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Nimrod is there briefly characterized thus: “He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty huiter before the Lord.” This narrative is so brief that it is rather obscure. For the Hebrew word relieved “mighty” the Sept. gives γίγας, as if in allusion this, physical stature in connection with his power, or too Gen_6:4, as if the old antediluvian Titans had been reproduced
in Nimrod. It is hard to determine in what sense the
If the name Nimrod be a Shemitic one, then it plainly means “let us rebel or revolt;”:.
— the connection and its results are apparent in the context. The prowess in hunting must have co-existed with valor in battle. What Nimrod did in the chase as a hunter was the earlier token of what he achieved as a conqueror. For hunting and heroism were of old specially and naturally associated, as in Perseus, Ulysses, Achilles, and the Persian sovereigns, one of whom, Darius, inscribed his exploits in hunting on his epitaph (Strabo, xv). The Assyrian monuments also
picture many feats in hunting, and the word is often employed to denote campaigning. Thus Tiglath-pileser I “hunts the people of Bilu-Nipru,” and one of his ancestors does the same thing. Both are represented as holding” the mace of power,” a weapon used in hunting, and at the same time the symbol of royalty. Sargon speaks of three hundred and fifty kings who ruled over Assyria, and “hunted” the people of Bilu-Nipru.