After a long stretch of Torah study and commentary or sermon-writing, there’s no better way to re-energize oneself than with a lot of healthy cooking. Fortunately, my wife’s a wonderful cook. Here’s part 3 of my three-part commentary on Noach.

But the story doesn’t end there and we must see where this leads us:

Genesis 11:4
Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”

Now, this does represent a threat to Adonai. We continue in:

Genesis 11:6-9
ADONAI said, “Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they’re starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language, so that they won’t understand each other’s speech.” 8 So from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 For this reason it is called Bavel (confusion)–because there ADONAI confused the language of the whole earth, and from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth.

Fortunately, I discovered this passage in Ginzburg, which more deeply explained why this ambition of the residents of Babel was so disturbing to Adonai:

Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews
The iniquity and godlessness of Nimrod reached their climax in the building of the Tower of Babel. His counselors had proposed the plan of erecting such a tower, Nimrod had agreed to it, and it was executed in Shinar by a mob of six hundred thousand men. The enterprise was neither more nor less than rebellion against God, and there were three sorts of rebels among the builders. The first party spoke, Let us ascend into the heavens and wage warfare with Him; the second party spoke, Let us ascend into the heavens, set up our idols, and pay worship unto them there; and the third party spoke, Let us ascend into the heavens, and ruin them with our bows and spears.

So, are there any remains of Babel? Here’s what Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible says on the matter:

Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible
Of the tower of Babel no certainly ascertained remains have as yet been discovered. It has commonly been identified with the ruins called Birs Nimrud, about six miles to the south-west of the site of ancient Babylon. Birs Nimrud is “a pyramidical mound, crowned apparently by the ruins of a tower, rising to the height of one hundred and fifty-five and a half feet above the level of the plain, and in circumference somewhat more than two thousand feet.”

So, hopefully now, Nimrod is not such a mystery to you, just as it has become clearer for me. He was not some simple hunter, but a ruler who was the first to make war, perhaps one of the first to be controlled by the spirit of the false Messiah, and a cautionary example of what can happen when we seek to exalt ourselves above Adonai our God, which I believe in our society today is the most prevalent form of idolatry. Let’s pray.

Adonai, we pray that you would strengthen us and protect us from the spirit of the false Messiah, and from the temptation to follow in the path of Nimrod, putting ourselves and our needs before Adonai and his will. Conform our wills to your perfect will through Yeshua the Messiah. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: healthy cooking, Noach, Torah commentary