According to the Israelites, the rainbow no more served this purpose than did the sign of which Yahweh spoke to Cain; but just as the latter was meant to warn anyone who was about to raise his hand against Cain or the Cainites,1 so the former was meant to remind God of his promise. What childlike ideas of God people had in ancient times! As if the memory of the deity needed to be refreshed in this way.

In their expectations as to the future, then, the two authors who tell us about the flood are quite agreed. They do not expect that such an all-destroying flood will ever come upon the earth again; but they cherish this belief upon very different grounds; or rather, they ascribe very different motives to their God in giving this promise. According to the one, God's motive is humiliating enough to man: viz., that he is really incorrigible; while the other rises to a higher point of view, and ascribes to God good-will towards all that lives, both man and beast; while the life of man, who is made after his image, is inviolable. In this he approaches to some extent the position of Jesus, who dared to call God Father, and reverenced in man, in spite of all his shortcomings and all his want of holiness, the child of God.

After the story of the flood comes that of Noah's drunkenness and his cursing Canaan. It is from the same hand as the account of the flood in which the name of Yahweh is used, the distinction between clean and unclean animals made, and the sacrifice of Noah mentioned. We shall speak of it afterwards in another connection.

1 See pp. 68, 74.

CHAPTER VIII.

NIMROD.

GEN. X. 8-12.

IN the mountains of Armenia, there rise, not far from each

other, two great rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. The Euphrates, which rises north of the other, takes a wide sweep to the west, round the mountains of Armenia, while the Tigris flows south-east from the first. Then they both flow through a plain, a considerable height above the level of the sea, some parts of which, especially near the banks of the rivers, are moderately fertile, though the rest of the territory between the two streams is dry and barren. This region was called by the Greeks Mesopotamia, that is, the country between the rivers. This district, together with that to the east of the Tigris, was formerly inhabited by the Assyrians, whose capital, Nineveh, was situated on the left bank of this river. On issuing from this region the two rivers approach pretty close together and then part again; and so, sometimes nearer and sometimes further from each other, flow on in the same direction until they pour themselves into the Persian Gulf. A fruitful plain stretches down from the place where the two streams approach each other most closely. It is called the plain of Shinear, that is, again, "of the two rivers," and was inhabited by the Babylonians.1

From the eighth century before Christ onwards the Israelites came into very close contact with both Assyrians and Babylonians; and it is not surprising, therefore, that they felt an interest in the earliest history of their countries. The following account is given us by one of them :Nimrod, the Ethiopian, was the first tyrant upon earth.

1 See map 1.

He was a mighty hunter before the face of Yahweh; and that is the origin of the proverbial expression: "A hunter like Nimrod before Yahweh." He ruled at first over Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinear. Then he went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is situated between Nineveh and Calah,-this is the great city.

What is told us of Nimrod in this passage does not give us a very favourable impression of him, and we cannot be surprised that the later Jewish writers draw a portrait which is anything but flattering of this first tyrant and mighty hunter. One of them (Flavius Josephus1) combines the story of the tower of Babel with this notice of Nimrod, and represents him as having tried to carry heaven by storm, and as having been slain by the wrath of God in punishment for his audacity. All this, however, is quite contrary to the intention of the old story, in which nothing is told to the discredit but everything to the honour of Nimrod, and he is represented as one of the benefactors of mankind. There is certainly nothing noble in hunting or shooting defenceless game, either for pleasure or profit, in our day; but to understand the story of Nimrod we must imagine a country thinly inhabited and swarming with beasts of prey, with wolves, lions, tigers, eagles, and serpents. In such a country a powerful and valiant hunter who risks his life in protecting men and cattle, is beloved by everyone. It is but natural, too, that such a man, renowned for his strength and skill, honoured for his courage and the benefits he confers, proud of the power his arms have won for him, and accustomed to brave every danger, should be the leader of his tribesmen in war and the umpire of their disputes in times of peace, and so gradually become their acknowledged ruler. And though a power which rests on the sword is not our ideal, yet even this

1 On Josephus, see Vol. V., Introduction viii.

was a blessing in ancient times; for the political institutions of our day were unknown; and unless there were some one to preserve order by force and by the fear which his person inspired, a whole district might easily fall a prey to strife and disorder. Hence establishing a personal rule was a step in the path of progress and increased civilisation. All the influential princes of antiquity were tyrants, mighty hunters in time of peace, and warriors when threatened by the enemy; and the sagas of the most different nations attribute the slaughtering of monsters and giants to their gods and demigods. Such were the deeds of the god Thor in the belief of our forefathers; and of Orion and Herakles (Hercules) according to the Greeks. I do not mean to assert that there really were men who bore these names, and that after their death they were worshipped as gods; but by ascribing such exploits to their gods, the ancients showed how much they thought of them, and how highly mighty hunters and tyrants were honoured.

Now we understand how Nimrod could be called a mighty hunter" before the face of Yahweh;" for this expression does not mean, as is sometimes said, a hunter who was rebellious against Yahweh, but a hunter upon whom Yahweh looked, that is, whom he appointed to struggle mightily, and to prepare the way for civilisation and progress in the countries over which he ruled.

The name of Nimrod has not as yet been discovered upon the ancient monuments of Babylon and Assyria; nor can we even explain its meaning with any certainty. We are, therefore, quite unable to tell whether it was originally the name of a god, a tribe, or a man; but in any case Nimrod is one of those mythical beings in whose fortunes and exploits the history of a country is recorded.

Now let us read the account once more: Cush, that is Ethiopia, gave Nimrod being. He was the first tyrant on

earth. A mighty hunter before Yahweh, he ruled at first over the four cities or districts of the plain of Shinear, and then extended his dominion over the four great Assyrian cities which make up all together what is called “the great city," for this seems to be the true meaning of the last words of the passage. The meaning of the story is this: The first settled state ever founded upon earth must be looked for in Babylonia. This kingdom was of Ethiopian origin, inasmuch as it was founded by a tribe that had migrated from Ethiopia. Babel and the three other places mentioned were its principal cities. In the course of time the Babylonian civilisation spread over Assyria, and thither the seat of empire over Asia was afterwards removed.

This story agrees with what the Greek traditions tell us of migrations of the Ethiopians to the plain of Shinear, in primeval times, and their expeditions from this country northward; and the spread of the Babylonian civilisation over Assyria is painted in rich and varied colours in all the legends of Semiramis which we find in the writings of the Greeks. This warlike and yet voluptuous princess was said to have been married first to Oannes and then to Ninus. After this second marriage, and especially after the death of her husband, she conquered half the world, but was defeated at last by the Indians, and then carried up to heaven, or, according to others, murdered by her son. To her the legends ascribed not only all the conquests of the Assyrians, but also all the magnificent buildings both in Assyria and in Babylonia. Now the word Semiramis means "the highexalted name," and is the appellation of a goddess. Oannes is the name of the god who civilised the Babylonians, according to old Chaldean myths; Ninus is a personification of the Assyrian people. The meaning of the legend, therefore, is as follows: After the rude and warlike people of Assyria