Lesser Known People of The Bible: Volume 1: Lesser Known People of The Bible, #1

Lesser Known People of The Bible

The Bible is full of all kinds of interesting people, but unfortunately we rarely learn their stories, even in Bible studies. Lesser Known People of the Bible introduces you to Biblical people that you may have heard of, but may not be familiar with, and others that you’ve heard tons about. This journey will take you through the pages of the Bible and reveal things you’ve probably never considered. Make sure you check every verse and very reference so that you know for sure that everything you’re learning is truth. With that said, please enjoy your journey.

Nimrod: The Grandson of Ham

Nimrod is arguably one of the most important people in the early parts of the Old Testament, but there is very little said about him in scripture overall. However, what is said changes the entire course of human history, mostly because of where he was from. Nimrod was the son of Cush, the grandson of Ham, and the great grandson of Noah.

Nimrod: The Son of Cush

BEING A SON OF CUSH, Nimrod himself would be classified as a Cushite. According to both scripture and history, Cushites were known for their black skin.

Kuwsh (Strong’s #3568): Probably of foreign origin; Cush (or Ethiopia), the name of a son of Ham, and of his territory; also of an Israelite — Chush, Cush, Ethiopia.

Cushites According To Josephus

For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Cush; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Cushites. – Josephus, Antiquities of The Jews

Cushites According To Google

THE ANCIENT AREA KNOWN as Cush, encompassed both modern day Sudan and Ethiopia. The following map shows the African territory that the Bible refers to as Cush.

IT WAS IN THIS AREA that Nimrod was born, and would eventually depart from to establish the following important Middle Eastern Biblical cities (Genesis 10:10):

Babel

Erech

Accad

Calneh

These places were located in Shinar, the area currently known as Iraq. As we can see on the following map, Shinar is very close to Africa. We should also note that before African territory was renamed to The Middle East in the mid 1800s, this area was accepted as part of Africa, and referred to as Arabia.

Was Nimrod Black?

FOR THOSE THAT BELIEVE the Bible is the inspired word of God, there is no question that major portions of the Middle East were established by dark skinned Africans. The same dark skinned Africans are related to Nimrod through his grandfather Ham, so there is no reason to believe that Nimrod was anything other than black. The following picture is of black Arabs that claim descent from Abraham’s grandson Kedar, which proves that not all Middle Eastern people are light brown:

THIS BRINGS US TO ANOTHER rarely made connection to Nimrod is Abraham. Abraham lived in Ur, which was located in Babylon, and fell under the rule of Nimrod. It is out of Nimrod’s kingdom that Abraham was chosen by God. According to Islamic belief, Abraham and Nimrod were adversaries. While I do not put spiritual stock in the Quran, it does contain several interesting stories concerning people in the Bible. Nimrod’s desire to kill Abraham is just one of those stories.

Nimrod The Mighty Hunter

ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE, Nimrod became a mighty hunter before the Lord, but there are scholars that point out that both tradition and the Hebrew word before indicates he hunted in defiance of the Lord.

King James Version

"And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD." – Genesis 10:8-9 (KJV)

International Standard Version

"Cush fathered Nimrod, who became the first fearless leader throughout the land. He became a fearless hunter in defiance of the Lord. That is why it is said, Like Nimrod, a fearless hunter in defiance of the Lord. – Genesis 10:8-9 (ISV)

AS WE CAN SEE IN THE translation of the second example, the idea that him being a powerful hunter isn’t always looked at in a positive light. The reason this is viewed as a possibility of being negative is due to the Hebrew word used:

Before (Strong’s #6440): panim or paneh – accept, anger, as long as, battle, because of, beseech, countenance

Since one of the possible translation of the words is anger, some believe that the type of hunting he may have been doing is what angered God. It is believed by some that Nimrod was a hunter of humans. While this may be tradition, the story is not found in scripture. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify if there is any truth to the claim that he hunted men for sport. This same verse also gives rise to the theory that Nimrod began changing into a nephilim.

Did Nimrod Become A Nephilim Giant?

THERE ARE SOME THAT believe that Nimrod may have somehow attempted to turn himself into or successfully turned himself into a nephilim, based on the phrase "began to be a mighty one". There are several reasons turning into a nephilim is not what happened, but before we get into that, I want to share this email I received.

"Minister Fortson, Thank you for the time and effort at informing the churched masses of these very controversial truths. I am curious about Nimrod, do you think that he somehow was attempting thru some sort of genetic mysticism to become a nephilim? I recently watched an excellent YouTube series on the high-tech society before the flood which seems to indicate that mankind had become very high-tech prior to the flood which would certainly back the Enochian book claims of the fallen angels trading, (I think technology), for worship and such. As I said I am curious and have no minister in my area who will even broach this subject...." – Sophie

In response to this email, mankind may have had a very high level of technology before the flood, but there is no evidence that Nimrod got his hands on that technology, with the purpose of turning himself into a hybrid. With that said, there is a concept in the works (probably already ready to go), that would turn adult humans into animal-human hybrids. In my opinion, it seems to indicate that the means to change people probably existed pre-flood, but again, the Bible doesn’t indicate that he was doing this.

Exhibit A – Nimrod Became A Mighty One

"And Cush begat Nimrod he began to be a mighty one in the earth" – Genesis 10:8

THE ENTIRE THEORY OF Nimrod turning into a nephilim is based on one verse, but more specifically, two Hebrew words in that verse. Began and mighty one. Mighty one is two words in English, but it is only one in Hebrew, gibbor. The plural of gibbor is gibborim, which we are going to define now.

Began: chalal (Strong’s #2490) – Began, begin, pierce

To Be: hayah (Strong’s #1961) – Became, come to pass, come

Mighty One: gibbor (Strong’s #1358) – Strong, mighty one, warrior, tyrant

The word does not mean giant. It is a direct reference to power, not height or stature. The reason it is even associated with giants is because it appears in a verse with giants, which brings us to Exhibit B.

Exhibit B – The Nephilim Became Mighty Ones

IN ORDER TO FULLY GRASP why attempting to reinterpret the word gibborim as meaning nephilim is incorrect, we are going to compare two verses.

The Nimrod Verse

"And Cush begat Nimrod he began to be a mighty one in the earth" – Genesis 10:8

The Nephilim Verse

"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." – Genesis 6:4

If we read both verses carefully, we see that both Nimrod and the giants had to become mighty. Attempting to make the argument that Nimrod became a hybrid, would then force us to make the argument that the giants became hybrids, which doesn’t work. The giants were hybrids by birth, and therefore had no need to become gibborim.

Exhibit C – Hebrews Were Called Mighty Ones

PERHAPS THE MOST DAMNING piece of evidence for this theory is that there are other Hebrews