Recall that Assyria is first mentioned as the name of a preflood region in the context of the river of life which “divided” in the garden of Eden and became “four rivers.” The number four is linked with cosmic totality- a house will have four corners, and as the cosmos is the house of God, the scriptures speak of the “four corners of the earth” and the “four winds of heaven.” The rivers which flow out from Eden divide the world into its distinctive territories with distinct qualities. The word used for “divided” in Genesis 2 recurs for the next time in Genesis 10, where we read of the sons of Noah being “divided in their lands” and “divided abroad on the earth” (Genesis 10:5, 10:32). Nimrod is a son of Cush who is the “first on earth to be a mighty man.” The word here is gibbor and appears to have something to do with the power to exercise military might to exercise dominion over the world. It is used in both positive and negative senses. The Nephilim who appear before the flood are described as “mighty men” (Genesis 6:4) as are the armed officers of the Israelite conquest of Canaan (Joshua 1:14). Nimrod is a twisted figure of Adam. Adam was commissioned with his seed to exercise creative dominion over the world, multiplying outwards to “subdue” or “conquer” the land (Genesis 1:26-28). Later scriptural imagery suggests that the original, pre-fall form of this subduction was creative in nature rather than military. Thus we find in Isaiah 2:1-5 that in the messianic age, weapons of war are not destroyed but transfigured into tools of creative operation- plowshares and pruning hooks. God endows the world with its creative energy for the first time on the third creation day, when the Word of God goes into the world so that the world, by divine power, acts on God’s behalf in bringing forth trees and grains (Genesis 1:11-13). And these two elements are precisely what is utilized by Noah in constructing the ark as a perfected model of the world. Noah transfigures trees into wood which is shaped into the ark- and on that ark he takes representatives of every kind of food (Genesis 6:21).
Nimrod is a mighty man who is likewise associated with a fourfold dominion. God had ordered the original creation such that four rivers divided the land into regions. After the flood, the nations are also “divided” in an allusion back to this original ordering. The rebellion at Babel was an attempt to retain the homogeneity of young humanity so that the creative energy of mankind might be pooled unto the magnification of its own name apart from God’s. Nimrod’s program was to create a single world-state with himself as king, ruling over all nations. As my friend Kenneth Griffith has pointed out, the allowance of humanity to kill animals for meat is given in the same breath as the commission to lawfully exercise the death penalty (Genesis 9:3-6). Through the experience of the flood, Noah has been elevated to the likeness of God. Hence, as God planted a garden and rested on the sabbath, Noah plants a vineyard and rested in his tent (Genesis 2:1-3, 2:8, 9:20-21). As God issues judgment on the serpent, Noah issues judgment on Canaan (Genesis 3:14, 9:25). As God possesses authority over life and death, so that authority is entrusted to the man who has been elevated to his likeness. Observe the underlying logic: God’s authority over life and death follows from His being the source of the creation’s existence- as the Creator, He is also Sovereign. Noah is given this authority in relation to his having taken the raw material of the world and shaped it into the ark- a miniature cosmos - on God’s command.
Nimrod is called a “mighty hunter.” The word might also be understood as “mighty slaughterer.” The imagery of the royal hunt exemplifying the king’s dominion is found in many cultures. Moreover, Nimrod’s being called such in the context of his identity as a “gibbor” (“conqueror” is the meaning I have suggested) also links him with the slaughter of men. Furthermore, in the literary arrangement of Genesis 1-11, the three falls of Genesis 3-6- Adam, Cain, and the Nephilim- correspond to the fall of Ham, the rebellion of Nimrod, and the rebellion of the nations. Cain murdered his brother and built a city, Nimrod slaughtered nations and built an empire centered on a city.
What was this city? This city was the first Babylon, the center of Nimrod’s planned world empire. While God dispersed the original project, Nimrod did not abandon his pursuit. Instead, we will find that ancient history, from Babel to Exile, swings around the fragments of Nimrod’s world empire.
This post helped me see something new to me. If the pagans were truthful in their accounts of Ge/Ki/Gaia inciting her son Kronos/Ham to overthrow his father, Noah, then God ran an experiment of sorts. He destroyed the world and saved only Noah and His family. He puts Noah and his family in a new Garden of Eden in the mountains of Ararat. Then the woman goes haywire again, and another man, Ham, listens to the voice of the woman and goes astray with her. Humanity has a second Fall as it were. This experiment proved that humanity is broken and will always Fall if placed in the Garden of Eden. Thus the Incarnation was the only solution to humanity's problem. It would take a second Adam whose soul was unfallen in order to redeem and restore humanity to fellowship with the Father.
That connection of Noah planting a vineyard and then resting in his tent is new to me, and very powerful.