Nimrod, a great grandson of Noah, known in Egypt as Osiris, was the founder of the first world empire. (Genesis 10:8-12; 11:1-9). Cush, Hams darkest son, was the father of Nimrod, who began to show himself a man of might on earth; and was, as the saying goes, Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. His kingdom in the beginning consisted of Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar ( Sumer). Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. -- a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny -- seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his own power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers (Ant. 1: iv: 2) From ancient sources such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and records unearthed by archeologists from long-ruined Mesopotamian and Egyptian cities, we can reconstruct subsequent events. Gilgamesh was two-thirds god and one-third man, a hero -- more beautiful, more courageous, more terrifying than the rest of us; his desires, attributes, and accomplishments epitomize our own. Yet he is also mortal: he must experience the death of others and die himself. How much more must a god rage against death than we who are merely mortal! Like, the Osirus story, the Gilgamesh Epic describes the first God is Dead movement as he faces his own mortality as a partial human. As a young man and a god, Gilgamesh has no compassion for the people of Uruk. He is their king but not their shepherd; he kills their sons and rapes the daughters, but he also pledges to trackdown the monster god who tried to destroy mankind. So that the one who sent the Flood will not trouble them anymore, Gilgamesh ( Sagittarius the Hunter) sets out to kill the perpetrator. He takes with him a monstrous half-man, half-animal -- Enkidu. ( of Enki) A hybrid ,created of clay and water and dropped into the wilderness, Enkidu is innocent of mankind, knowing nothing of cultivated land He lives in joy with the beasts until a trapper sees that Enkidu is destroying the traps and helping the beasts escape and turns him over to Gilgamesh. They form an unlikely friendship. Enki is also the name of the Sumerian Lord of the Earth who has dominion over the animals. Enki stands at the empty riverbeds and fills them with his water/semen.His symbols included a goat and a fish, which later combined into a single beast, the goat Capricorn) According to Sumerian mythology, Enki also assisted humanity to survive the Deluge designed to kill them. In the later Legend of Atrahasis/Noah, Enlil, the king of the gods, Enlil (nlin), 𒂗𒇸 (EN = Lord + LÍL = Wind, Lord (of the) Storm) is the God of breath, wind, loft and breadth.( Taurus the bull of heaven)...sets out to eliminate humanity, whose noise is disturbing his rest. ....He successively sends drought, famine and plague to eliminate humanity, but Enki thwarts his half-brothers plans by teaching Atrahasis/Noah how to counter these threats. He instructs Atrahasis to build a boat in order to rescue his family and other living creatures from the coming deluge. ....Upon landing, a sacrifice is made to the gods and Atrahasis becomes the only human ever granted immortality. Years after the flood, the story goes that Gilgamesh and EnKiDu went from Mesopotamia, around Arabia to the Red Sea, up through the Sinai, where the Mountains of Mashu are located, up through Palestine, and sought entrance to the abode of the Gods in the Cedar Mountains, the Cedar Forest. This is most definitely the Lebanon. to find and destroy the monster who sent the Flood. Gilgamesh finds him and finally succeeds in cutting off the head of the creature whose name is Huwawa...YaHVeH has a somewhat similar sound to Huwawa. . In the process his friend EnKidu dies as well. He then sets out on a journey to find Altrahasses, the only man made immortal to find the secret to immortality...Beside the sea, Gilgamesh meets Siduri, the woman of the vine, the maker of wine, who reminds him of the meaningfulness of being human. Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? she asks. You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man. If it is life the gods retain in their keeping, it is not human life, for human life depends on the passage of time and the possibility of death. At the end of the epic Gilgamesh learned that it is only in death that his life has any importance reminiscent of other Godmen throughout all cultures and times. Other common characteristics include; He is a shepherd .................. From Uruk ............................. ( Uruk, Erech. Iraq, Arkk) A giant .................................. Builds cities ............................ Vile man takes women ......... Mighty hunter ......................... Has a holy mountain.............. Had 72 names.........................
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 01:28:20 +0000
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