Here is the
first mention of the first world dictator, from what all the major scholars
say. While it is possible that someone like Cain or his descendants were that
way before the flood, Nimrod is much more certain to have been the first of the
powerful emperors after him.
He began to be
a mighty one. God allows people time to repent of their sim, some more than
others. The fact that Nimrod was allowed to start to become one, and in fact
became one for a while, shows that God is very patient with us. He is long
suffering, not willing any should perish but that all come to repentance.
And, notice he
became mighty in the earth. The earth is the devil's realm, where Job records
him walking to and fro, and where 1 Peter 5;8 warns he "walketh about as a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." The powers of darkness spoken
of in Ephesians 6:12
and elsewhere seek to lure people into their trap through the lures of fame,
fortune, and power. They will trap those who follow people like Nimrod by even
convincing them to worship such people as Nimrod, when only God is worthy of
our worship. Emperor worship was very common back then, and in fact the
Japanese considered the Emperor to be a god rtill the last century. So, this
might that Nimrod showed was transformed into something that would draw
people's attention away from God and to man.
The kind might
he showed will be discussed in the next section, but it's easy to see how some
of those we discussed last time - the ones who were not mentioned - may have
been drawn to follow Nimrod, or more likely crushed beneath Nimrod s conquering
armies.
