C. Ninurta-Nimrod and the Tower of Babel Moment
Another intriguing
Biblical-Sumerian perspective on the events of the cosmic war is
provided by the Tower of Babel episode. As will be seen in a
moment, this episode also leads back to Egypt, and Osiris, in a
very peculiar fashion. Previous chapters have mentioned the close
association of the Anunnaki god Ninurta with the Biblical figure of
Nimrod. Any comparison of the Sumerian genealogy of Ninurta with
the Biblical genealogy of Nimrod in Genesis 10 will demonstrate
there is little if any parallel between the two. So why associate
the two?
Beyond the prosaic
level of the fact that Ninurta’s temple was centered at Nimrud in
modern day Iraq, there are other much more suggestive themes that
link the two. For example, one of Ninurta’s titles that Gardner’s
genealogical chart clearly highlights is his title of “The Mighty
Hunter,” a title associated in turn with Ninurta’s defeat of
(An)Zu. It is, in other words, a title deliberately and directly
associated with the cosmic war and the theft and recovery of the
Tablets of Destinies, with their universal-power bestowing
properties. As Assyriologist Stephanie Dalley notes, Ninurta is the
avenger and champion of Enlil and the leader of the Anunnaki in
that phase of the war that concerned itself with the second theft
of the Tablets.560 It is with this
tapestry of concepts and titles associated with Ninurta that one
finds the resemblance to the Biblical figure of
Nimrod.
Nimrod is mentioned
only very briefly in the Old Testament, in Genesis 8: 8-10. The
context here is significant, for Genesis 8 forms one part in the
total “Flood” context that begins with chapter 6 and ends with the
Tower of Babel moment in chapter 11. At this point, it is worth
quoting what Genesis 8:8-10 has to say about him:
8. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.561
Thus Nimrod shares
with Ninurta the distinctive title of “Mighty Hunter.” And in the
biblical version, it is clear that Nimrod is given this title
because he is a conqueror, indeed, the very first conqueror-despot
mentioned in the Bible. In this he closely parallels Ninurta, who
obtained his title of Mighty Hunter for similarly warlike
reasons.
It is also
interesting to note the context in which these verses occur within
chapter ten, for the entirety of the rest of the chapter is nothing
but a record of “the generations of the sons of Noah (v. 1).” In
other words, the usual succession of “begats” is interrupted
momentarily to provide a small commentary on the enigmatic figure
of Nimrod, and then the text resumes for twenty-one more verses of
“begats”, whereupon the chapter ends, and the eleventh chapter
begins. And this is significant, for the eleventh chapter of
Genesis begins immediately with the story of the Tower of Babel in
verses 1- 9. Now note what Gen 8:10 says about Nimrod’s kingdom: it
began in Babel. This strongly suggests that the biblical account
intends for the reader to associate Nimrod with the Tower of Babel
moment.
Now let us recall -
once again - what I said in my book The Giza
Death Star Destroyed about the Tower of Babel
moment.