Page 273 - Foundations

This is Babylon!

Let us return to the origin of this idolatrous practice among the descendants of Noah after the flood.
th
The 10 chapter of Genesis records the table of nations, those families of the earth that descended
from Noah’s three sons. Significantly, the first kingdom, and the first city, are mentioned in this
passage, being linked to a descendant of Ham whose name was Nimrod. (Ham was the son of Noah
who exposed the nakedness of his father when Noah had gotten drunk on wine and uncovered himself
inside his tent. Ham had four sons, and Noah specifically cursed the lineage of Ham’s son Canaan.
Nimrod was a grandson of Ham, but he was not of the lineage of Canaan.)

Genesis 10:1-12
Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons
were born to them after the flood... And the sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and
Canaan. And the sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca... Now
Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter
before Yahweh; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.” And the
beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From
that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen
between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

Because Nimrod is directly linked to Babel, that city that has become a symbol of defiance against
Yahweh, standing in direct opposition to Zion, the city of God, it is well that we investigate further
the identity of this man. Some have supposed that the information provided about Nimrod in this
passage is offered as a mark of praise for a mighty man among the descendants of Noah. This
interpretation has a number of problems, however. One of them is Nimrod’s connection to Babel.
Babel/Babylon is everywhere recognized in Scripture as a wicked city and a symbol of Satan’s earthly
rule. It was at Babel that mankind gathered together in defiance of Yahweh to build themselves a
tower and a city to make a name for themselves, and to keep from being scattered upon the face of
the earth. This was in contradiction to Yahweh’s command to Noah and his sons to “fill the earth”
(Genesis 9:1).

It is significant that the first mention of a human kingdom is in reference to Nimrod and to Babel.
Until that time all men had been free of human rulers, knowing only the government and rule of God.