1 Chronicles 1:10 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty on the earth. Previous to this verse we find recorded only names. Nimrod is recalled to mind by a brief but suggestive description. "He began to be mighty upon the earth." It is further narrated in Genesis (Genesis 10:9) that "he was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." From this it appears that proverbs and legends grew up round his name. "The Eastern traditions make him a man of violent, lawless habits, a rebel against God, and a usurper of boundless authority over his fellow-men." It may suffice, however, to recognize in him the first person to develop war as an agency for subjecting some portions of the human family to the dominion of others. He is the first warrior, the progenitor of the Alexanders and Napoleons, the great world-conquerors. Many men live to serve their generation, and then they die and pass away out of thought, and their very names are forgotten. But they leave their work and the influence of their characters behind them: these can never die. This must be the lot of the great majority of mankind; and yet even thus every man may gain a gracious immortality. "He may still be remembered by what he has done. Other men leave their names behind affixed to some principle or truth, and then, though the name is to us no more than a name, it serves to recall the principle. And this we have in the case of Nimrod. His name brings up to our minds the ruin and the sin of man's masterfulness over his fellow-men. The ruin and the sin are set forth in very impressive forms in the cases of such conquerors as Nimrod; but the mischief is wrought still, and has been wrought through all the ages, in the smaller spheres of the family, society, the nation, and the Church. There are stilt Nimrods, who are bent on self-aggrandizement, and think little of the claims or the sufferings of others, as they tread on to place and wealth and power. The essence of their masterfulness is that they win and hold for self, not for God. To win and hold for God always tones our relations with others, and makes them tender, considerate, and gracious. I. MAN'S MASTERFULNESS IMPERILS THE LIBERTIES OF HIS FELLOW-MAN. Nimrod was a hunter. We only hunt to bring under subjection to us. Nimrod was a hunter of men that he might subject them as slaves to his authority. Illustrate in cases of other world-conquerors, and show how absorbing becomes the lust of power. All the nations of the earth have had to win the measures of liberty they enjoyed, by struggle and tears and blood, from those who held them in subjection. Eastern kings were always independent and tyrannical; and still, in the smaller spheres of associate life, the masterful men are always inconsiderate of others, and delight to make others subject to them. This masterfulness is sometimes the natural disposition; then it must be repressed and overcome, in the grace and help of God. At other times it is unduly fostered by the circumstances in which men are placed, and the deference that is paid to them; then we need to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation." The "golden rule" cuts it down at the very root. He will never show himself to be masterful who strives "to do unto others as he would have others do unto him." Godliness and masterfulness can never dwell together in peace, for the godly man obeys the Divine Law, and seeks to "love his neighbour as himself." II. MAN'S MASTERFULNESS IMPERILS THE HONOUR AND THE CLAIMS OF HIS GOD. It sets the man in the world's eye as before God, able to control things, needing no Divine aids, sufficient in himself; and so puts God out of men's thoughts, more especially it the masterful man succeeds. Compare Nebuchadnezzar's boasting, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" For multitudes Nimrod was the great hero, and men worshipped the masterful man. Surely it is a fatal thing for any one of us that, instead of standing on one side and showing God to our fellows, we stand before him, and only let men see ourselves. Yet this is still the temptation and the peril of the masterful man, in any and every sphere of life. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty upon the earth.WEB: Cush became the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. |
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