After The Flood: Noah And His Descendants: Nimrod

by OXLEY, C. B. | Category: Temporal Foreshadowings Of The Eternal | Aug 1936

Noah as the head of the restored earth after the flood, was Divinely blessed (Genesis 9. 1), yet, alas, failed in the manner recorded in verse 21. His son Ham, instead of viewing his father's failure with filial sorrow and godly fear, transgressed the great and abiding Divine principle "Honour thy father," etc., common alike to Old Testament Scripture and New Testament Scripture. Judgement and curse descended on Caanan, Ham's descendant. "A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," humbled, enslaved, degraded: and does not this illustrate the results of sin and transgression in a broad and general way? Does not sin enslave and degrade by its power? Happy are those who experience deliverance by grace which reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We have previously spoken of the Flood, and of fiery judgement, in connection with the days of Noah and the days of Lot, and as we think of the wondrous salvation from sin and judgement which we who believe have known, we think with bowed hearts of how the flood and fire of God's righteous judgement fell on Christ upon the cross that grace might reach and save us!

From Noah and his family the earth was repopulated. And from Ham came Nimrod, great grandson of Noah; "he began to be a mighty one in the earth." "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD." How he "began" to be a mighty one in the earth, and a mighty hunter, Scripture does not say. It may be, after developing his skill and power in trapping and dominating animals, he tried the same powers on men and succeeded, leading eventually to the establishment of a kingdom-" The beginning of his kingdom was Babel ... in the land of Shinar." Here possibly, idolatry also began-indeed, there is a tradition that Nimrod and his wife eventually claimed the worship of his subjects and obtained it; Scripture, however, is silent as to this, as also to much else that tradition ascribes to Nimrod and associates with his kingdom.

We must be careful to maintain the authority which belongs to Scripture exclusively on all matters, but it may be of interest to mention that there is a Chaldee paraphrase of the reference to Nimrod in Genesis 10. 8, 9, which reads :-" He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord, for he was a hunter of the sons of men, and he said to them, 'Depart from the judgement of the Lord, and adhere to the judgement of Nimrod! ' Therefore it is said: 'As Nimrod the strong one in hunting, and in wickedness before the Lord.'" What is evident, however, from Genesis 10. 10, is that Nimrod (" Rebel ") is identified with the founding of Babel (" Confusion "), and Babel throughout Scripture is associated with that which is opposed to the will and way of God.

ABRAHAM:FATHERHOOD.

It cannot be doubted that the history of Abraham as a father was written

for our learning. Headship and priority are seen in Adam, and again (though in a modified way) in Noah but in Abraham is seen fatherhood. We see in Abraham not only a great and wealthy father with an only, a well-beloved son, but we see that father offering up as a burnt-offering, that son who was his heir, and his joy. We see him also receive that son back from the dead, in a figure.

Again, Abraham is described as "The father of all them that believe"; even all whose faith is "Reckoned for righteousness " as was his, lie is also the father of the chosen people-the Jewish nation, and he is the father of many nations; besides the descendants of Ishmael, there are the sons of his wife Keturah-indeed, it seems to us quite impossible to trace out accurately the many families or nations of which Abraham is the father. But Jews and Arabs are outstanding examples, and we know them as they exist to-day, and we also know from the Scriptures that they will continue to exist in the prophetic

future, and whatever nation dies out they will not die out during this world's history.

We therefore see that Abraham is described as the father of Isaac, the father of Israel, the father of many nations, and the father of all them that believe, and we judge that it is neither profanity nor perversity to regard the Bible record of Abraham as written for our instruction, and illustrative of fatherhood in reference to God. Wondrously sublime are the thoughts of God as Father, whether of His only, His well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, or of those who are children of God by faith in Christ .Jesus, or, the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. And how beautiful and touching are the lines of Robert Chapman, of

beloved memory---

The Father gives His only Son;

The King of glory dies

For us, the guilty and undone.

A spotless sacrifice.

The Fat-her, of Whom are all things.

ISAAC:SONSHIP.

Perfect Fatherhood is seen in God the Father, and perfect Sonship is seen in God the Son. Abraham helps us in some measure to understand Fatherhood, as also Isaac helps us to understand Sonship.

The birth of Isaac was a miracle. His name means "laughter," and he was the joy and delight of his father Abraham. He was heir to Abraham's wealth, and also to the promises of God made to Abraham.

In Isaac, yieldingness and obedience to his father are to be seen. The crowning manifestation of which is witnessed on Mount Moriah: for there, when he inquired of his father "Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" and then found himself being bound, and laid upon the altar, and saw the uplifted knife about to descend into his body, we read of neither protest nor struggle ; nothing is seems but obedience to his father.

Little is said of Isaac, but that little is of the deepest significance. His miraculous birth foreshadows the wondrous birth of Christ: his being laid on the altar as a sacrifice and received back from the dead (in figure), foreshadow the death and resurrection of Christ : sacrifice, substitution, resurrection, all stand out in Isaac: and in a measure, the circumstances of his obtaining his bride foreshadow Christ and the Church.

ELIEZER:THE SERVANT.

In the mission of Eliezer, the steward and servant of Abraham, who sought and found a bride for Isaac, there is an illustration or foreshadowing of the work of the Blessed Holy Spirit, who, since the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, has been seeking and forming a bride for Christ.

With full knowledge of Abraham and Isaac, their character and wealth; laden also with valuables as presents, and as evidences of that wealth and good-will and purpose, he proceeded in his mission to "take a wife" for his master's son.

His master, his master's son, their wishes and desires, the blessings and purposes and promises of God concerning them, these were the things which he carried with him as he sought the bride for Isaac after his ordeal on the altar.

Finding her, he brought her, and Isaac met her in the field at evening time.

How beautifully suggestive is this of the finding and forming and bringing and presenting the Church to Christ and their meeting, not on the earth at evening, but in the air in a morning that will never know an evening. What a sequel to His ordeal on the cross! Truly, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied."

OXLEY, C. B. | Aug 1936
Temporal Foreshadowings Of The Eternal