As noted, the
subject of Nimrod is one which people then knew very well. Even if Moses
borrowed from notes written by Abraham or even Noah or Shem, the people
receiving Genesis for the first time were sure to be familiar with him.
The fact he
built Babel, from which eventually came the city of Babylon, is crucial. It
establishes the start of the second most mentioned city of the Bible,
behind only Jerusalem. It also establishes the start of the battle between the
devil and God for control of the post-flood world - certainly there was sin
before, and the devil was quite active. However, with fewer people it took a
while for a leader to emerge who would try to lead so many down a dark,
destructive path.
Nimrod brashly
followed the devil, though. He chose to do everything his own way, and so with
his turning so much away from God, it was easy for the devil to use him. He would
soon deceive many into trying to attain Heaven and be like God, though as Adam
and Eve found, that is a lie - only God is God, and trying not to be like Him
only leads to destruction.
Thankfully, God
does love us enough to call each of His disciples friends. He is personal, not
transcendant. God desires a relationship with each of us, and while we are
separated by our sin from him, he came to this earth, God in flesh, fully God
and fully man, to live a perfect life and He died on the cross for our sins and
rose from from the dead. He did this because He is a loving God who wants a
personal relationship with each of His creatures, if they will only turn to
Him, forsaking their sin and trusting him to save them and make them new
inside.
While the
relationship can be strained when a believer wanders from Him, He is always
willing to forgive us. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand(John 10:28-30,
Romans 8:36-39, etc ), and He will keep us from falling (Jude 24, etc.). If a
believer becomes totally useless, God simply calls them home, just as 1
Corinthians 11 warns. That's because each believer in Christ is sealed with the
Spirit unto the day of redemption.(Eph. 1:13-14, etc.)
Beyond Babel,
Nimrod and other descendants of Cush began other cities as well. Nineveh is the
most well-known for the terrible evil that came out of it. Archaeologists have
shown that cultures around them we're terrified of them and that the Ninevites
dragged people away from their conquered cities with hooks in their noses. The
Bible doesn't tell us much about the others except for the Philistines in verse
14, but every piece of history archaeologists find corresponds perfectly with
the Bible. The Bible may not tell every little bit of history, but where it
does mention history it is totally accurate. (Other commentaries may be able to
delve more deeply into who some of these other people groups were.)
This is only
one group of the descendants from him, yet it is important to notice what was
stated before. There was never a curse on Ham. Only Canaan is named, and as
stated earlier, it may not have been a curse, it was likely a prophecy.
