The Tower of Babel - the Beginning of this System.


The story of Babylon is monumental and of great historical significance,
but it, considering the circumstances of the world today, has been demoted
to probably one of the most obscure and insignificant events in our history.
This very important story is rarely mentioned in modern history texts,
almost intentionally forgotten.

When we hear the name Nimrod we tend to think of a clumsy person of
little intelligence. In actuality, the Nimrod of old was a mighty leader, the
founder of the first great empire of post-flood civilization - the kingdom of
Babylon.

The flood of Noah devastated the world Noah once lived in. After the
waters receded, and Noah and his family left the Ark, God commanded the
survivors to "spread out, and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:7). Unfortunately,
the people of the day chose not to obey God. Nearly two hundred years
beyond the flood, the descendants of Noah began to multiply, in great
numbers. Noah's close relatives became the patriarchs of a number of
families who had coalesced into nations. This would set the stage for the
Babylonian Empire and Babylonian Religion.

Noah's grandson Cush was one of these early patriarchs, one who became
the leader of many. He did not to follow God's commandment to "fill the
earth", but did quite the opposite - he brought the people together. He
began to unite everyone into one nation, thus beginning the unification
movement centered at the Tower of Babel.

The Bible gives up little information about Cush, Nimrod, and the Tower
itself. We read in Genesis 10:8 that Cush was the father of Nimrod -
period. Even though the Bible does not give us much more, we learn from
other ancient texts that Cush and Nimrod both became legendary
throughout the secular / Gentile world.

The Bible does, however, tell us about the beginning of the apostasy at the
Tower of Babel - a major rebellion against God and His commandments:


"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech... they
found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.... And they
said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto
heaven; and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the  
face of the whole earth..."        

Genesis 11:1-4 (KJV)












As we'll discover in Giants of Scripture, the people of the post-flood era
began to pursue what their ancestors desired before the flood - any way to
"make a name for themselves"! After the flood, once again, they
intentionally disobeyed the ways God wanted them to live. Why? Why
would they become so rebellious so quickly? One reason was that many
people still recalled the stories of how their ancestors rebelled against God
before the flood, and thought highly of their efforts. Many of these people
cared more about their ancestors than they did about God. They also
seemed to be concerned more for their own lively hood.

The leaders of this movement wanted to make sure that if God would ever
become angry at them, He would never be able to sweep them away by a
flood again! This was a major reason for construction of this tower - pure
rebellion. According to a variety of ancient texts, the people of Babel,
under Cush's authority, were trying to build a structure so high they would
not have to worry about any judgment God had in store for them.

They wanted to be able to climb up to heaven, march up to God, and
destroy Him with their own swords. Their power, at least in their own
minds, was in their own unity. Their desire was so strong that nothing, at
least in their minds, was going to stop their resolve for "freedom". It's so
hard to understand why these people would deviate from God's righteous
ways so quickly, but the more we understand how they lived the more it
may begin to make sense.

As always, God had a perfect plan to thwart their rebellious ways:


"And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one,
and they all have one language; and this they began to do: and now
nothing will be restrained from them, which they had imagined to do. Go
to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they might not
understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad
from thence upon the face of the whole earth: and they left off to build the
city. Therefore the name of it was called Babel; because the LORD did
there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the
LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."

Genesis 11:5-9 (KJV)


This is as far as the Bible goes into it, but what happened around this time
would set the stage for the establishment of one of the most influential
establishments of power and control in history.

After God confused the languages of these people, nobody could
understand anyone else around them. The construction came to a grinding
halt. Cush, their former leader, was forced to give up his tower-building
project. He hung his head in disgrace. The groups of families / nations
once united in this project now began to scatter abroad, according to their
own languages - just as God had intended. Even though they had
separated, the people still wanted to retain their rebellious ways.

As some of these established states form into empires, the people
continued the influences and knowledge they acquired from Cush and
Nimrod into their own ways of life!

Although most people gave up on the Tower of Babel project, some
continued with another endeavor: the completion of a city at the site. No
longer did they concentrate on the Tower of Babel. The city "they left off
to build" (in Genesis 5:8) had a new name: Babylon.

The word Babylon simply means confusion: the confusion that resulted
from God changing the languages of the people who once lived there. Even
though Cush was disgraced, he was eventually looked upon with high
esteem, by his descendants, because of his once-powerful position.

Cush's son Nimrod, however, took over the reigns after his father's
downfall. Nimrod continued with the construction of Babylon, and would
soon bring back the dignity and respect he thought his father was due. He
also took the rebellion of Cush one step further. The Bible only mentions
him in a couple of verses:


"And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He
was a mighty hunter before the LORD... And the beginning of his
kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of
Shinar."                      

Genesis 10:8-10 (KJV) (also, Micah 5:1)


Nimrod was the first "Mighty One" of the post-flood world. Also known as
The Subduer of Leopards, he earned his fame through the conquering of
large, wild animals. He was very strong: a giant in name and stature.
Eventually, after conquering all the dangerous animals in the area, he
turned his sights to the people around him.

He eventually began the first empire of the post-flood world - the Assyrian
/ Babylonian Empire. Nimrod brought the original grandeur of the
tower-building project to his own empire. Ultimately, he brought it into a
religion of this same foundation. From this, his control and manipulation
of the people were about to take hold - on a grand scale.

Cush and Nimrod were known for their "channeling" - communicating with
those of the spirit world. These were actuality the dead spirits of their
antediluvian ancestors. From them, the two acquired a great deal of occult
knowledge, allowing them the ability to accomplish great feats of
construction, such as the building of the Tower. Just as their ancestors did
before the flood, Nimrod and Cush "made a name for themselves" after. In
fact, their descendants admired them so much they began to revere them
as "gods".

The names Cush and Nimrod became incorporated into the cultures and
mythologies of many empires since the Tower. For example, Cush also
became known as the gods Thoth, Hermes, and Mercury; Nimrod as
Jupiter, Osiris, and Mars. The Bible even references them as the gods
Baal and Merodach (Judges 6:25-8, Jeremiah 50:2). In consequence, the
thought of there being one God - one and only one - was about to be
challenged.

Again, God had a plan to upstart their apostate beliefs.

We'll discover more about what happened in Origins of Babylon - Part 2.


Copyright 2010, Brett T., All Rights Reserved
"And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel..."
                           Genesis 10:10
Origins of
Babylon - Part 1