Nimrod, Babylon, and Satan’s kingdom

The nations that came from Noah’s sons developed after the flood [6]. We learn from observing what is said about nations in Genesis 10 that people separated into different lands according to language, families, and ethnic groups during this period after the flood [7]. During this time, Nimrod began to become a mighty one on the earth [2]. Other things were happening on earth during this time, such as the earth being divided during Peleg’s time or the nations’ dividing as it is also called [7] [8]. But the focus of this post is going to be all about Nimrod. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth [1]. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD” [2].

Babel, where the tower in Genesis 11 was being built, is the original name of what became Babylon. “Babylon has, from the earliest time, been considered the capital of Satan’s kingdom. Idolatry gained its start in Babylon through Nimrod and his mother, inspired by Satan. As long as Babylon remained a dominant world power, it made an excellent headquarters for Satan’s attack on the human race…Near the river Euphrates, Nimrod built the city of Babylon, where idolatry received its origin and surged through the world. It was to Babylon that the children of Israel were taken captive, and it will be in this area of the world that the final sin of man will culminate. According to Revelation 18, the city of Babylon will be rebuilt and become the headquarters of the commercial, religious, and military activities of the world under the Antichrist’s rule (Revelation 17–18)…Human beings have a built-in desire for God. Because of this, the devil, the master of deceit, has used idolatry to deceive us ever since the days of Nimrod…Ever since the days of Nimrod, human beings have tried to rule the world” [3].

“The founder of Bab-el or Babylon was Nimrod, of whose unholy achievements we read about in the 10th chapter of Genesis. He was the arch-apostate of the patriarchal age…he persuaded his associates and followers to join together in building ‘a city and a tower which would reach unto Heaven.’ Not…a tower by which they might climb into the skies…but a tower of renown…to be recognized as a temple or rallying center for those who do not walk in obedience to the word of the Lord…They called their city and tower Bab-el, God’s gate, but it was soon changed by divine judgment into Babel, Confusion. It bore the stamp of unreality from the first, for we are told ‘they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.’ An imitation of that which is real and true has ever since characterized Babylon in all ages. Nimrod, or Nimroud-bar-Cush…was a grandson of Ham, the unworthy son of Noah…Noah had brought through the flood, the revelation of the true God…On the other hand, Ham seems to be all too readily affected by the apostasy that brought the flood, for he shows no self-judgment evidence. Ham begat a son named Cush…and he became the father of Nimrod, the apostate leader of his generation…The wife of Nimrod-bar-Cush was the infamous Semiramis the First. She is reputed to have been the foundress of the Babylonian mysteries and the first high-priestess of idolatry. Thus, Babylon became the fountainhead of idolatry and the mother of every heathen and pagan system in the world. The mystery-religion that originated spread in various forms throughout the whole earth … and is with us today … and shall have its fullest development when the Holy Spirit has departed, and the Babylon of the apocalypse holds sway. Building on the primeval promise of the woman’s seed who was to come, Semiramis bore as one whom she declared was miraculously conceived. And when she presented him to the people, he was hailed as the promised deliverer. This was Tammuz, whose worship Ezekiel protested against in the days of the captivity. Thus was older than any other known to man. The rites of this worship were secret. Only the initiated were permitted to know its mysteries. It was Satan’s effort to delude mankind with an imitation so like the truth of God that they would not know the true seed of the woman [Jesus Christ] when he came in the fullness of time” [4].

“Babel or Babylon was built by Nimrod (Genesis 10:8–10). It was the seat of the first great apostasy. Here the ‘Babylonian cult’ was invented, a system claiming to possess the highest wisdom and reveal the most divine secrets. Before a member could be initiated, he had to ‘confess’ to the priest. The priest then had him in his power. This is the secret of the power of the priests of the Roman Catholic Church today. Once admitted into this order, men were no longer Babylonians, Assyrians, or Egyptians, but members of a mystical brotherhood over whom was placed a pontiff or “high priest,” whose word was law. The city of Babylon continued to be Satan’s seat until the fall of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires when he shifted his capital to Pergamum in Asia Minor, where it was in John’s day (Revelation 2:12–13). When Attalus, the Pontiff, and King of Pergamum, died in B.C. 133, he bequeathed the headship of the ‘Babylonian priesthood’ to Rome. When the Etruscans came to Italy from Lydia (the Pergamum region), they brought the Babylonian religion and rites. They set up a pontiff who was head of the priesthood. Later the Romans accepted this Pontiff as their civil ruler. Julius Caesar was made Pontiff of the Etruscan Order in B.C. 74. In B.C. 63, he was made ‘Supreme Pontiff’ of the “Babylonian Order,” thus becoming heir to Attalus’s rights and titles. The Pontiff of Pergamum had made Rome his heir by will. Thus the first Roman Emperor became the head of the “Babylonian Priesthood,” and Rome the successor of Babylon. The Emperors of Rome continued to exercise the office of “Supreme Pontiff” until A.D. 366, through Mt. Carmel’s monks’ influence, a college of Babylonian religion originally founded by the priests of Jezebel. So in A.D. 378, the Head of the “Babylonian Order” became the Ruler of the “Roman Church.” Thus Satan united Rome and Babylon in one religious system. Soon after Damascus was made “Supreme Pontiff,” the “rites” of Babylon began to come to the front. The worship of the Virgin Mary was set up in A.D. 381. All the outstanding festivals of the Roman Catholic Church are of Babylonian origin. Easter is not a Christian name. It means ‘Ishtar,’ one of the titles of the Babylonian Queen of Heaven. Her worship by the children of Israel was such an abomination in the sight of God. The decree for the observance of Easter and Lent was given in A.D. 519. The “Rosary” is of pagan origin. There is no warrant in the word of God for the use of the ‘sign of the cross.’ It had its origin in the mystic “Tau” of the Chaldeans and Egyptians. The letter “T,” the initial name of “Tammuz,” was used in the ‘Babylonian mysteries’ for the same magic purposes as the Romish Church now employs it. Celibacy, the tonsure, and monks and nuns’ order have no warrant or authority from scripture. The nuns are nothing more than an imitation of the ‘vestal virgins’ of pagan Rome [5].

There is so much that we can learn from the scriptures. Even if you have spent your life reading them, you should never stop studying. There is much that can be learned about the time in which these events happened and were recorded. Our knowledge of these things can significantly enrich your time of reading and study if you let them. They will also enhance your relationship with God. I hope this post and all of my Bible study content helps in that endeavor. God bless you all.

SOURCES

1. 1 Chronicles 1:10
2. Genesis 10:8–9
3. Revelation Unveiled by Tim LaHaye
4. Lectures on the Book of Revelation by Dr. Harry Ironside
5. Dispensational Truth by Dr. Clarence Larkin
6. Genesis 10:1
7. Genesis 10:5, 20, 31–32
8. Genesis 10:25