Parshat Noach6 min read

Nimrod, Adam's Garments, and the Tower to Heaven

Nimrod rose by wearing Adam and Eve's stolen garments, then drove Shinar to build a tower where bricks mattered more than bodies.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Coat Hidden After the Flood
  2. The Beasts Bowed Before the King
  3. The Throne Above the Nations
  4. The Tower That Wept for Bricks
  5. Language Broke in Their Hands

The first crown Nimrod wore was a stolen garment.

It had passed through hands that should have kept it holy. God had made the skins for Adam and Eve when Eden closed behind them. From them the garments passed to Enoch, then to Methuselah, then to Noah, who carried them into the ark while the old world drowned. When the ark opened and the survivors stepped onto wet earth, Ham stole them.

The Coat Hidden After the Flood

Ham hid the garments and passed them to Cush. Cush hid them longer. The cloth waited in darkness until Nimrod, Cush's cherished son of old age, turned twenty.

Then Cush brought out the inheritance.

The garments did not announce their own history. No voice came from the skins and said Eden. No seam cried ark. Nimrod put them on, and the world misread the miracle at once. Beasts and birds fell before him when they caught sight of him. Men could not stand against him in battle. Enemies fled. With only a handful of warriors, he shattered the descendants of Japheth and came back wrapped in victory.

The people did not know what he wore. They thought the power was him.

The Beasts Bowed Before the King

That mistake made a kingdom. The people appointed Nimrod over themselves because visible success is hard to argue with. He chose Shinar for his capital and pushed outward from there, city after city, field after field, until the earth felt the pressure of one man's appetite.

He became the first mortal ruler with universal sway, a king whose reach made ordinary kings look provincial. The animals bowed. The soldiers obeyed. The nations came under his hand. The garment kept doing its secret work, and each victory taught the wrong lesson. People no longer trusted God. They trusted strength, speed, weapons, administration, the king who seemed unable to lose.

Nimrod accepted their mistake and sharpened it into doctrine. He made idols of wood and stone. He taught others to look away from the One who had made skin, beast, bird, and battlefield. His son Mardon ran farther down the same road, and a proverb grew from their house: out of the wicked comes wickedness.

The Throne Above the Nations

Success did not satisfy Nimrod. A king can command obedience and still hunger for worship.

He built himself a seat that mimicked heaven badly enough to reveal the hunger behind it. A round rock tower rose first. On it he placed a cedar throne. Above that, four thrones climbed in hard layers: iron, copper, silver, gold. On the golden throne lay a gigantic round precious stone, large enough to become a seat. Nimrod sat above metal and cedar, wrapped in the stolen skins of the first humans, and the nations came to pay him divine honors.

Nothing about the garments had changed. They still belonged to a story of exile, mercy, and survival after judgment. Nimrod wore them as proof that power belonged to the one who could seize and keep. Stolen mercy became imperial costume.

That kind of lie always needs height.

The Tower That Wept for Bricks

In Shinar, the whole earth still had one language. Nimrod's princes and great men gathered with him: Phut, Mitzraim, Cush, Canaan, and their families. They wanted a city and a tower with its top in heaven. They wanted a name. They wanted rule over the world. They wanted not to be scattered by wars.

Their unity had three teeth. One faction wanted to climb and fight God. Another wanted to set its own gods in heaven and serve them there. A third wanted to strike heaven with bows and spears. Six hundred thousand men gathered in the valley east of Shinar, a two days' walk away, and began burning bricks.

The tower grew until distance itself became part of the project. Mortar and bricks took a full year to reach the builders at the top. Men went up and down all day. If a brick fell and broke, they wept over it. If a man fell and died, no one turned his head.

Then arrows flew toward heaven and fell back bloodied. The builders shouted that those above had been slain. The blood was a trap for their arrogance, and they stepped into it gladly.

Language Broke in Their Hands

God called to the seventy angels who stood nearest and sent confusion down into the tower. Words split in men's mouths. A builder asked for mortar and received stone. A man called for brick and got lime. Hands that had once passed tools now threw them. One worker killed another over the meaning of a word that had existed yesterday and vanished by morning.

The punishments followed the designs. Those who had wanted to place their own gods in heaven became like apes and elephants. Those who had wanted to shoot heaven were killed by one another. Those who had wanted to fight God were scattered across the earth.

The tower did not fall cleanly. One third sank into the ground. One third burned by fire from heaven. One third remained aloft, vast enough that its circumference took three days to walk. Nimrod survived, but survival was not vindication. The garments had made beasts bow. They had made armies break. They could not make a stolen throne reach heaven, and they could not keep a single human word from breaking in the hand.

NimrodTower Of BabelCreationHeavenArroganceAdam
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews, IV. Noah, NimrodLegends of the Jews

Nimrod is one of those names. He looms large in Jewish tradition, a figure of immense power, incredible arrogance, and profound sin.

In Legends of the Jews, it all started with some seriously special clothes. Nimrod's father, Cush, had married his mother late in life, making Nimrod a cherished son. Cush gifted him garments made from the skins God gave Adam and Eve after they left Paradise. These weren't just any clothes. They were passed down through generations: from Adam and Eve to Enoch, then to Methuselah, and finally to Noah, who brought them onto the ark.

When the ark's inhabitants disembarked, Ham, Cush's father, swiped the garments and eventually passed them on to Cush, who kept them hidden until Nimrod turned twenty. And these clothes? They were magic.

Wearing them made you invincible, irresistible. Animals bowed before Nimrod, and he crushed his enemies in battle. People, not knowing the source of his strength, attributed it to his own prowess and appointed him king. Imagine the power! He consolidated his power after a conflict between the descendants of Cush and the descendants of Japheth, routing the enemy utterly with only a handful of warriors. Nimrod chose Shinar (a location in Mesopotamia often associated with Babylon) as his capital. From there, he expanded his rule, becoming the first mortal to hold universal sway. A kind of anti-Messiah, if you will. The ninth ruler to possess universal power is said to be the Messiah.

But here's the tragic part: As his power grew, so did his wickedness. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) tells us tales of those who turned away from God. Nimrod didn't just lead a godless life, he actively corrupted others, aided by his equally wicked son, Mardon. It's said that their time gave rise to the proverb, "Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness."

What was the effect of all this success? A disaster, really. People stopped trusting in God, placing their faith instead in their own abilities – an attitude Nimrod actively promoted. People said, "Since the creation of the world there has been none like Nimrod, a mighty hunter of men and beasts, and a sinner before God."

But it wasn’t enough for Nimrod to turn people away from God. He wanted divine honors for himself. So, he set himself up as a god!

According to tradition, he built a tower – a round rock structure – and placed a throne of cedar wood on top. Above that were four more thrones, made of iron, copper, silver, and gold. Crowning it all was a massive, round precious stone. He sat there, and all the nations came to worship him.

Imagine the audacity! The nerve!

Nimrod, in many ways, represents the ultimate human temptation: to believe in our own power above all else, to forget our dependence on something greater than ourselves. He's a cautionary tale, a reminder that true strength lies not in domination, but in humility and faith. He's a figure that makes you wonder: what "clothes" do we wear that give us a false sense of invincibility? And what idols do we build in our own lives, seeking to usurp the place of the Divine?

Full source
Jasher 9Book of Jasher

It offers us a glimpse into Abraham's early life and the world around him. Remember, the Book of Jasher isn't considered sacred scripture in mainstream Judaism, but it's a rich source of legend and lore, offering a unique perspective.

So, what was going on? According to Jasher, Haran, Abraham's older brother, was starting a family. Haran was 39 when he married, and his wife bore him Lot, and daughters Milca and Sarai (who, of course, would later become Sarah). Jasher tells us Sarai was born when Haran was 42, which was the tenth year of Abraham’s life.

Where was our young Abraham during all this? Well, after his little run-in with King Nimrod (as we read in the previous chapter), Abraham and his mother and nurse emerged from their cave hiding place. The king and his court, it seems, had forgotten all about him.

The Book of Jasher then tells us that Abraham went to live with Noah and his son Shem. Yes, that Noah! He remained there for 39 years, learning about God and His ways. Imagine being mentored by Noah himself! No one knew where Abraham was, says the text, and he served Noah and Shem faithfully. This period was crucial, shaping his understanding of the divine.

But the world outside was in a spiritual freefall. Jasher paints a picture of widespread idolatry. People had forgotten the Lord and were worshipping gods of wood and stone – gods that couldn't speak, hear, or deliver. Even Terah, Abraham's own father, was a major idol merchant, having twelve large idols representing the twelve months of the year, to which he'd bring offerings monthly. As we find in Jasher, "Terah with all his household were then the first of those that served gods of wood and stone."

In a world steeped in idol worship, Abraham stood apart. The text emphasizes that almost no one knew the Lord, except for Noah, his family, and those under his counsel. And young Abraham, growing in wisdom and understanding, realized the futility of idol worship. The Book of Jasher says, "The Lord gave Abram an understanding heart, and he knew all the works of that generation were vain, and that all their gods were vain and were of no avail."

There's a beautiful passage describing Abraham's initial, almost scientific, search for God. He observes the sun, thinking it might be God, but then realizes it sets. He then looks to the moon and stars, wondering if they hold the answer. He understands that these celestial bodies are servants of a greater power. This resonates with similar stories found in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), highlighting Abraham's intellectual and spiritual journey toward monotheism.

But the narrative doesn't end with Abraham’s spiritual awakening. The Book of Jasher then shifts to another well-known story: the Tower of Babel. King Nimrod, secure in his reign, united the people, who were all of one language and purpose.

Nimrod's princes and great men, including Phut, Mitzraim, Cush, and Canaan, conspired to build a city and a tower that would reach heaven. Their motivations were threefold, according to Jasher: some wanted to wage war against God, others wanted to place their own gods in heaven, and still others wanted to attack God with bows and spears! Bold, arrogant, and ultimately, doomed.

They gathered a massive workforce, about six hundred thousand men, and found a suitable valley in the land of Shinar. The construction was a major undertaking. The text emphasizes the sheer scale of the project, noting that it took a full year for materials to reach the builders at the top!

But their hubris angered God. The Book of Jasher vividly describes how God confused their languages. Imagine the chaos! One minute you're asking for mortar, the next you're being pelted with bricks because no one understands you. "And from that day following, they forgot each man his neighbor's tongue…and when the builder took from the hands of his neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would cast it away and throw it upon his neighbor, that he would die."

God then punished the builders according to their intentions. Those who wanted to serve other gods were transformed into apes and elephants (a rather… creative punishment!). Those who wanted to attack heaven were killed by their neighbors. And those who wanted to fight God were scattered across the earth.

The city was named Babel, meaning "confusion," because there God confounded the language of the whole earth. And the tower? A third was swallowed by the earth, a third was consumed by fire, and the remaining third stood as a evidence of their folly.

So, what does this all mean? Chapter 9 of the Book of Jasher gives us a richer, more detailed backdrop to the familiar stories of Abraham and the Tower of Babel. It highlights Abraham’s unique spiritual journey in a world consumed by idolatry and sets the stage for his pivotal role in the unfolding narrative of the Hebrew Bible. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of human arrogance and the futility of trying to challenge the divine. It’s a reminder that true understanding comes not from building towers to the heavens, but from seeking the one God with an open heart.

Full source