And the sons of Ham Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
Genesis 10 traces how the nations spread after the flood. Verse 6 opens Ham's line with four names, and each name belongs to a man whose descendants shaped Israel's story.
The father's own name carries meaning, one commentator says, just as his brother Japheth's does.
The Holy Spirit now brings before us the descendants of Ham. The name of Japheth ("may he spread") seems to carry prophetic meaning, and Genesis 5:29 claims such meaning outright for Noah's own name. So there appears to be meaning in the name of his younger son too. It means "warm" or hot, and so "dark" or black.
Modern versions read "Egypt" and "Put" where older ones keep the Hebrew forms Mizraim and Phut. Some argue Mizraim was never a man, because its Hebrew ending marks a pair.
The form of the word in Hebrew is the dual, which some would refer to upper and lower Egypt. However that may be, the context decides that both Cush and Mizraim mean men, and sons of Ham. Ephraim, born in Egypt, also has the dual form, but is no less surely the name of a man.
Cush is named first, and his family split. One writer follows both branches into prophecy, where they stand with Gog, an enemy of Israel in the last days.
The children of Ham are pointed out in Genesis 10:6. Of these, Canaan has been destroyed, and his country turned over to Israel. Cush (Ethiopia) and Phut are also found under Gog — those of Cush only in part. The reason is this: one part of the family of Cush settled on the Euphrates, the other on the Nile, that is, north and south of Israel.
Of the four, Phut leaves the faintest trace. One commentator reads that silence itself as evidence.
Phut or Put is an example of the more degraded stock of Ham's descendants in Africa. They lived next to Egypt and Ethiopia, and Scripture names them with one or the other at times… The very obscurity that covers this African branch of Ham's sons serves to show how low they had fallen.
Canaan comes last and carries the heaviest history. A curse already lay on him, and his descendants held the land God had promised to Israel.
But Canaan, named last, has the most unenviable place of all. He was the early object of curse, and the fiercest enemy of Israel in the land assigned to them by promise. The Canaanites were a highly civilised race, yet steeped in shameless idolatry and every moral corruption. So, according to God's righteousness on earth, they were given up to destruction — both because they deserved it, and as a safeguard, so that Israel would not be drawn into the same sins. And that is what happened: Israel failed to carry out His sentence, and were drawn in, to their own sin, shame, and cost.
Why did the curse fall on this son and not on Ham, who did the wrong? One answer looks at what God had already given Ham, and at how things worked out among Ham's other sons.
It may seem strange that Noah did not curse Ham himself, since it was Ham who had not respected his father. But no doubt it was God who led him. In His government, God moved Noah to give out the prophecy about his three sons in the new world, and so to visit Ham's conduct on his son. God had already blessed Ham along with Noah and had made a covenant with him — how then could He lead Noah to curse him? Besides, we do not find that all Ham's sons became the servants of Shem; the curse fell on Canaan only. It was Nimrod, Ham's descendant, who founded the great kingdoms of the East, and we do not read of them paying tribute to Israel as Canaan did.
Two things stand side by side in this line, and both come from one root.
The obvious fact that strikes one here is this: after the flood, this branch of mankind stood out for the earliest and strongest civilisation. And not in one isolated case, but in Asia and in Africa alike. Scripture confirms the truth, and even its critics, hostile as ever, cannot dispute it. But alongside material progress another feature stands out just as much: the degradation of the race, their fall into savage ways and habits… However opposite, both are effects of departure from God.
- Persons. Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan were real men before they were nations. The paired form of Mizraim no more makes it a place than it does with Ephraim — and Ephraim was a man born in Egypt.
- Progress. From these four came the earliest and strongest civilisation after the flood, in Asia and in Africa alike. Even hostile critics cannot deny it.
- Degradation. The same line sank into savagery; Phut's very obscurity in the record shows how far that fall went. Both the brilliance and the ruin come from one cause: departure from God.
- Curse. Noah's curse fell on Canaan, not on Ham. God had already blessed Ham, and Ham's other sons never served Shem.
- Prophecy. These names outlive Genesis. Canaan's land passed to Israel. Cush divided, settling on the Euphrates and on the Nile — north and south of Israel. Both branches reappear in the prophets' scenes of the last days.
And the sons of Cush Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah Sheba and Dedan.
Genesis 10:7 lists seven names: five sons of Cush, and two grandsons through Raamah. The chapter then moves on without a word of explanation, yet several of these names became peoples with a homeland, a trade, and a place in later prophecy.
These names sit in a chapter with no rival. It alone traces where the nations came from.
I will not go into details. But I will say this: no chapter in the Bible is more important than Genesis 10 for how God arranged languages, families, and nations. This chapter alone gives the rise of the different races, and where they came from. Who else could have told us how and when the earth was divided like this? The details are of the greatest interest, especially when compared with what is predicted for the last days. There we see the same countries and nations appear again for judgment in the day of the Lord.
The name Cush is tied to Ethiopia. But his sons settled far beyond Africa.
So the Jews did not go wrong here. They gave Cush not only Ethiopia and the nearby parts of Africa, but also the opposite coast of Arabia and the southern shore of Asia as far as India. But Arabia also received a large population from Shem, which gave their language its character. That came early from Joktan, Eber's son, and later from Ishmael's twelve sons and from Jokshan, Abraham's son.
Raamah's two sons are named in this verse. A dictionary entry sums up where their descendants settled and who they traded with.
Fourth son of Cush, a son of Ham. He was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Their descendants probably settled along the shores of the Persian Gulf. Merchants of Raamah traded with Tyre, and they were no doubt connected with these descendants.
The names Sheba and Dedan turn up in the line of Shem as well. Scripture itself keeps the two families apart by the goods each people traded in.
In Ezekiel 27 Sheba occurs twice. First with Raamah in verse 22, which fixes him as the Cushite in the same part of Arabia. Second with Asshur and others in verse 23, which points to the line of Shem. The different merchandise of each confirms it. In the same way, the men of Dedan in Ezekiel 27:15 look like Cushites on the Persian Gulf. The island of Dadan keeps the name alive there, and their imports and exports match. But verse 20 sets apart a different Dedan, who seem to come from Shem through Keturah.
Some of these names lead nowhere. Scripture gives one of these sons nothing but his name.
Sabtecha is the last named of Cush's sons. Scripture makes no mention of him beyond the genealogical list here and in 1 Chronicles 1. So we cannot say anything for certain. The most anyone can add is Bochart's guess that his people made their way to Carmania, on the Persian shore of the Gulf.
Two names from this verse reappear in Ezekiel's picture of the last invasion of Israel. The traders are still trading, still counting their profit.
Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, "Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?" They may be eager to deal with the plunderer and profit by buying the loot they expect. But they too will soon say: truly there is a reward for the righteous; truly He is a God who judges on the earth.
The line does not end in judgment. Sheba appears once more, with Seba, another son of Cush, among the kings who bow to Christ when He reigns. Older translations read this psalm as a promise: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
So Christ as the King wins worldwide dominion by displaying His power in righteous judgment. For "may the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!" (Psalm 72:10-11)
- Source. Genesis 10 alone tells us where the races and languages of the world came from. No other account gives their origin.
- Spread. Cush's sons did not stay in one corner. Their settlements ran from Ethiopia across Arabia to the southern coast of Asia.
- Trade. Raamah's sons Sheba and Dedan became merchant peoples on the Persian Gulf, and merchants of Raamah traded with Tyre.
- Care. Sheba and Dedan occur in the line of Shem too, so read each name in its context. Where Scripture is silent, as with Sabtecha, we should not guess.
- End. Sheba and Dedan appear at the last invasion of Israel, weighing their profit. Sheba and Seba appear among the kings who at last bring gifts to Christ.
And Cush begot Nimrod he began to be mighty on the earth.
Genesis 10 lists the families of Noah's sons, then stops at one man. Nimrod is the first man the Bible calls mighty after the flood, and this verse raises the question of where that greatness came from.
One writer sets Nimrod beside earlier men whose greatness came to them as a gift. The writers quote an older translation, which reads "began to be a mighty one in the earth":
There is nothing mythical in the little that Scripture says. Nimrod "began to be a mighty one in the earth." It had not been so with Abel or Seth, with Enoch or Noah. What they enjoyed was God's gift. They looked for Him who is coming. Nimrod sought great things for himself, like Cain. Cain was the first builder of a city in the earliest days; Nimrod was the first after the flood, and on a large and repeated scale. Present power was his aim; and God allowed it apparent success.
The next verse calls him a mighty hunter, and commentators differ on what that means. One takes it literally, as real skill with animals:
We are further told that "he was a mighty hunter before the LORD." There seems no good reason to doubt that this is meant literally. It made a great impression on his contemporaries, so that his skill as a hunter became proverbial. "Therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.'" Clearly it gave him trained skill and strength. In time that skill passed into another field of far deeper interest and seriousness.
Another writer finds more in the word, and a clue in his name:
There is more implied in this than merely his being a literal hunter of animals. His name means "we will rebel," not only "I will rebel." He was a leader in hunting the souls of men, to make them rebels.
The phrase does not mean God approved. A reference work explains how he gained his power:
He was "mighty upon the earth," and "a mighty hunter," using force and craft to bring man as well as beasts under his sway. The words "before the Lord" probably mean imperial energy and authority seized in independence of Jehovah. Nimrod and his descendants founded both Babylon and Nineveh.
One writer sets Nimrod against the shepherds among God's people:
He was under the curse, but that meant nothing to him. He did not fear Jehovah at all, and he was willing and able to show he was strong before Him. There is a clear difference between the hunter and people of God like David and Amos, who were shepherds caring for the sheep. The hunter tries to kill the animals he is hunting. This remains Nimrod's character down the ages.
That character shaped the first kingdom. Until Nimrod, fathers led their families:
Nimrod was the first to set aside the rule of the fathers over their families. That order had held until then, and it continued elsewhere for ages afterward. His ambition could not stop at hunting animals, and it led him from wild beasts to mankind. "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel."
Babylon begins here, and the Bible follows that name to its end:
Here, then, we have the character of the founder of Babylon. Babylon's character all through the book of God matches its founder remarkably. It always appears as a mighty influence in the earth, acting in direct opposition to everything that owes its origin to heaven. Only when this Babylon has been completely abolished does the cry go up among the hosts above: "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." Then all Babylon's mighty hunting will be over for ever, whether its hunting of wild beasts, to subdue them, or its hunting of souls, to destroy them.
Another writer contrasts Nimrod's fame with the greatness of the man God called:
The aim of the builders of Babel was to make themselves a name. To some extent they succeeded, for Nimrod "began to be a mighty one in the earth." The call of God carried Abraham into a path far removed from the power and fame of these famous men. … How great is the honour that God Himself should speak of him as "Abraham, my friend." Here is true greatness, greatness that lasts, while Nimrod's tower and city are only a heap of shapeless ruins on the plains of Mesopotamia and his rebel name is almost forgotten.
- Self-made. Nimrod's greatness was not God's gift. He sought great things for himself, and God allowed it apparent success.
- Rebel. His name carries the sense of rebellion. Some read his hunting as literal skill; others as the hunting of souls to make them rebels.
- Before the LORD. The phrase points to power grabbed and used in independence of God, not power blessed by Him.
- Hunter, not shepherd. He set aside the rule of fathers and moved from beasts to men — the opposite of David and Amos, who kept sheep.
- Babel and after. His kingdom began at Babel, and its war against heaven runs through the whole Bible until the Almighty reigns. Nimrod's name is nearly forgotten; Abraham, whom God calls "my friend," has greatness that lasts.
He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah; therefore it is said, As Nimrod, the mighty hunter before Jehovah!
Genesis 10 lists names and nations, but the list stops for one man: Nimrod, a grandson of Cush, marked out by what he did rather than by whom he fathered. His title, the proverb built on it, and the words "before the LORD" all raise one question — what kind of power rose first on earth after the flood?
One writer sets Nimrod against the men named earlier in Genesis. They received what they had. He went after it himself.
But there is nothing mythical in the little that Scripture says. Nimrod "began to be a mighty one in the earth." It had not been so with Abel or Seth, with Enoch or Noah. What they enjoyed was God's gift. They looked for Him who is coming. Nimrod sought great things for himself, like Cain, who built the first city in the earliest days. Nimrod was the first to do so after the flood, and on a large and repeated scale. Present power was his aim; and God allowed it apparent success.
Commentators differ on how literally to take the hunting. Some say real skill with real game lies behind the proverb, and that he later used it elsewhere.
There seems no good reason to doubt that this is meant literally. It made a great impression on the people of his day, so that his skill as a hunter became proverbial. The hunting gave him trained skill and strength, which he later carried into a field of far deeper interest and seriousness.
Others read the word as pointing past animals from the start, and find the clue in his name.
There is more implied in this than merely his being a literal hunter of animals. His name means "we will rebel," not only "I will rebel." He was a leader in hunting the souls of men, to make them rebels. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, where man was exalted in defiance of God.
The phrase places this man's success right in God's presence. One reference work reads it as authority he seized rather than received.
He was "mighty upon the earth," and "a mighty hunter," using force and craft to bring men as well as beasts under his control. The words "before the LORD" probably signify imperial energy and usurped authority, independent of Jehovah.
Another writer reads the same words as open defiance of God.
"Before the LORD he hunted." In defiance of God he sought conquest and power. He added house to house and field to field, wanting to be lord alone… He had no heart for any portion God could give him. He set out to provide for himself and to make his own fortune, so that his dignity and honour came from himself. And such a man is the man of the world to this day.
Nimrod's trade puts him on the opposite side from the men God chose.
There is a clear difference between the hunter and people of God like David and Amos, who were shepherds and took care of the sheep. The hunter tries to kill the animals he is hunting. This remains Nimrod's character down the ages.
The same contrast shows in the king God later gave Israel.
How different was Jehovah's way later! Israel wanted a king like the nations, and chose one who served himself… Then God took His servant David from the pasture, from following the sheep, and made him prince over His people, Israel, to feed them.
One writer traces the line from this first self-exalted man to the rulers who came after.
The first self-exalted man after the flood was Nimrod. Beginning as a hunter of wild beasts, he developed into a tyrant over men. And so the centuries have rolled on in their monotonous course. Nimrods have never been lacking.
- Began — Nimrod's greatness started with himself. Abel, Seth, Enoch and Noah enjoyed what God gave them. He sought great things for himself, and God allowed it apparent success.
- Hunted — commentators differ. Some see real hunting skill that later turned on men. Others see a hunt for human souls from the start. Both end with force and craft used on people.
- Before the LORD — the phrase points to authority he seized, held apart from God and even against Him. He wanted no portion God could give.
- Ruled — the hunter kills what he pursues; the shepherd feeds it. God passed over the Nimrod pattern and took David from the pasture to shepherd Israel.
- Repeats — his kingdom began at Babel, and the type never died out. The man who makes his own fortune and his own honour is still with us.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
This verse names the first kingdom in the Bible. One man held four cities on the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates. Why does the Bible record it? And why does the first city on the list, Babel, keep coming back later in Scripture?
Nimrod's rise came while Noah was still living.
Nimrod was forceful, a mighty hunter. He gained the upper hand and founded a "kingdom," and the beginning of it was Babel. This happened, we judge, before Noah's long life ended; and if any kingdom existed, it should have been his. The power that should have been given to Noah was taken by Nimrod, and used to serve himself and his own renown. With this began the founding of cities to serve as centres of human influence. Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh are among the first we have any record of.
God chose no one here, and no one asked Him.
It was among the sons of Ham, then, that a kingdom was first set up among men. God was not in any of Nimrod's thoughts; He was not sought, nor did He give the least direction in the matter. His own ambition gave Nimrod the plan. He carried it out by the force of his will, and by the skill he had gained in his hunting. How different the way of Jehovah at a later day! For, when Israel wanted a king in imitation of the nations and chose one who served himself... He took His servant David from the pasture, from following the sheep. He made him prince over His people, over Israel, to feed them.
Babel is where God had scattered the builders. That ruin was exactly what Nimrod wanted.
What did he care if it had begun in godless self-will? It aimed to gather mankind into one centre, against God's design and command to fill the earth. What did he care if the builders had abandoned it under a divine judgment that forced them to scatter over all the earth? The abandoned city and tower suited his plan exactly: a kingdom for himself, not a universal commonwealth. So "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." Success encouraged him to go forward, and "Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar" followed.
Another writer reads the placement as open defiance.
The builders may be scattered, but their principles survive. Judgment does not cure... Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, plants his flag on the very spot that had witnessed the judgment of God. ... He had no heart for any portion God could give him. He set out to provide for himself and to be the maker of his own fortune. His dignity and honour would come from himself. And such is the man of the world to this day. He was the earliest example and pattern of the one who, in the closing days, will do as he pleases and fill up the measure of man's sin.
Chapters 10 and 11 show two drives at work in the same city. One man rules the many; the many band together.
In them we find two great principles. They mark the natural energy of the human heart doing its own will: the spirit of despotism, and the spirit of association. Nimrod, the first example of individual supremacy, begins to be mighty in the earth... On the other hand, man does not like being governed. He joins with others to make himself completely independent of God. Joined with others, he thinks himself capable of anything. "Union," he says, "is strength." And this is true until God steps in... But when God had scattered men, Nimrod took possession of all they had done. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel.
The land of these four cities comes back later in the Bible under other names.
Ancient name of the plain lying in the south between the Euphrates and the Tigris. It was where Nimrod established his kingdom, and where the tower of Babel was built. ... Later it was known as Chaldea, or Babylonia... and some of the captives from Judah were taken there.
This kingdom's story runs on through the whole Bible.
That was how Babylon began, and its character all through the book of God matches that beginning. It is always seen as a mighty influence in the earth, acting in direct opposition to everything that comes from heaven. Only after this Babylon is completely abolished does the cry go up among the hosts above: "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns."
Nimrod's ambition was never reached.
It seems his ambition was to rule the whole world. The aim in building the tower of Babel was to have a centre of government, control and oversight. The tower was never finished, and no man will ever gain that rule, until He comes to whom the whole creation rightly belongs.
- Beginning. The first kingdom in the Bible begins with a man seizing authority God had placed elsewhere. He used it for his own fame.
- Beginning without God. No one asked God about this kingdom. Contrast David, whom God Himself took from the sheep to shepherd His people.
- Beginning at Babel. Nimrod built his throne on ground God had already judged. The abandoned ruins suited his plan.
- Beginning of a pattern. Two impulses run out of this city: one strong will ruling others, and crowds uniting to be independent of God.
- Beginning without end — until Christ. Babel opposes heaven right through the Bible. It ends only when the Lord God Almighty reigns.
From that land went out Asshur, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah,
Genesis 10 lists the nations that came from Noah's sons. In the middle of that list, one line moves north out of Shinar and founds Nineveh — the city that later ruled an empire — and it opens with a puzzle over who did it.
One reference work sets out the problem, and why many read the verse another way:
Older English versions make it look as if a son of Ham named Asshur built Nineveh. Yet Genesis 10:22 and 1 Chronicles 1:17 name Asshur as a son of Shem. But in the margin of verse 11 it reads that "he went out into Assyria," that is, Nimrod went out into Asshur or Assyria (the Hebrew is the same). Micah 5:6 confirms this, for it links Assyria and Nimrod together. Assyria goes back to Asshur or Assur, a son of Shem. Nimrod came afterwards and may have subdued the country, but with what result is not shown.
Commentators differ here. William Kelly keeps the older reading and finds a moral point in it — a second man copying the first:
Nothing here says that Ham's descendants drove Asshur out. The wording suggests instead that the success of Nimrod set the example, and stirred a similar ambition. Everything the record reveals shows how completely all of them forgot Noah's authority, though he was still alive. The authority of the family head gave way to men's own thoughts and will.
Either way, the move goes north, away from the plain where the kingdom began. One writer names the man behind it, and places the move after the scattering at Babel:
Nimrod's name means "we will rebel," not only "I will rebel." He was a leader in hunting the souls of men, to make them rebels. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, where man was exalted in defiance of God. Other places are also mentioned in the land of Shinar. The move from that land into Assyria came no doubt after the Lord scattered the people from Babel (Gen. 11:8). Nimrod's ambitious course of self-will was not stopped even by God's judgment at the tower of Babel.
Nothing in the verse suggests these were great cities at the start. Kelly warns against reading Nineveh's later splendour back into its founding. He then traces what that small start became:
When Asshur did his work, we need not imagine anything more than a small beginning of what would in time reach such power and splendour. It held that power long enough to conquer the ten tribes of Israel and to threaten Judah and David's house. Then it received a blow so plainly from God that it never troubled the holy land again. Soon it fell, never to rise again, when God chose to bring Babylon forward from a provincial position... to become ruler of the world.
Babel and Nineveh both begin in this chapter. The two cities stand for two different kinds of worldly power:
Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. Her founder was Nimrod, who lived shortly after the flood (Gen. 10:8-12). There was rivalry between Assyria and Babylon from the very beginning. Babylon is the picture of worldly might in a religious garment. Assyria pictures the proud, cruel and overbearing world, which knows nothing but her own importance.
The city founded here came to a definite end. Another writer, who takes Asshur as the founder, follows the story down to the ruins left today:
Asshur founded Nineveh not long after the flood, apparently as a rival to Nimrod's Babylon (Gen. 10:11)... But where is Nineveh today? Opposite the town of Mosul there are miles of ruins from which many objects of interest have been dug up... The Medes captured and destroyed the city in 625 B.C. There has been no effort to rebuild it since that time, and it is not the will of God that it should ever be rebuilt.
Scripture returns to this ground at the close of history, and names it after the man in this verse:
The Lord, with His chosen instruments, will carry out His final judgments before He brings peace to this troubled world. He strikes the lands where man's lawlessness among the nations first raised its head, through Nimrod and Assyria (Gen. 10:9–11).
- The step. The verse records a move out of Shinar into Assyria. The Hebrew allows two readings: Nimrod went out into Assyria, or Asshur went out. Commentators differ, and Micah 5:6 supports the first.
- The spread. One man's success set the pattern, and others copied it. Noah was still alive, but his authority counted for nothing.
- The scale. These cities were a small beginning. What began here grew into the power that overthrew the ten tribes of Israel and threatened David's house.
- The spirit. Both Babylon and Nineveh grew from this root. One is worldly power dressed in religion, the other worldly power that is proud and cruel.
- The sentence. Nineveh fell and was never rebuilt. Scripture says God's final judgments will fall on the land of Nimrod, where this lawlessness began, before peace comes.
and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah this is the great city.
Genesis 10:12 ends a short list of cities built in Assyria: Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and now Resen. Two questions have followed that list ever since — who went out and built them, and which one is "the great city"?
The sentence begins back in verse 11, and its wording can be read two ways. One reference work lays out both, and why it prefers the second:
In Genesis 10:11 the Authorised Version seems to say that a son of Ham named Asshur built Nineveh. Yet Genesis 10:22 and 1 Chronicles 1:17 name Asshur as the son of Shem. But the margin of verse 11 reads that "he went out into Assyria." That is, Nimrod went out into Asshur or Assyria. Asshur and Assyria are the same word in Hebrew. Micah 5:6 confirms this: it links Assyria and Nimrod together. The name Assyria goes back to Asshur, or Assur, a son of Shem. Nimrod came later and may have subdued the country, but what came of that is not shown.
Commentators differ here. Others keep the older wording, where Asshur himself went out and built these cities, and read it as one man copying another:
"From that land went out Asshur, and built Nineveh … and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: this is the great city." The text does not hint that Ham's descendants drove Asshur out. Rather, its language implies that Nimrod's success set the example and stirred a like ambition. Everything the record shows makes it clear: they all forgot Noah's authority, though he was still living. His place as head of the family gave way to men's own thoughts and will.
Either way, one writer treats these cities not as scattered settlements but as one system, planted by one man:
In defiance of God he sought conquest and power. He added house to house and field to field, in the desire to be lord alone. Erech, Accad and Calneh are mother-cities. Mighty Nineveh, with Rehoboth and Calah, and that great city Resen, are only colonies in the system of this boastful apostate. He had no heart for any portion God could give him. He undertook to provide for himself. He would be the maker of his own fortune, so that his dignity and honour came from himself. And such a man is the man of the world to this day.
The verse fixes Resen only by its neighbours, and even its site today is disputed:
The great city "between Nineveh and Calah," one of the four cities built by Asshur, or by Nimrod in Assyria. Genesis 10:12. Some judge it to be not identified; but others trace it to ruins at 36° 12' N, 43° 10' E.
The closing phrase may not describe Resen at all. One writer points to Calah instead, and carries the title into the book of Jonah:
The capital of Assyria was old Nineveh. Nimrod had already built it, along with Rehoboth, Resen and Calah. (Calah is the only town Scripture calls the great city.) It is possible that the expression "that great city" in Jonah 1:2 is to be understood in the same way. In that case the three days' journey of Jonah 3:3 would present no difficulty.
Whatever its size at the founding, this cluster of cities grew into the power that later fell on Israel:
When Asshur did his work, we need not imagine anything more than a small beginning of what would in time reach such power and splendour. It kept that power. It went on to triumph over the ten tribes of Israel and to threaten Judah and David's house. Then it received a blow so plainly from God that it never troubled the holy land again.
Centuries later God pressed His own pity for this city on His unwilling messenger, Jonah:
The plant that had sprung up to shade the self-occupied prophet withered when God sent a worm. Jonah fainted in the heat and again wished to die. Then the LORD said, "You had pity on the plant … and should not I pity Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" Yes, He is the God of all grace. He is the God not of Jews only but of Gentiles also. As the faithful Creator, His mercies are over all His works.
- Ambition — Nimrod's success set the example, and the same drive built the cities further north.
- Self-will — the building went ahead while Noah was still alive; his place as head of the family gave way to men's own will.
- Expansion — Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen are colonies of one system; commentators differ over which of them is "the great city".
- Power — a small beginning grew into the empire that crushed the ten tribes of Israel, until a blow from God ended its threat to the holy land.
- Mercy — God asked whether He should not pity that great city; His mercy reaches Gentiles as well as Jews.