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whom the race of Abraham sprang, and the descendants of Joktan (ver. 25). The
descendants of Shem are exclusively Asiatic nations, among whom we only notice
Asshur or Assyria, and Uz, as the land which gave birth to Job.
We have reserved Ham for the last place, because of the connection of his story with
the dispersion of all nations. His sons were Cush or Ethiopia, Mizraim or Egypt, Phut
or Libya, and Canaan, which, of course, we know. It will be noticed, that the seats of
all these nations were in Africa, except that of Canaan, whose intrusion into the land
of Palestine was put an end to by Israel. But yet another of Ham's descendants had
settled in Asia. Nimrod, the founder of the Babylonian empire, the conqueror of
Assyria, and the builder of Nineveh (ver. 11), was the son of Cush. Altogether this
"mighty one in the earth," who founded the first world-empire, reminds us of Cain
and of his descendant Lamech. Leaving out of view the possible meaning of his
name, which some have explained as being "we will rebel," boastful violence and
rebellion certainly constitute the characteristics of his history. Most strangely have
the Assyrian tablets of the royal successors of Nimrod been made to furnish an
explanation of his description as "a mighty hunter" - for this is the title given in them
to the great conquering warrior-monarchs, as "hunting the people." Thus we gather
the full meaning of the expression, "he began to be a mighty one in the earth." From
Babylon, which was "the beginning of his kingdom," Nimrod "went out into Assyria"
(ver. 11, marginal rendering), "and builded Nineveh" - the remarkable circumstance
here being that each time four cities are mentioned in connection with Nimrod: first,
the four cities of his Babylonian empire, of which Babel was the capital, and then the
four cities of his conquered Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital. Now
all this tallies in the most striking manner with what we read in ancient history, and
with those Assyrian monuments which within our own lifetime have by the labors of
Layard and Loftus been exhumed from their burial of many centuries, to give witness
for the Bible. For, first, we now know that the great Asiatic empire of Babylon was of
Cushite origin. Nay, even the name Nimrod occurs in the list of Egyptian kings.
Secondly, we are made aware that Babel was the original seat of the empire; and,
strangest of all, that the earliest Babylonian kings bore a title which is supposed to
mean "four races," in reference to "the quadruple groups of capitals"^25 of Babylonia
and Assyria. Lastly, we know that, as stated in the Bible, "the Babylonian empire
extended its sway northwards" to Assyria, where Nineveh was founded, which in turn
succeeded to the empire once held by Babel. In all these respects, therefore, the latest
historical investigations have most strikingly confirmed the narrative of Scripture.
Of the magnificence of Babel, the capital of the empire of Nimrod, "the mighty
hunter," it is difficult to convey an adequate conception, without entering into details
foreign to our purpose. But some idea of it may be formed from its extent, which
according to the lowest computation, covered no less than one hundred square miles,
or about five times the size of London; while the highest computation would make it
(^)