CHAP. V.

Of the Conquests and Kingdom of Nimrod.

1.

Nimrod,

est son of

MOSES having named the other sons and grandsons of Cush, he subjoins, Gen. x. 8. And Cush begat Nimrod. probably By this distinct mention of Nimrod, after the rest of his the youngbrethren, the sacred historian is supposed to intimate, that Cush. Nimrod was indeed the youngest of the sons of Cush, but however the most remarkable of them. And accordingly it immediately follows in the text; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

2.

The man

ner and oc

his becom

By what method Nimrod became thus mighty, the sacred historian is thought to denote by the words subjoined; He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, i. e. he casion of was in reality very well skilled in hunting, and perform- ing a waring notable exploits therein; insomuch that it became a rior. proverb, or common way of commending a man for his valour and strength, to say, that he was even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. The occasion of Nimrod's applying himself to hunting is probably conjectured to be in order to destroy the wild beasts, that began to grow now very numerous, and so to infest very much the parts adjoining to the nation of Cush; the deserts of Arabia being a convenient place for them to harbour in. Hereupon having got together a body of stout young men of his own nation like himself, he began by degrees to be a great master in the art of hunting, and destroying the beasts of prey; by which means he not only very much ingratiated himself with the inhabitants of the adjoining countries, but also inured himself and his companions to undergo fatigue and hardship, and withal to manage dexterously several sorts of offensive weapons.

3.

Hè invades

Being thus occasionally trained up to the art of war, and perceiving at length his skill and strength sufficient to act offensively even against men, he invades first the neigh- Shinar, and

the land of

why.

PART I. bouring parts of the nation of Shem, which, upon the division of the earth, fell to the lot of the family of Arphaxad; and so makes himself master of the lower part of the land of Shinar. The extraordinary fruitfulness and also pleasantness of this tract, might be the motive that induced Nimrod to invade this part, rather than any other adjoining part of the nation of Shem. As for the land of Canaan and Mizraim, they were possessed by the descendants of Ham, as well as himself; and therefore he might shew them the more respect on that account.

4.

Babel or
Babylon,

of his

kingdom.

:

Having conquered the southern parts of the land of Shinar, he pitches upon that very place, as is probable, the capital where the city and tower of Babel had been begun, to build the capital city of his kingdom; which therefore was called by the same name Babel, whence by the Greeks and Latins it was called Babylon. It stood, as has been said, on each side the Euphrates, having streets running from north to south parallel with the river, and others crossing these from east to west. The compass of the wall was three hundred sixty-five furlongs, that is, about forty miles the height of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth so great, that carts or carriages might meet on the top of them, and pass by one another without danger. It is said to have been finished in one year, by the hands of two hundred thousand workmen employed daily in it. Over the Euphrates there was a sumptuous bridge; and at each end of the bridge there was a magnificent palace. It was famous for the Pensile Garden, so called by writers, because it seemed at a distance to hang in the air, being made not on the ground, but at a considerable height from the ground, borne up with square pillars. In this artificial garden, thus borne up with pillars, there are said to have grown trees, which were no less than eight cubits thick in the body, and fifty feet high. There stood also in this city a beautiful temple, dedicated to Belus or Bel; and in the middle hereof stood a tower, which is supposed by some to have been the very tower, or at least part of that tower, which was begun before the confusion of tongues,

The city, as has been said, is probably supposed to have CHAP. V. been first built by Nimrod; it was afterwards beautified 5. and enlarged by Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, son, as is By whom thought, and successor of Nimrod: it was finally much built, enlarged, and increased, both in bulk and beauty, by Nebuchadnezzar, beautified. who therefore arrogated to himself the whole glory of it, saying in his pride, Is not this great Babylon that I have built? Dan. iv. 30.

6.

As this city was esteemed justly one of the wonders of Babylon,

the world for its largeness and buildings; so were the what fainhabitants thereof much addicted to and noted for astro-mous for. logy, and also for the manufacture of cloth of various colours, or embroidered cloth; the invention whereof is attributed to them. Hence we find mention made of such Babylonish garments, not only in heathen writers, but in the sacred story, particularly Josh. vii. 21. where Achan makes this confession; When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, &c. The word indeed, which we render Babylonish, is in the Hebrew gar or Shinar; so that what we render a Babylonish garment should strictly be rendered a garment of Shinar: which Shinar was the name of the plain, wherein Babylon stood, as has been before observed.

Sin

7.

clined.

This great and noble city, from the Assyrians, came into the hands of the Persians, and from them into the hands How it deof the Macedonians. Here died Alexander the Great; after whose death his generals, more regarding their own interests than their common duty to their deceased prince, let his body lie eight days unburied. Some short time after, this great city began to decline, chiefly by the building of Seleucia, but three hundred furlongs, or near forty miles, above Babylon, by Seleucus Nicanor; who is said to have erected this new city, named from him, out of spleen to the Babylonians; and to have drawn five hundred thousand persons from Babylon, for the peopling of this new city. Which by degrees robbed Babylon, not only of its glory and greatness, but also of its very name; being expressly called Babylon in some ancient authors.

PART I. And the want of observing this is that, which has led some into a mistake concerning the situation of old Babylon. As to the several steps, whereby old Babylon declined, Curtius the historian tells us, that it was lessened a fourth part in his time; it was reduced to desolation in the time of Pliny, and in the days of St. Jerom was turned into a park, in which the kings of Persia did use to hunt.

8.

The mo

Rauwolf, a German physician, saw, and thus describes the state of this place in A. D. 1574. By a small village on the Euphrates, called Eulego or Felugo, is the seat of A. D. 1574. the old Babylon, a day and a half's journey from Bagdat.

dern state of Babylon, viz.

9.

extent a

The lands about it are so dry and desolate, that one may justly doubt the fertility of it, and the greatness of this city, if the vast ruins still to be seen did not banish all suspicion. There are still standing some arches of a bridge over the river, which is here half a mile broad, and exceeding deep: these arches are built of bricks, and wonderfully compacted. A quarter of a mile beneath the village, in a plain, are the fallen ruins of a castle, and beyond that the ruins of the tower of Babel, half a German mile in compass, which is now a receptacle of serpents and venomous creatures. A little above the fall of the Tigris into the Euphrates, is a city now called Trax, formerly Apamea. All that travel over these plains will find vast numbers of the ruins of very ancient, great, and lofty buildings, arched towers, and other such like structures of wonderful architecture. There is only one tower, which is called Daniel's, still entire and inhabited, from whence may be seen all the ruins of this once vast city; which sufficiently demonstrate the truth of what ancient writers have said of its greatness, by the vastness of their extent.

However, whereas Aristotle says, that it ought rather to A mistake, have been called a country than a city; for that when it concerning Babylon's was surprised by the Medes and Persians, it was three days before the inhabitants of the farthest parts were aware of it: this is thought to be a great mistake, and that a small alteration in the Greek might possibly occasion it, and might make the third part of the day be taken for three

mended.

days. And thus much for Babel or Babylon, which is CHAP. V. said to be the beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod: which expression may denote either, that it was the first city built by him, or the capital city of his kingdom. There is one other way of expounding these words, which I shall take notice of, after that I have spoken of the other cities of Nimrod's kingdom, mentioned with Babel as lying in the land of Shinar; which are these, Erech, Accad, and Calneh.

10.

As to Erech, it is not to be questioned, but that it is the same which occurs in Ptolemy, under the name of Of Erech. Arecca; and which is placed by him at the last, or most southern turning of the common channel of the Tigris and Euphrates. The fields hereof are mentioned by Tibullus, on account of its springs of Naphta, which is a sort of liquid Bitumen. The Archevites mentioned Ezr. iv. 9. are thought to be some, that were removed from

Erech to Samaria.

11.

What in the Hebrew is Acchad, is by the Seventy Interpreters writ Archad, whence some footsteps of this Of Accad. name are probably thought to be preserved in the river Argades, mentioned by Ctesias, as a river near Sittace, lying at some distance from the river Tigris, and giving name formerly to Sittacene, a country lying between Babylon and Susa. And because it was very usual, particularly in these parts, to have rivers take their names from some considerable city they run by; hence it is not improbably conjectured, that the city Sittace was formerly called Argad or Acchad; and took the name of Sittace or Psittace, from the plenty of Psittacias or Pistacias, a sort of nut which grew there. The country Sittacene, although it lay on the east of the Tigris, yet is plainly ascribed to Babylonia, or the land of Shinar, by Strabo; which confirms the opinion, that the land of Shinar lay on both sides the Tigris. To what has been said, may be further added, that the same Strabo mentions a region in these parts, namely, about Arbela, under the name of Artacene, which might be framed from Arcad;