The Epic Adventures of Nimrod and Gilgamesh

More than 1,500 years after creation, when antediluvian men (men who existed before the great floods) had penetrated into all parts of the eastern hemisphere, but probably had not yet crossed the great rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, there lived in old Babylonia, then called the land of Nod, a husband of the family of Lamech, had two wives, Adah and Zillah, to whom there had been born three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal Cain, and one sister, Naam ah.

This family represented the culture, the industry and the idolatry of the antediluvian world.

The people of Nod, Of whom certain members of this family were a part, ‘ had a well developed language, volumes of literature, great irrigating systems, magnificent temples and a matured system of polytheistic religion, arrayed against Jehovah; for this family, except possibly Adah and her blood in her two sons, belonged to the people of Cain who had been driven out from the presence of Jehovah.

Zillah (dark) was likely of the Egyptian branch of Cain’s lineage but Adah (light skinned), the other wife of this Lamech, was probably married to him on the plateau of Iran (ancient mesopotamia), where another great antediluvian race doubtless lived.

This race was monotheistic in religion, and cattle raising was ’the great industry.

To this land, Adah induced one or both of her sons to migrate and there, before the Deluge, they engaged in the pursuits of the people in the mountains and on the table lands.

Far to the south of Nod, possibly on a continent now governed by the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, there lived a third race.

In spreading abroad, members of this race, prior to this time, had come in contact with the race of Cain (the prominent Sumerians).

In fact, the head of the second family lived on the border between Nod and Eden.

He also bore the name Lamech.

In this second family was only one son who was the husband of one wife, who had borne three sons.

This family, in many respects, was been exchanging family names for some generations.

All the members of the family of the first Lamech, except possibly two, perished in the floods, which was sent on the earth because of the wickedness of mankind, brought on by a co-mmingling of all the races, and the consequent revolting religious practices growing out of it.

Possibly the only one, entirely of Cain’s race, who survived, was Naamah who married one of the sons of Noah, and consequently was one of the eight persons saved in the ark.

She was the most brilliant representative of her race and was therefore able to carry over the religious system of Cain’s people.

She spoke, and wrote in cunei st~ form, diluvian races, the language of the people of Nod, as well as the hieroglyphic, the writings of her Egyptian people.

She knew where the archives of Cain’s race were kept at Sappare (Pliney, ‘ page 6, Erech, Shurippak) and other Cities built before the flooding by her kindred.

The two wives of Lamech, of the tribe of Cain, Adah and Zillah, had in them the potency of three great peoples which after the flood, dominated many regions of The earth.

Jubal was the wife of Japheth and the mother of the Aryan race, as was Naamah, daughter of Zillah, the mother of the children of Ham.

The wife of Japheth likely knew and spoke the Sanskrit language of Iran, and she led the children of Japheth from there after the flood.

Who Exactly was Nimrod?

When the flood waters receded to an acceptable level, Noah and his wife, Emzara disembarked from the Ark along with their sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their respective wives.

The descendants of Shem became the Shemites, or Semites (Semitic line of descent); the descendants of Japheth, the Indo-European nations, also known as the Gentiles; and the descendants of Ham, the Canaanites, Babylonians, Egyptians, and the Philistines.

Ham’s son, Cush, and his grandson, Nimrod, were greatly rebellious against Jehovah.

Nimrod was very passionate about persuading people away from God.

His reputation of being a mighty hunter came more from his capturing of men than from hunting down wild game.

As Nimrod’s influence grew, he established the Cities of Erech, Nineveh, Babel, and Akkad (the Akkadians) among others, which would become the land of Shinar, or Sumer, (the Sumerians) which was the beginning of the kingdom of Babylonia.

Even more interesting, theories have emerged, which indicate that Nimrod might have actually been the Great Gilgamesh, the hero of a Babylonian epic, inscribed on ancient clay tablets, that parallels the Biblical story of Noah and the flood.

According to the tablets, Gilgamesh was from Erech, a city attributed to Nimrod.

Genesis 10:8-11, states that Nimrod established a kingdom.

Since the Babylonian kingdom seems to be one of the earliest, if not the first kingdom on earth, it stands to reason that such an event would be recorded in extra-Biblical literature.

Not only was the epic of Gilgamesh recorded on Sumerian tablets, but similar tales are found among the Assyrian and Hittite cultures as well.

Scholars and translators of the cuneiform tablets that contain the Gilgamesh Epic agree that the text was composed around 2000 BC while the material written about, the numerous episodes of adventure, relate to a much earlier time period, probably not long after the floods.

There are many similarities between Nimrod and Gilgamesh.

Both were known as great builders and mighty warriors, they were from the same area, and arguably lived around the same time period.

Nimrod seemed to be obsessed with the occurrence of a second flood.

He built the great tower of Babel, which was most likely a Mesopotamian Ziggurat, (a pyramid shaped structure with staircases and ramps that led to a shrine on top, with the hope of constructing it high enough to escape the flood waters.)

Nimrod was also obsessed with something else!

Being a descendant of Ham, he feared that a descendant of Shem would someday show up and challenge his authority.

That descendant would be Abram, later known as the biblical Abraham the Chaldean.

The description of Nimrod in Genesis doesn’t match the profile of Gilgamesh in the Sumerian poems and Babylonian epic that bear his name, except in two respects – he is renowned for being a ‘mighty warrior’ and he is associated with the city of Uruk.

However, Nimrod has two other characteristics in Genesis 10 that don’t match the legends about Gilgamesh.

He is credited with multiple founding cities in Assyria and Mesopotamia (“Shinar”), and he is renowned as a ‘mighty hunter’.

While it’s quite likely that Gilgamesh was a historical king of Uruk, Nimrod is more of a mythical figure – since no single individual founded all of the nine cities mentioned in Genesis:

The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar.

From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

Nimrod, according to this description, is the mythical founder of all the great cities of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires.

Sumerian Kish, the first city established in Mesopotamia after the Flood, took its name from the man known in the Bible as Cush.

The first kingdom established after the Flood was Kish, and the name “Kish” appears often on clay tablets.

The early post-Flood Sumerian king lists (not found in the Bible) say that “kingship descended from heaven to Kish” after the Flood.

(The Hebrew name “Cush,” much later, was moved to present-day Ethiopia as migrations took place from Mesopotamia to other places.)

The Sumerians, very early, developed a religio-politico state which was extremely binding on all who lived in it (except for the rulers, who were a law unto themselves).

This system was to influence the Ancient Near East for over 3000 years.

Other cultures which followed the Sumerian system were Accad, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, which became the basis of Greece and Rome’s system of rule.

Founded by Cush, the Sumerians were very important historically and Biblically.

The name Nimrod comes from the Hebrew verb marad, meaning “rebel.”

Adding an “n” before the “m” it becomes an infinitive construct, “Nimrod.” (see Kautzsch 1910: 137 2b, also BDB 1962: 597).

The meaning then is “The Rebel.”

Thus “Nimrod” may not be the character’s name at all.

It is more likely a derisive term of a type, a representative, of a system that is epitomized in rebellion against the Creator, the one true God.

Rebellion began soon after the Flood as civilizations were restored.

At that time this person became very prominent.

Nimrod did not live up to the virtues and standards that God had found in Noah.

He was a bully amongst men, took what he wanted — including women, whatever he desired because he was a big man (kind of a giant).

His mighty bow and hunting were his major interests in life.

He believed in God but was somewhat jealous of God.

Nimrod was the most powerful bowman in the land.

He believed that if he shot an arrow into the clouds above, it would surely strike an angel, proof being, when the arrow returned to earth it would be stained with the blood of an angel.

In fact, his real concept in the building of a Tower was that he could ultimately be able to reach Paradise!

At some point during the building of the tower in Babel, it is written that God with an entourage, appeared on earth to see what was happening in Babel.

What He found was, all the people were speaking the same language and he decided that they should speak different languages.

No one then would any longer understand one another, so he sent those with similar languages in different directions to establish clans and tribes throughout the land and where they settled they were to multiply and prosper.

The workers on the tower also could not understand one another and dispersed with the others.

That is how the Tower of Babel got its name.

Nimrod was a gifted and powerful man, probably a Nephilim ( a Nephilim means “fallen ones” when translated into English, were the product of sex between the divine beings (sons of god) and human women (daughters of Adam).

The Nephilim are known as great warriors and biblical giants (see Ezekiel 32:27 and Numbers 13:33) used by God to fend off the wild beasts and control their population to protect mankind.

He was also gifted with the ability to teach others and lead them.

Building cities and ruling God’s people was not what God wanted from Nimrod, especially considering Nimrod’s great ambitions and appetite for self-interests.

 

To be continued…