Wednesday 5 August 2015

Letter to Nimrod (Gen 10 & 11)


Dear Nimrod,

You only have a minor mention in Genesis 10 yet you are a name familiar to us today – there is a plane named after you.

The bible states that you were a mighty warrior and that seems to mean you were the first to intentionally invade and take land by force and build a kingdom (Gen 10: 9 &10).

You are portrayed in a positive way but I struggle with what you did. Yes, you seem to have built a great civilisation and kingdom but the way in which you did it I struggle with. Today we still see people invading other nations or other pieces of land and we see the negative impact that has on those who become dispossessed as well as those injured and killed as a result. I know I am looking at it via 21st century eyes but I wonder how many lives may have been saved if you had not built your empire.

That said I know that you did help birth a great civilisation. What I find interesting is the way that empire developed from your initial kingdom. Moving on to Gen 11 we can see that there was co-operation between people to achieve great things using the same language and it gets to the stage where God feels he has to do something.

One of the reasons I find this so interesting is that I live in another time of great progress and in another great civilisation. Through computers and multi-national companies we seem to be going back to speaking one language again, just a different form of language. I wonder if we are getting to a stage where God will feel the need to stop the speed of our progress again just like he did with the civilisation you founded. In Gen 11: 5 & 6 God makes the point that they are getting to the point where nothing they propose will be impossible. Are we getting to the same position?

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