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Nimrod Center of Babylon and Asshur

Babylon was established by Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter and ruler on the Earth. He was the son of Cush, and his grandfather was Noah’s son Ham. Noah was Nimrod’s great grandfather. Hebrew sources claim that Nimrod was a hunter of souls where he gathered men onto the plains of Shinar. Ancient scribes have also endorsed the idea that Nimrod was the world’s first conqueror. He supposedly had vast armies at his disposal, and when he began to enslave men for his kingdom, he decided to have them build a tower to the heavens. The Bible states that the people of the world all spoke one language during the time of Nimrod. Many of these people began to gather into Shinar on their own even though Nimrod still continued to gather souls and slaves for the kingdom. He appears on the Bible Timeline during the 19th century BC.

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Reconstructed Babylon

Nimrod’s name means “rebel” or “to rebel” and Hebrew scholars states that he lived his life in total defiance to the Lord. This ancient ruler hated God, and he wanted a man to be greater than the true Lord of Heaven. He preached rebellion and unbelief toward God and he taught (or forced) the people to follow his example. Many of the false religious belief systems that dominated the spiritual lives of ancient men were started by Nimrod. His wife was supposed to have introduced these new gods to the evil ruler, and many of these gods continued to be followed by the ancients as they spread out from the land of Shinar.

Before the people left the land of Shinar, they began to build a tower that would reach into the heavens. This tower was going to be used to make men great on the Earth. The Bible says that the tower was a literal building because they used materials such as brick and tar (bitumen). As they began to build this tower God stopped their defiance by causing all of the people that were gathered in Shinar to speak a different language. Since people could no longer communicate with each other, they had no choice but to stop the project. They then gathered themselves to other people that spoke in their language and started to migrate to other parts of the Earth. They left Shinar and took the worship of false gods with them as they spread out.

After the tower project was stopped the remaining people called the area “Babel” because the people sounded like they were babbling after God confused their language. This incident is historically recorded in many cultures in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

According to Genesis, Asshur was the second son of SethShem, who was the son of Noah. The Bible says in Genesis that Nimrod went out of the land of Shinar and migrated north and formed the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboath, and Calah. Some Biblical scholars claim that Asshur also founded a city after his name and the people who lived in Asshur became known as the Assyrians. Nimrod probably established these cities because of his desire for conquest even though Asshur could have been a conqueror as well.

After Nimrod had established these two cities, they were the first places of organized false worship. Pagan deities were honored by the people who lived in around these areas. Babylon and Asshur (Assyria) would become places that God would call the symbols for evil. False religion, evil, sinful practices and the love of money would rise from these two cities. God constantly judges Babylon all throughout scripture, and he does the same thing to Assyria primarily through the city of Nineveh. God used the Babylonians and the Assyrians to judge his people when they didn’t obey him. These events took place about 4000 years ago in the Middle East.

Biblical References:

  •  Genesis 10 Outlines the first forming of the nations and the formation of the first empire of the world under Nimrod. Nimrod creates new cities, and one of them was Asshur, which becomes Assyria.
  • Gen 11 The people of the world are gathered in the land of Shinar under the rule of Nimrod, and they decide to build a tower into the heavens that would defy God. The Lord confuses their language, and the people spread out over the Earth. This is the beginning of Babylon.
  • The Book of Nahum This book is dedicated to the judgments of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire. The prophet declared that it would fall and never again rise to its former glory
  • Revelation 17 to 19:9 The final judgment of Babylon.