Genesis 10:8 Commentary and Bible Study

‘And Cush begat Nimrod’ – a descendant of Ham. This man was known widely, so that his name becomes proverbial. He promoted himself. He dreamed of an empire, a kingdom. The word kingdom first appears in this narrative. He is called ‘mighty one’ not only to describe what he was in himself, but also in the estimation of others. The phrase ‘a mighty hunter before the Lord’ might be understood to mean that the Lord approved of him as a hunter, but there are enough indications in the passage to know that this was not the case, besides faith was limited to godly line coming from Seth. It means rather, under God's nose, in his face, in his sight; he was an audacious man, and he lived as a king. He flattered himself that he would be the leader of the people on earth. ‘And the beginning of his kingdom look was Babel.’ That is how he saw himself: kingpin, a bully. And it was in the land of Shinar, which has previously been described as his territory. So he had the entire population living in the region that he had chosen, that he had prescribed for himself.His name ‘Nimrod’ means ‘rebel’, which can only mean rebel against God. What father would ever give his son the name, ‘I will rebel’? Well, it happened. This rebellion is explained by the history which follows in Genesis 11. He rebelled against God by not obeying the command given to spread out across the earth, and instead he began to build a kingdom in the land of Shinar (southern Mesopotamia known as Sumer or Akkad), and he was responsible for the building of the cities Babel (‘confusion’), Erech (‘length’), Accad (‘band’ or ‘chain’, i.e. fortress), and Calneh (‘fortified dwellings’). When he is called ‘a mighty hunter before the Lord’, Delitzsch understands this to mean ‘in defiance of the Lord’, but those who used the phrase proverbially certainly did not understand it in this way, and it may mean no more than that God acknowledged his capability. He wanted to make a name for himself. Babel is the same word that elsewhere is translated Babylon. It is Babylon into which Israel went into exile; it is Babylon that symbolises the kingdom of this world, and which is declared to be ‘fallen, fallen’ in the judgment of God (Revelation 14:8). Others followed his example and built further cities – Nineveh (‘offspring’s habitation’), Rehoboth (‘wide spaces’), Calah (‘old age’, or ‘completion’), and Resen (‘curb’, ‘bridle’), and the rebellion grew in strength.