The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

Comparing Jeremiah 5l: 6-8 with ReveletionlT:4, 6; 14: 8, wo moth that almost th. earn.mresaions an usd In Jared& h n tBabylon is said to have been, a goldan ap inthe Lord's hand, by which all aatioar wornmade drunken-drunken with the wine d faleareligion. In Revelation "Babylon the Gnat"is called the 'Wothar of Harlok", the pardrystem, which made all nations drink gf hergolden cup of abominations, tho wino of fdmdootrine. As typical Babylon fell, ao shallrdtitypical "Babylon the Great" fall, never torim.That Babylon mas the first nation after &aflood is shown by Genesis IQ: 8-12. Thie referenoealso furnishes a clue to the origin of theworship of false gods; and by comparing withcertain statements in mythologiaal hietories weget a further clue to the identity of these deities.We read: "And Cush begat Ximrod: he beganto be a mighty one in the earth. He was amighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore itis said, 'Even as Nimrod the mighty hunterbefore the Lord'. And the beginning of his kingdmwas Babylon, and Erech, and Accad, andCalneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that landhe went forth into Assyria and builded Ninereh,"etc. (See marginal reading)Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and his ZnflwaeWhy should the Bible make special mentionof Nimrod? Because he n-as the first to beqpmemighty; and even to this day the countries ofBabylonia and Assyria are filled with the nameof Nimrod. When Moses mote Genesis, althoughSimrod had long since passed away,his name had become a proverb, so that it wasa popular saying : "Even as Nimrod the mightyhunter before the Lord". His might lap in thefact. of his being a hunter; for we must refleoton 'the conditions which would obtain in theearth in his day. Only four human pairs werepreser~ececl from the waters of the deluge; hutmany kinds of animals came forth from theark; and as these aninlals multiplied one csnsee how the terror of the more ferocious amongthem wo~{lcl lay hold upon all men. He, therefore,who broi~ght destruction to the tiger, theleopard, tlie lion, the python, was regarded asiihe great be'nefacctor, the man above all othersto be honored by his fellows and commemoratedby posterity.Ihr Q o h Age for May 11, 1921.r.-" .........-....---..-- . i ---...-...".'... .- v1=Tha uaiversal popdarity of an iqdividudmu& b a force for good or for evil to thooommd*. Although the Scriptures do notallude to the nature of the iduenaby Nimrod, we may safely infer fromthe ohsraoter of his parentage, and from otherdn,orrmtanoos, that it wag evil. That his grandfahr,Ham, had r depraved disposition isgroved in Genesir 9: 18-26 ; while in the sameoonneotbn Shem wan ghn a apecia1 blessingh u m of hir purity. (Verae 36) Thaa wegather ,&at veq shortly after ih deluge thehmnm ram wer divided into two oampr: onefor tha Lord and righteoasnemo, amailg whomShem took the 1eadln.g part; the other for unrighteonmess,with Ham aa the prinoipal aportab.Of the lattblr branoh of the rsm,Nimrodwaa descended.It is improbable, therefore, that the declarstian that Nimrod was a "mighty hunter beforeLord" signiflee that he in any way soughtthur to honor the Lord. In suoh a oonnectionthe phrase "before the Lord" rather implies abalittling of the Lord's power to protect Hisown Perceiving the menaced oondition of theraoo, Nimrod, trusting to his own prowess,came forward aa tho bold savior of the world,and becoming a mighty one in the earth attractedmen's attention away from the Lord. Thenatural result of the admiration of a man ofNimrod's character mnst necessarily have beento destroy reverence for God, and thus lead tothe adoration and worship of the oreatnre insteadof the Creator. That the world did fallinto infidelity shortly after the flood is provedfrom the Arst part of the eleventh chapter ofGenesis. The great Jewish historian Josephwsays in coltfirmation: "The multitude were veqready to follow the determination of Nimrod,and to esteem it a piece of cowardias to submitto God".-Antiquities 1 : 4 :2.We cannot suppose, however, that the saintlyfew mould permit this evil without exertingsome effort to stay the downward courae; forthe Lord's people in all ages from the time ofrighteous Abel have protested against sin. Ifthe tradition of the Jews be true that Shemwas Melchizedek (and the claim seems reaeonableand quite in acoord with SOzlpture analogy),then, MI "priest of the most high God"he mnst have been a very IEercules in theLord's cause, and a oo~lstant check to the evilly'ddisposed. .----.