Nimrod and the Story of the Tower of Babel
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What do you know about Nimrod and the story of the Tower of Babel?
When I hear “Tower of Babel” my first thought is “hey, that’s where all the different languages came from. And while that may be true (more on that later) there is a whole lot more to this story than language.
The Tower of Babel contains some pretty important stories, connections, and interactions of key people and groups in the Bible. For starters (click the link to jump to their part of the story):
If you’ve ever asked, “was the tower of Babel real?” The answer is, yes.
If you’ve ever wondered, “what is the tower of Babel story about?” This article will explain it all in detail, starting with the person behind the building of the tower of Babel; Nimrod Gilgamesh.
The Story of Nimrod in the Bible
Let’s start with the backstory; what does the Bible say about Nimrod?
Nimrod Gilgamesh was a descendant of Noah through the line of his son Ham. Find the story of Nimrod in the Bible verses from Genesis 10.
The son’s of Ham were Cush, Mizaraim, Put, and Canaan.
Genesis 10:6Cush begot Nimrod; he began to eb a mighty one on the Earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” Genesis 10:8-9
So this history of Nimrod in the Bible starts out pretty simple. He was a mighty (strong and powerful), he was a hunter. Some scholars suggest that his might may have come from the “fact” that he was a giant. The description we have in the Bible doesn’t specify his height so if we’re going to ask, how tall was Nimrod in the Bible? We have to be ready to accept that most answers to this questions are speculation. He was mighty. We’ll leave it at that.
Nimrod was also a king and he conquered many territories.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Ninevah, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principle city).
Genesis 10:10-12
This is where things go sour.
Nimrod and the Story of the Tower of Babel
Nimrod and the Tower of Babel
So far we know this about Nimrod; he was a mighty man; a hunter, and a warrior who conquered a lot of land and built a large kingdom.
At that time and place in history the people of the world shared the same language and much of the same culture. Unfortunately for the people, Nimrod’s success and leadership created a culture that bent towards self-worship instead of God worship. His success lead to pride and pride polluted his heart. Which is how Nimrod, “…the mighty hunter before the Lord” (Genesis 10:9 – some translations say “…the might hunter by the grace of God) found himself championing a project that elevated mankind to the position of God.
“…Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:4
To the people the Tower of Babel symbolized power, success, self-sufficiency. In the eyes of God, the Tower of God was a sign of rebellion and idolatry.
Rebellion because it went against God’s mandate for mankind, “fill the Earth and subdue it…” (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 9:1, and Genesis 9:7).
Idolatry because people came to view themselves as gods and caved to their desire to earthly fame. As you can imagine, God wasn’t having it.
Why Did God Get Mad About the Tower of Babel?
The Bible doesn’t exactly describe God as angry about the Tower of Babel, but we can tell by His response He was not in agreement with it.
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.”
Genesis 11:5-6
This doesn’t sound to me like a God who is raging mad. He’s simply describing what He sees.
- The people are of one mind.
- They have no opposition.
- They have abandoned my ways and they’re aim is to build a kingdom that glorifies themselves.
What we hear next is how God is choosing to respond.
Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not be able to understand one another’s speech.
Genesis 11:7
Notice God didn’t destroy the people; instead He humbled them.
He divided their language and disrupted the unity that acted as a stumbling block for the nation. Secondly, he scattered them, bringing them back into alignment with his instruction he gave mankind in the beginning. He commanded us to multiply and fill the Earth.
So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the Earth.
Genesis 11:8-9
Why did Nimrod build the tower of Babel? The people wanted to build their own kingdom on the Earth.
Why did God stop the Tower of Babel? Earth was meant to house His kingdom; not mans.
What Happened to the Tower of Babel?
The Bible isn’t clear about what happened to the Tower of Babel after The Lord disrupted its building. Many assume that it was destroyed but all we know for sure according to the Bible is that the building of the tower was halted.
There are historical Jewish texts that site that the tower of Babel was 5,433 cubits and 2 palms tall. That’s more than a mile high.
Rumor has it that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon wanted to rebuild the tower but never got around to it. I don’t know for sure if that’s true but considering he had a statue of himself built and required people to worship it under penalty of death… it’s plausible.
Interestingly enough, the Tower of Babel isn’t the only thing that Nimrod is known for. His influence went well beyond the building of a tower. Let’s talk about that next.
Nimrod and Tammuz In the Bible | The Start of Pagan Worship
Of the many mistakes Nimrod in the Bible made, the tower of Babel was just one.
Nimrod and his wife (which awkwardly enough is also his mother) contributed significantly to the start of pagan worship. Which makes the connection between Nimrod and Abraham in the Bible that much more interesting! We’ll connect this dot in a moment. First let’s talk about some of these other believes about Nimrod and his morality.
Nimrod and Semiramis
Is it true that Nimrod in the Bible married his mother?
While the Bible doesn’t directly state that this is truth, both scholars and tradition are in agreement that yes, Semiramis was Nimrod’s wife and mother.
Legend has it (and this part IS legend – but I’m sharing it here as an example of how legends too can shape cultures and history) that after Nimrod died his wife conceived by another man. Instead of marrying him she sold people on the idea that when Nimrod died he became the sun. And that the child she bore was miraculously conceived through him; making both Nimrod and Tammuz deities.
This was the beginning of pagan polytheist worship (the worship of many gods) and many more legends to come.
With more gods came the requirements for various forms or worship and sacrifice. This is also where practices like astrology, sorcery, dark magic, child sacrifice, and the works came from. With no moral grounding (because morality comes from God) societies begin to break down and decay. The people become slaves to sin. That’s state society was in when God reveals Himself to Abraham in Genesis 12.
Abraham’s family had lived under Nimrod’s rule and Abraham had experienced this decay brought on by sin first hand. I believe that’s why he said yes when God asked him to leave His family. He had encounter with the real God of creation and God was inviting Him to experience true life and freedom.
God was breaking the chains of bondage that Nimrod and the people had created for themselves.
How Did Nimrod Die? The End of Nimrod In the Bible
One of the biggest questions that remains about the builder of the tower of Babel is how did Nimrod die? Who killed Nimrod in the Bible?
The answer is a point of contention. We honestly don’t know.
Some say that God killed Nimrod because of his blatant disobedience.
Some traditions say that Nimrod was murdered and his body scattered through out the land.
The Bible doesn’t say for sure and scholars aren’t in agreement.
How Nimrod died is currently a mystery.
Moral Lessons From the Tower of Babel Story
Nimrod and the Tower of Babel isn’t about Bible heros. It’s spiritually tragic, but the moral lessons from the Tower of Babel summary in the Bible are useful for us just the same.
Take a second to recall for yourself; what happened to Nimrod in the Bible? Was it pride that lead him astray? Was it complacency? Did he take God’s blessing and provision for granted? Did he cave to the peer pressure of those he was supposed to be leading?
What’s interesting to me is how different the choices Nimrod made are from the choices his (great) grand-father made. Noah was literally the remnant of humanity. While the rest of the world was devoured by the flood God saved Noah and his family.
Yet, even with this knowledge Nimrod rebelled against God.
Did you know the word Nimrod in Hebrew means “to rebel”. It’s also slang for idiot or jerk. If you’ve ever watched old TV shows and wondered why we call people Nimrod – now you know.
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