And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
10. the beginning of his kingdom ] Nimrod is represented, not as the founder of the Babylonian cities, but as their king. His four cities are enumerated:
1. Babel, i.e. Babylon, as the Hebrew is rendered in the Greek: Assyrian Babilu, possibly = “the gate of God.” This was the capital of the Babylonian empire from the time of Hammurabi who founded that empire, circ. 2130 b.c.
2. Erech, the Uruk of the inscriptions. LXX , the modern Warka, was the principal seat of the Babylonian deities Anu and Istar, and the scene of the exploits of the mythical hero Gilgames.
3. Accad, the Agade of the inscriptions, the chief town in ancient northern Babylonia, and the capital of Sargon the First, one of the earliest Babylonian kings.
4. Calneh, of doubtful identification; not to be identified with the Syrian town Calneh (Amo 6:2). Jensen conjectures that there is an error of one Hebrew letter, and that we should read for Calneh Cullaba, an important town in Babylonia. Another conjecture is Nippur.
in the land of Shinar ] i.e. in Babylonia, which comprised both northern Babylonia or Accad, and southern Babylonia or Sumer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel] babel signifies confusion; and it seems to have been a very proper name for the commencement of a kingdom that appears to have been founded in apostasy from God, and to have been supported by tyranny, rapine, and oppression.
In the land of Shinar.] The same as mentioned Ge 11:2. It appears that, as Babylon was built on the river Euphrates, and the tower of Babel was in the land of Shinar, consequently Shinar itself must have been in the southern part of Mesopotamia.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The beginning of his kingdom, i.e. either his chief and royal city, or the place where his dominion began, and from whence it was extended to other parts.
Babel; which being not built till the confusion of languages, Gen 11:4, showeth that this, though here mentioned upon occasion of the genealogy, was not executed till afterward; it being very usual in Scripture to neglect the order of time in historical relations.
Calneh, called Calno, Isa 10:9; and Canneh, Eze 27:23; and as it is here, Cabneh, Amo 6:2; where it is mentioned amongst the eminent cities.
The land of Shinar, i.e. in Mesopotamia. This clause belongs to all the cities here named; and is added for distinction sake, because there is a Babylon in the land of Egypt, and there might be other cities of the same name with the rest in other countries.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. the beginning of hiskingdomThis kingdom, of course, though then considered great,would be comparatively limited in extent, and the towns but smallforts.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,…. The city of Babel, or Babylon, which was built by his direction; for though Babylon is by some writers said to be built by Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, and others by Ninus himself, yet the truest account is, that it was built by Belus, the same with Nimrod. Curtius t says, Semiramis built it; or, as most believe, adds he, Belus, whose royal palace is shown: and Berosus u, the Chaldean, blames the Greek writers for ascribing it to Semiramis; and Abydenus w, out of Megasthenes, affirms, that Belus surrounded Babylon with a wall: however, this was the head of the kingdom of Nimrod, as Onkelos renders it, or his chief city, or where he first began to reign. Here he set up his kingdom, which he enlarged and extended afterwards to other places; and from hence it appears, that what is related in this context, concerning Nimrod, is by way of anticipation; for it was not a fact that he was a mighty man, or a powerful prince possessed of a kingdom, until after the building of Babel, and the confusion of languages there; when those that continued on the spot either chose him for their ruler, or he, by power or policy, got the dominion over them. Artapanus x, an Heathen writer, relates, that the giants which inhabited Babylon being taken away by the gods for their impiety, one of them, Belus, escaped death and dwelt in Babylon, and took up his abode in the tower which he had raised up, and which, from him the founder of it, was called Belus; so that this, as Moses says, was the beginning of his kingdom, together with
Erech, and Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar, where the city and tower of Babel were built: for of these four cities, which were all in the same country, did the kingdom of Nimrod consist; they all, either by force or by consent, were brought into subjection to him, and were under one form of government, and is the first kingdom known to be set up in the world. Erech, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, is Hades, or Edessa, a city in Mesopotamia; but it is rather thought to be the name with the Aracca of Ptolemy y, and the Arecha of Marcellinus z, placed by them both in Susiana; though one would think it should be that city in Chaldea which took its present Arabic name of Erak from Erech: the Arabic writers say a, when Irac or Erac is absolutely put, it denotes Babylonia, or Chaldea, in the land of Shinar; and they say that Shinar is in Al-Erac. The next city, Accad, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, is Netzibin, or Nisibis, a city in Mesopotamia; in the Septuagint version it is called Archad; and Ctesias b relates, that at the Persian Sittace was a river called Argad, which Bochart c thinks carries in it a manifest trace of this name; and observes, from Strabo d, that that part of Babylon nearest to Susa was called Sitacena. And the other city, Calneh, according to the above Targums, is Ctesiphon, and is generally thought to be the place intended, and was a town upon the Tigris, near to Seleucia in Babylon; it was first called Chalone, and its name was changed to Ctesiphon by Pacorus, king of the Persians. It is in
Isa 10:9 called Calno, and by the Septuagint version there the Chalane, which adds,
“where the tower was built;”
and from whence the country called the Chalonitis by Pliny e had its name, the chief city of which was Ctesiphon; and who says f Chalonitis is joined with Ctesiphon. Thus far goes the account of Nimrod; and, though no mention is made of his death, yet some writers are not silent about it. Abulpharagius g, an Arabic writer, says he died in the tower of Babel, it being blown down by stormy winds; the Jewish writers say h he was killed by Esau for the sake of his coat, which was Adam’s, and came to Noah, and from him to Ham, and so to Nimrod. When he began his reign, and how long he reigned, is not certain; we have only some fabulous accounts: according to Berosus i, he began to reign one hundred and thirty one years after the flood, and reigned fifty six years, and then disappeared, being translated by the gods: and, indeed, the authors of the Universal History place the beginning of his reign in the year of the flood one hundred and thirty one, and thirty years after the dispersion at Babylon k; and who relate, that the eastern writers speak of his reign as very long: a Persian writer gives his name a Persian derivation, as if it was Nemurd, that is, “immortal”, on account of his long reign of above one hundred and fifty years: and some of the Mahometan historians say he reigned in Al-Sowad, that is, the “black country”, four hundred years l.
t Hist. l. 5. c. 1. u Apud Joseph. contra Apion. l. 1. c. 20. w Apud. Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 41. p. 457. x Apud. Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 18. p. 420. y Geograph. l. 6. c. 3. z Lib. 23. a Vid. Hyde in notis ad Peritsol. Itinera Mundi, p. 65. b Apud Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 16. c. 42. c Phaleg. l. 4. c. 17. d Geograph. l. 15. p. 503. e Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 26. f Ibid. c. 27. g Hist. Dynast. p. 12. h In Pirke Eliezer, c. 24. i Antiqu. l. 4. p. 28, 29. k Vol. 1. p. 282. and vol. 21. p. 2. l Apud Hyde’s Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 43.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Moses here designates the seat of Nimrod’s empire. He also declares that four cities were subject to him; it is however uncertain whether he was the founder of them, or had thence expelled their rightful lords. And although mention is elsewhere made of Calneh, (314) yet Babylon was the most celebrated of all. I do not however think that it was of such wide extent, or of such magnificent structure, as the profane historians relate. But since the region was among the first and most fruitful, it is possible that the convenience of the situation would afterwards invite others to enlarge the city. Wherefore Aristotle, in his Politics, taking it out of the rank of cities, compares it to a province. Hence it has arisen, that many declare it to have been the work of Semiramis, by whom others say that it was not built but only adorned and joined together by bridges. The land of Shinar is added as a note of discrimination, because there was also another Babylon in Egypt, which is now called Cairo. (315) But it is asked, how was Nimrod the tyrant of Babylon, when Moses in the following chapter, Gen 11:1 subjoins, that a tower was begun there, which obtained this name from the confusion of tongues? Some suppose that a hysteron proteron (316) is here employed, and that what Moses is afterwards about to relate concerning the building of the tower was prior in the order of time. Moreover, they add, that because the building of the tower was disastrously obstructed, their design was changed to that of building a city. But I rather think there is a prolepsis; and that Moses called the city by the same name, which afterwards was imposed by a more recent event. The reason of the conjecture is that probably, at this time, the inhabitants of that place, who had engaged in so vast a work, were numerous. It might also happen, that Nimrod, solicitous about his own fame and power, inflamed their insane desire by this pretext, that some famous monument should be erected in which their everlasting memory might remain. Still, since it is the custom of the Hebrews to prosecute more diffusely, afterwards, what they had touched upon briefly, I do not entirely reject the former opinion. (317)
(314) Amo 6:2.
(315) “ Quam hodie Cairum vocant.” — “Babylon was a habitation formed by the Persians, which may with probability be referred to the time of the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses. A quarter retaining the name of Baboul or Babilon, in the city commonly called Old Cairo, which overlooks the Nile at some distance above the Delta, shows its true position.” — D’Anville’s Ancient Geography, vol. 2 p. 152. — Ed
(316) ὕστερον πρότερον, is when that which really comes last in the order of time, is for some reason put first in the order of narration. — Ed
(317) A reason why the former of these opinions is to be preferred will be found in a note at page 313, where it is stated that the division of tongues had already taken place, before these nations were settled. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) The beginning of his kingdom.Nimrods empire began with the cities enumerated in this verse, and thence extended into Assyria, as is mentioned in Gen. 10:11. First, then, he established his sovereignty in the land of Shinar: that is, in Babylonia, the lower portion of Mesopotamia, as distinguished from Assyria, the upper portion. It is called Sumir in the cuneiform inscriptions. In Mic. 5:6 Babylonia is called the land of Nimrod. His cities there were four.
Babel.That is, Bab-ili, the gate of God, the literal translation in Assyrian of its previous Accadian name, Ca-dimirra (Chald. Gen., p. 168). In Gen. 11:9 the word is derisively derived from a Hebrew root meaning confusion, because of the confusion of tongues there.
Erech.At the time of the opening of the Izdubar legends, the great city of the south of Babylonia was Urak, called in Genesis Erech (Chald. Gen., p. 192). It was ravaged by Kudur-nankhunte, king of Elam, in the year B.C. 2280, according to an inscription of Assurbanipal (B.C. 670). It lies about thirty leagues to the south-east of Babylon, and is now called Warka. From the numerous mounds and remains of coffins discovered there, it is supposed to have been the early burial-place of the Assyrian kings. (See also Rawlin-sons Ancient Monarchies, 1, pp. 18, 156.)
Accad.This name, which was meaningless fifty years ago, is now a household word in the mouth of Assyriologers; for in deciphering the cuneiform literature it was found that many of the works, especially in the library of Sargon, were translations from an extinct language; and as these were deciphered it gradually became evident that before any inhabitants of the Semitic stock had entered Chaldea it had been peopled by the Accadians, a black race, who had been the builders of its cities, the inventors of the cuneiform system of writing, and the founders of the culture and civilisation afterwards borrowed by the Semites (Chald. Gen., p. 19). This Sargon, who was king of Agan, in Babylonia, about B.C. 1800. is of course a different person from the Ninevite Sargon mentioned in Isa. 20:1, who also was the founder of a noble library about B.C. 721; and as the Accadian language was already in his days passing away, this earlier or Babylonian Sargon caused translations to be made, especially of those works in which the Accadians had recorded their astronomical and astrological observations, and placed them in his library at Agan. Previously also Semitic translations of Accadian works had been made for the library of Erech, one of the earliest seats of Semitic power (Ibid, p. 21). Mr. Sayce places the conquest of Shinar by the Semites at some period two or three thousand years before the Christian era, and thus the founding of these cities and the empire of the Accadians goes back to a still more remote date, especially as the struggle between them and their conquerors was a very prolonged one (Ibid, p. 20).
Calneh.The Caino of Isa. 10:9, where the LXX. read, Have I not taken the region above Babylon and Khalann, where the tower was built? It was thus opposite Babylon, and the site of the tower of Babel (see Chald. Gen., p. 75, and Note on Gen. 11:9). The other place suggested, Ctesiphon, is not in Shinar, but in Assyria.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. The beginning of his kingdom He was the first to build great cities, the seats of luxury and idolatry, which have crushed the masses of mankind by bloody despotisms, whereas the primary design of God seems to have been for mankind to scatter themselves in smaller masses under a patriarchal government . The four places here mentioned may not have been founded by Nimrod personally; they are mentioned as the germs of the great Babylonian empire.
Babel Babylon, whose origin is more fully described in the next chapter, identified with the modern Babil.
Erech The great necropolis of Babylonia, situated on the Euphrates.
Accad A name often found by Rawlinson in the Babylonian inscriptions, the native name of the primitive inhabitants (and language) of Babylonia, (Rawl. Her., 1:319,) situated on the Tigris. This was the beginning of the famous empire of Babylon.
Calneh Ctesiphon, Sept., , a compound of Kal or Khal, the almost universal Babylonian and Assyrian prefix denoting place, as Khal-asar, fort of Asshur, Khal-nevo, temple of Nebo, etc. (Rawl., Her., 1: 480.) Anna is a Babylonian name for the first god in the Chaldean triad, corresponding to the Greek Pluto, and so Kal-neh, or , probably means temple of Anna . Shinar is the early Hebrew name for the great plain afterward known as Babylonia or Chaldea, through which flow the lower Euphrates and the Tigris; perhaps derived from sh’ne and ar, signifying “two rivers . ” The monuments and the cuneiform inscriptions of this region, now being deciphered, show the Hamitic origin of this kingdom, and its intimate relationship with Egypt . The Babylonian and Assyrian languages contain strong Shemitic elements, as well as Aryan traces, which have been very baffling to scholars; but Renan, a high authority on such a subject, concludes, from purely philological reasons, that the basis of the Assyro-Babylonian nationality was an Hamitic race, resembling the Egyptians; that this was succeeded by a large Shemitic population; and that this, in turn, was dominated over by Aryan (Japhetic) warriors. G. Rawlinson proves at length the Hamitic origin of the Chaldees ( Ancient Mon., I, iii) from tradition, language, and physical characteristics. Thus was there a primeval fusion, as well as separation, of races on the plain of Shinar.
Babylon is often made in Scripture the type of unholy ambition, despotism, and idolatry. It is noteworthy that the covenant people founded no vast cities or military monarchies. Cain builds the first city; Nimrod founds Babylon and Nineveh; the descendants of Ishmael and Esau dwelt in cities, while the sons of Isaac and Jacob yet dwelt in tents, confessing “that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the beginning (or ‘chief part’ or ‘mainstay’ – reshith – compare the use in Jer 49:35 – ‘the chief’ of their might) of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city).’
Shinar is Babylonia proper (Hittite – Shanhar – see Gen 11:2; Gen 14:1; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2; Zec 5:11), Babel is Babylon, Erech is Uruk, a very ancient city (the city where Gilgamesh, of the Gilgamesh epic, reigned, now modern Warka), Accad is Akkad or Agade, which ruled a great empire prior to the time of Abraham – site unknown. Calneh is less certain but may be connected with the Kullania mentioned in Assyrian tribute lists. Alternately it may mean ‘all of them’ (Hebrew kullana) i.e. all the others.
Nineveh is Nineveh, Calah is Kalhu (modern Tell Nimrud) on the bank of the Tigris twenty four miles south of Nineveh. Rehoboth-Ir and Resen are unknown. However, resen goes back to Akkadian res eni meaning ‘head of a spring’, a common Assyrian place name. Rehoboth Ir could relate to Akkadian rebatu alu which parallels Sumerian as.ur, referring to Ashur.
The differentiation between the cities he ‘built’ and the earlier cities may suggest that he obtained the former by conquest. Indeed even the ‘building’ could be rebuilding and fortifying. Thus we may well see Nimrod as coming up from Africa on a trail of conquest and settling in Mesopotamia to found an empire. Elsewhere in Sumerian, Assyrian and other records he was seen as a legendary figure performing great exploits. It is possible that he was the source from which came the idea of Ninurta (Nimurda) the Babylonian and Assyrian god of war.
“The same is the great city”. This may refer to the four cities as being seen as forming one great metropolis stressing the greatness of his empire.
Connecting these facts with Gen 11:2 may suggest that it was Nimrod who was responsible for that debacle (but then we might expect a mention here – compare Gen 10:25), but it is more probable that it occurred before Nimrod’s time. Certainly this mention of Nimrod is ominous as it is the first mention of empire building and conquest in the record in Genesis 1-11. What the world would no doubt see as a glorious triumph is anathema to God, as chapter 11 makes clear.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 10:10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel i.e.. Babylon was either the first city built by him, or the capital city of his kingdom: the former seems the most probable. Erech, there is great reason to believe, is the same with Arecca, mentioned by Ptolemy; Accad, with Sittace; and Calneh, with Ctesiphon upon the Tigris.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Ver. 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. ] But not the end of it. Ambition is boundless, rides without reins, builds itself on the ruins of others, and cares not to swim to its design, though in a sea of blood. Crescit interea Roma Albae ruinis , begins one of Livy’s Decades.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Babel. In Semitic Babylonian = Bab-ili = “the gate of the god”, Compare Gen 11:9.
Shinar = Babylonia, and is to be distinguished from Assyria (Isa 11:11).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 1745, bc 2259
And the: Jer 50:21, Mic 5:6
Babel: Gr. Babylon, Gen 11:9, Isa 39:1, Mic 4:10
Calneh: Isa 10:9, Amo 6:2
Shinar: Gen 11:2, Gen 14:1, Isa 11:11, Dan 1:2, Zec 5:11
Reciprocal: Gen 9:26 – the Lord Jos 7:21 – Babylonish garment 2Ki 20:12 – Babylon Isa 23:13 – the Assyrian Eze 23:17 – Babylonians Eze 27:23 – Canneh Dan 4:30 – great
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 10:10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel Some way or other, he got into power; and so laid the foundation of a monarchy which was afterward a head of gold. It does not appear that he had any right to rule by birth; but either his fitness for government recommended him, or by power and policy he gradually advanced himself to a throne. See the antiquity of civil government, and particularly of that form of it which lodges the sovereignty in a single person.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of {g} Shinar.
(g) For there was another city in Egypt, called Babel.