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In Genesis 10:9, was Nimrod really a “hunter”?:
ISV Gen 10:8 Cush fathered Nimrod, who became the first fearless
leader throughout the land. Gen 10:9 He became a fearless hunter in
defiance of the LORD. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a fearless
hunter in defiance of the LORD.” Gen 10:10 His kingdom began in the
region of Shinar with the cities of Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh.
I don’t feel comfortable with the English translations describing Nimrod as a “hunter”, and certainly find the ISV’s “fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD” to be bizarre. I’m wondering if the translators missed the forest for the trees. The context seems to suggest that Nimrod became the world’s first superpower. In verse 9 he is described as “the first fearless leader” (ISV) or “a mighty warrior” (NIV) and several others have “a mighty one”.
My question is, instead of Nimrod being a great hunter of animals, properly understood might he be a “hunter of men” in some sense of being a ruthless aggressor and predator and an exploiter of men? To my mind the passage would cohere much better than embedding a reference to sporting prowess between two descriptions of his “Alexander the Great” type of ambitions and acquisitions.
And whence does the ISV get “a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD“?
And lastly, was it the “hunting of men” that he did that led to God’s concern that “nothing will be impossible” to the organized humans?
