Noah cursed his son Ham to live as the lowliest servant to his other two sons (Genesis 9:24-5). To escape the consequences of his grandfather’s curse, Nimrod energetically sought enough power to be instead a curse to others. He was the first on Earth to become a mighty warrior (Genesis 10:8).
Even more interestingly, he was a mighty conqueror before Yahweh (v. 9a). This means that Yahweh was aware of all that he did. It also means that Nimrod knew that his lust for power violated his relationship with Yahweh yet arrogantly dared Yahweh to make his curse effective.
Nimrod consolidated his power and gave structure to Olympia’s first empire by building cities. He started with cities in Shinar, including Babel (Babylon) and Accad, then built several more cities, including Nineveh, after extending his control over Assyria.
With Cain we have the city as a symbol of human defiance of Yahweh and as an alternative reality to Yahweh’s creation as ordered good. With Nimrod we have the city as source and goal of conquest. We have urban civilization tightly linked with war. We see the will of Vulcan and his human minions tightly linked with that of Mars.
