Nimrod been found in any other writings from Mesopotamia or its neighbours during the Bronze Age, Iron Age or pre-Christian Classical Age.

Since the city of Akkad was destroyed around 2200–2154 BC (long chronology), the much later biblical stories mentioning Nimrod seem to be inspired by the late Early Bronze Age. The association with Erech (Sumero-Akkadian Uruk), a city that lost its prime importance around 2000 BC as a result of struggles between Isin, Ur, Larsa and Elam, may have influenced the later stories of Nimrod. Several Mesopotamian ruins were given Nimrod's name by invading 8th-century AD Muslim Arabs, including the ruins of the Assyrian city of Kalhu.

Among the unsuccessful attempts to connect Nimrod with historical figures, the 4th century Christian Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea identified Nimrod with Euechoios of Chaldea, a figure described as the first king after the flood by the Babylonian historian Berossus from the 3rd century BC (though modern historians have found that Chaldea was a small state in southeast Mesopotamia not found until the late 9th century BC). George Syncellus (c. 800) also had access to Berossus, and he identified Euechoios with the biblical Nimrod. However, like Nimrod, no king named Euechoios appears anywhere in Mesopotamian record.

More recently, Sumerologists have suggested additionally connecting both this Euechoios, and the king of Babylon and grandfather of Gilgamesh who appears in the oldest copies of Aelian (c. 200 AD) as Euechoros, with the name of the founder of Uruk known from cuneiform sources as Enmerkar.

In 1920, J. D. Prince also suggested a possible link between the Lord (Ni) of Marad and Nimrod. He mentioned how Dr. Kraeling was now inclined to connect Nimrod historically with Lugal-Banda, a mythological Sumerian king mentioned in Poebel, Historical Texts, 1914, whose seat was at the city Marad.

In popular culture

Idiom

In modern North American English slang, the term "nimrod" is often used to mean a dimwitted or a stupid person. This usage is often said to have been popularized by the Looney Tunes cartoon character Bugs Bunny sarcastically referring to the hunter Elmer Fudd as "nimrod" to highlight the difference between "mighty hunter" and "poor little Nimrod", i.e. Fudd. However, it is in fact Daffy Duck who refers to Fudd as "my little Nimrod" in the 1948 short "What Makes Daffy Duck", although Bugs Bunny does refer to Yosemite Sam as "the little Nimrod" in the 1951 short "Rabbit Every Monday". Both cartoons were voiced by Mel Blanc.

Literature

In the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (written 1308–1321), Nimrod is portrayed as a giant, a common occurrence in the Medieval period. With the giants Ephialtes, Antaeus, Briareus, Tityos, and Typhon, he stands in chains on the outer edge of Hell's Circle of Treachery. His only line is "Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi", words whose unintelligibility emphasizes his guilt for the confusion of languages after the tower of Babel.

Music

Variation IX of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations is named Nimrod, after his friend and publisher, August Jaeger (whose surname is German for hunter, befitting the monicker).