It is not unusual to see hunters, especially Christians, use the name "Nimrod" to describe themselves or their businesses. They draw this, of course, from Genesis where Nimrod is described as a "mighty hunter." We know that words have power, and names especially so. In Bible times names denoted character and as a man's character changed often his name was changed. If one does a careful study on the name Nimrod one finds the possibility that this is probably not a name we want to be identified with. Some translations explain the meaning of his name as "a hunter of men's souls." Extra-biblical literature describes Nimrod as the builder of the Tower of Babel and the apocryphal Book of Jasher paints him as an evil king and the nemesis of Abraham. What I think we should consider is this: even if the name Nimrod is beneign, the suggestion of being a "mighty hunter" is certainly rampant with pride. I'm sure some Christians think by using this title they may open up a dialog with a non-Christian and have the chance to witness of their faith. May it be so, but at the same time, perhaps we need to be good Bereans here and dig deeper. Just some thoughts to consider to to those who use this name no judgment is intended.

Sunday,
Biblical references aside, most non-educated users of the name intend it as put-down anyway. They use it as you might use "dim-bulb." I have never heard anyone but a gunwriter refer to a hunter as a Nimrod without a derogatory implication. So, I have to agree with you, even if our reasons differ.

ID Shooter -- That's interesting, I was not aware of it being used in a derogatory manner. The context that I have seen it in has always suggested hubris. It is not uncommon on shooting forums to find fellows identifying themselves with a form of a nimrod moniker and I do know of a couple folks who have applied it to hunting-related businesses.

Sunday,
I was in my twenties before I heard it applied to a hunter, and made the connection with the Biblical reference. It's odd how different our experiences can be, depending on our location and social environment.

I have never heard the term used in other than a derogatory fashion.

Nimrod was described as a mighty hunter IN THE FACE OF GOD. "In the face of God", had the same connotation then as today It means "in God's face".

Nimrod was evil. He set himself up as a god and his wife a goddess. Together "Osiris" and "Semiramis" had a good thing going until old Nimrod got himself killed and cut into little pieces. Their "religion" lives on, today, in many forms and under many names.

BTW, the tower of Babel was built to escape any future floods that God might happen to send.

Bah! I asure you I am not evil in any way.

My dictionary defines "nimrod" as a hunter. It makes me highly frustrated that in this overly-PC world of ours we can't let someone call themselves whatever they want - no, we apparently just have to make a judgement on their name....and usually a negative one.

I don't care if someone calls themselves "Lucifer" if they want, it is a free country ( US at least ). I have a friend whose name is Jesus - should I shun him just because of what his folks chose to call him? Of course not, only a self-absorbed zelot might do that. To those who have nothing better to do than to pass judgement on someone else's screen name, I say "Get a life!" and lose your tedious self-importance. Geesh!

Bah! I asure you I am not evil in any way.

Anybody who likes the 7mm Mauser can't be all bad!!!!

.......and that goes double for Herr Coors.

Nimrod, good to hear from you. Again, as I said in my original thread, no judgment intended on anyone who chooses to use the term, I was simply wanting to open some dialog concerning the original name and its usage.
In this region of the country you never hear the term and it wasn't until we began hosting more out-of-state hunters that I began seeing the term used by guys who considered themselves "mighty hunters." I was not familiar with it being used in a derogatory manner as to make fun of wanna-bes.

The origination of the term is pre-Greek. In our modern terms the Webster definition is two-fold. When capitalized it means "A descendent of Ham, the King of Shinar." When not capitalized it means "a hunter." As some has suggested, there is also a modern connotation which suggests a dude or greenhorn in relation to hunting.

Sunday Creek,

No worrys, none taken. I saw the thread and just had to post lol. I know all to well what "Nimrod" means to people, I have used this handle for years, started way back on CBs lol anyone remember those heh? Anyways Nimrod is the greek word for hunter and thats good enough for me. Along the way I have enlightened many to its meaning.

http://www.nimrodsplace.com/ ;)

Nimrod, I visited your web page. You are obviously a person of creativity and courage. Also, I edited my above post to add the caveat that the term is pre-Greek. So, if one chooses to accept a Greek understanding then that is one thing; my original point of discussion was toward those interested in the origination of the term, not it's popular evolution.
Now, in the spirit of Christmas, may the Lord bless all hunters everywhere and may all hunters show respect and thanksgiving for the abundance He has provided.

I smell a dogwood tree.
The plain reading of scripture is in Nimrod's favour. The term, "before the Lord" (Gen 10 v9) is merely a strong superlative, good or bad depending on the context. So Gen 13 v13 is bad, because we're reading about Sodomites sinning, but Nimrod's actions are commended. The oral tradition dates back to early pastoralist days, when a hunter would have been on the one hand indispensable to protect the community against wild animals, but on the other, a source of jealousy for mere planters and gatherers. Nimrod's consolidation of power, and organising of people into work groups to build settlements, also made him vulnerable to what in Australia we call the "tall poppy syndrome".
Even the story of the settlement of Babel started out in Nimrod's favour - it means "God's gate", and the play on words comparing it with a root for "confusion" was later.
Josephus in the first century AD started the modern anti-Nimrod vogue. That was almost certainly a racist agenda, designed to convince the imperial Roman authorities of the moral superiority of Shem's descendents over Ham's. Josephus, who was educated enough to know better, compared apples with lemons when he took the hamite root from which Nimrod's "hunter" name came and used the similar-sounding semitic root to imply "rebel".
I'm sure that this doesn't make a blind bit of difference to you, Nimrod, but you can wear your adopted badge with pride so long as you keep in mind the "before the Lord" bit.
Richard - from the German "strong ruler" proving that names don't tell us anything :cool:

Wow, Richard I appreciate your in depth knowledge on the subject! You are obvoiusly a very well read man, I appreciate such an accomplishment. The best to you this Christmas day.

Yours,

Terry

Richard, interesting, but explain the dogwood tree reference.

The name Nimrod, incidently, means "We shall rebel" or "Come, let us rebel." Some believe it is a derivation of the name "Ninurta" who was a Mesopotamian god.
Some also believe that Nimrod was a member of the Nephilim, or race of giants that occured through the mating of fallen angels and human women.

What does Josephus say? He says: "Nimrod persuaded mankind not to ascribe their happiness to God but to think that his own excellency was the source of it. And he soon changed things into a tyranny, thinking there was no other way to wean men from the fear of God, than by making them rely on his own power."
The Targum of Jonathon says: "From the foundation of the world none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in rebellions against the Lord."
The Jerusalem Targum says: "He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord, for he was a hunter of the sons of men."
The Chaldee paraphrase of 1 Chronicles 1:10 says, "Cush begat Nimrod who began to prevail in wickedness, for he shed innocent blood, and rebelled against Jehovah."
The Companion Bible says: "We cannot fail to see, in Nimrod, Satan's first attempt to raise up a human universal ruler of men."

This thread may not ultimately decide who Nimrod was but hopefully it has given all of us new things to consider and taught us something we didn't know.

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.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Out of that land went forth Ashur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah: the same is a great city
(Genesis 10:8-12).
Genesis 10: 8-12 (King James Version)



The name Nimrod may come from the Hebrew verb 'nimrodh' which is translated, "Let us revolt." Nimrod is referred to as a 'mighty one': this phrase derives from the Hebrew word 'gilor' which means "tyrant". Nimrod was not just a powerful man on the earth at that time, he was a tyrannical leader of men. The phrase "a mighty hunter before the Lord" suggests that it was not wild beasts that Nimrod was hunting, but men. Having hunted them he would enslave them and have a tyranical hold over them. And all this was done in direct opposition to the Lord.

It has also been suggested that Nimrod tamed a leopard to accompany him on his hunts for animals, just as people today use dogs for this purpose. This could also be where Nimrod got his name: the Babylonian name for "leopard" was "nimr" and "rod" means "to subdue."


After the Great Flood, various city-states in Mesopotamia became the temporary seat of power until about 2800 BC, when they were united under the rule of one king, Etana of Kish, who may also be the origin of the Biblical Nimrod. Seven cities were conquered by this king, who established the world's first, post-deluge empire. After founding a southern (Sumerian) empire in Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, he invaded Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah and Resen. He then unified the people in numerous construction projects, the most prominent of which was the construction of the Tower of Babel.

In his ancient history Histori Romani Scriptorium Justin states,


"Ninus strengthened the greatness of his acquired dominion by continued possession. Having subdued, therefore, his neighbors, when, by an accession of forces, being still further streng-thened, he went forth against other tribes, and every new victory paved the way for another, he subdued all the peoples of the east."
Ninus is probably Nimrod - Genesis 10:11 indicates that Nimrod was the builder of Nineveh, and the word Nineveh (Nin-neveh) means "the habitation of Ninus."


After Nimrod

Following the death of Nimrod, his heathen form of worship was continued by his wife, Queen Semiramis. She claimed that her husband had become the Sun god, and was to be worshipped. Some time after this, Queen Semiramis conceived through adultery and gave birth to an illegitimate son whom she named Tammuz, who she declared was actually Nimrod reborn, and that he had been supernaturally conceived. However, even though Semiramis claimed to have given birth to a saviour, it was she that was worshipped, not the son. She was worshipped as the mother of the gods.

Many different ideas from the Babylonian religion have come down through the generations. Probably the key doctrine is that of the mother-son relationship. As the Babylonian people were scattered throughout the world, they took with them the idea that Semiramis had miraculously conceived and given birth to Nimrod reincarnated. Thus, all through the world, men began to worship a divine mother and god-child, long before the birth of Christ. The woman appears in different ways, and is called by different names, but she is always the same person: Isis in Egypt, Indrani in India, Cybelle in Asia, Fortuna (the boy) in Rome, Ceres in Greece, Shing Moo in China, Hertha in Germany, Sisa in Scandanavia. But the woman was really Semiramis, the queen of Babylon. Even Israel, when it fell into apostasy, worshipped Ashteroth, who was known to the Jews as the "queen of Heaven" as told in Jeremiah 44:17-19.

In his deified form, Ninrod the Sun god is known as Baal. Semiramis, as the female divinity, would be called Baalti. This word translated into English means "My Lady." In Latin it would be translated "Mea Domina". This name becomes the name "Madonna" which is the name by which Mary is often referred. The same reasoning can be applied to the name of "Mediatrix", which Mary is also called. Mary received that title from "Mylitta" (mediatrix) which was one of the names of the Mother Goddess of Babylon. "The Queen of Heaven" is another name for Mary that has been adopted from the pagan Babylonian religions.