Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear Eva,

There is nothing in the short segment that we have on Nimrod in Gen. 10 that
indicates that he was in any way rebelious against God. He was "a mighty
hunter before YHWH", and the first great king to rule after the flood. In an
article that I published some years ago ("Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish,
King of Sumer and Akkad", Vetus Testementum 52 (2002), 350-366), I suggested
that the Nimrod of Genesis was a compound literary recollection of the deeds
of the great Sargon of Akkad and of his grandson Naram-Sin, with the name
"Nimrod" being a shortened form of the latter. It was later post-tradition
that understood it to mean "Let us rebel" and turned him into an evil king.


Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <thebodyofjesusthenazoraion AT juno.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] b-hebrew Digest, Nimrod?


> First, what does the name Nimrod mean? It 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.
> go to
> http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/nimrod.html
> My question is, is this true?
> Eva Ritsema