The City Builder

“Nimrod was indeed a city builder. His list of civil achievements appears quite impressive until you consider that to an ancient Israelite, it was considered a bad thing. Cities were associated with human efforts and ambitions. God’s way was Eden, living from the abundance of the land that God provided. The two are poles apart. When the Biblical writer tells of Nimrod’s city-building achievements, he is including Nimrod in a line of evildoers all the way back to Genesis 4. Interestingly, the word used most often to refer to a city is ’iyr, meaning “watchful place” in the sense that it is guarded or kept under watch. It is no coincidence that the Aramaic term for the Watchers as seen in Daniel 4 is identical.
The entities that Nebuchadnezzar refers to in the book of Daniel are the same kind credited with the origins of human civilization according to Babylonian tradition. They were the territorial spirits that watched over kingdoms or city-states. In fact, if we consider the Aramaic-speaking background for the composition of the Genesis 1-11 narrative, it is entirely plausible that there is an intentional play on the verbal connection between “cities” and “watchers” that highlights the connection between the line of Cain and the fallen “sons of God.” This would indicate all the more strongly that the Babylonian boast of having established the first cities was linked to the Biblical conception of evil.
Eridu (or Eridug) was the name of the first city, according to ancient Mesopotamian texts such as the Sumerian King List. It was regarded as the place where kingship first descended from heaven, the gift of the gods – a kingship that would eventually pass to Enmerkar (Nimrod). This appears to conflict with the record of Genesis 4, where the KJV text says:
Genesis 4:17-18a “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad...”
However, the translation leaves some to be desired. It’s not hard to understand why it has its faults though. These verses do not follow correct Hebrew grammar. The English translation has muddled the Hebrew. If we attempt to follow the original text closely, this is how it comes out:
Genesis 4:17-18a “And Cain had relations with his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he [Enoch] builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son. [The name “Enoch” does not appear in the original at this point.] And unto Enoch was born Irad...”
Technically, once Enoch is mentioned in verse 17, he becomes the new subject of the following verb, meaning that it was not Cain who built the city, but Enoch. And since Enoch built the city, it was named after Enoch’s son, not Cain’s. Therefore, the name of the city was not Enoch, but Irad. “Irad” is transliterated from the Hebrew `Iyrad, meaning “city of dominion” (from `iyr, “city” or “watcher” and radah, “dominion”). Sounds a lot like Eridu! And as the center of Mesopotamian kingship, that city – which predates Babylon by centuries – became Nimrod’s capital.
Nimrod’s city-building achievements are interesting in that they are grouped into two lists of four cities. The first list of cities is found in Shinar; the second is found in Assyria. This is significant because the Babylonian tradition of assigning greatness, even divinity, to their kings associates their rule with the four corners of the earth as a symbol of universal dominion. This is a god-like attribution of power.”
It is no wonder then, that the Greek translation of the Old Testament tells us that Nimrod became a giant. The question is how...

Excerpt from T.J. Steadman, “Answers to Giant Questions,” chapter 9: “Nimrod the Giant.”