Parshat Noach6 min read

The Garments God Made in Eden Traveled to Rome Through Blood

God sewed coats for Adam and Eve at their expulsion. Those garments passed through Noah, were stolen by Ham, worn by Nimrod, and taken to Rome.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Four Words That Could Not Be Left Alone
  2. Stolen From a Drunk Father's Tent
  3. Nimrod and the Power of the Hunt
  4. Esau and the Smell of the Field
  5. The Road to Rome

Four Words That Could Not Be Left Alone

Genesis says it in four words: God made them coats of skin. It appears at the end of the expulsion account, right before the locked gate and the flaming sword. Easy to read as a kindness, a divine farewell gift, and move on. The tradition did not move on. The questions were too large. What skin? From what animal? Did God Himself do the sewing? And most urgently: where did those garments go?

Some of the earliest readers of the Hebrew understood the word differently. The coats were not or, skin, but or, light. A single vowel mark changed the meaning entirely, and several ancient sources preserved the reading: what God made for Adam and Eve at their expulsion were not leather coats but garments of radiance, the same light that had clothed them before the transgression, now condensed into a wearable form. Either way, skin or light, they were made by the divine hand in the final moments of Eden. They were not ordinary cloth.

Stolen From a Drunk Father's Tent

The garments passed through the antediluvian generations, handed down from Adam through the righteous lineage, until they reached Noah, who brought them onto the ark. When the flood ended and Noah planted his vine and drank and lay uncovered in his tent, his son Ham entered. The tradition says Ham did not merely see his father's nakedness. He took something. The garments of Eden, the coats God had sewn in the garden, went with Ham out of the tent.

This is the tradition's deepest explanation for the curse of Canaan. The sin in the tent was not a glance. It was a theft of sacred inheritance. Ham walked out carrying the most powerful garments in human history, and he passed them to his son Canaan. From Canaan they passed to Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, the mighty hunter before God, the man who would build Babel and make himself ruler of all the post-flood world.

Nimrod and the Power of the Hunt

When Nimrod put on Adam's garments, something happened. The animals of the field became still before him. They came to him willingly, or fled too slowly to escape. Every hunt succeeded. Every expedition returned laden. The tradition says this was the garments' doing: they had been made for the first man, who had been given dominion over all living things, and whoever wore them inherited that dominion in a distorted form. Nimrod became the greatest hunter who ever lived not because of his skill but because he was wearing Eden's authority around his shoulders.

With that power he built his empire. The same garments that had clothed Adam's dignity in the Garden were now worn by the man building the tower to storm heaven. The inversion was deliberate in the telling: what God had made as a mercy at the moment of expulsion had become, through theft and murder, an instrument of rebellion.

Esau and the Smell of the Field

When Esau killed Nimrod, he took the garments. The tradition says this was not a random robbery. Esau had heard of them. He had hunted alongside Nimrod, watched the animals come willingly, understood that the source of Nimrod's uncanny power was the clothing he wore. On the day he ambushed Nimrod in the field, Esau stripped the garments off the body before anyone could reach them.

These are the garments that Rebekah would later put on Jacob when she sent him in to deceive his father Isaac. When Isaac smelled Jacob and said the smell of my son is like the smell of a field, he was smelling Eden. The garments carried the fragrance of the original garden. Isaac was nearly blind by then, could not see his sons clearly, but he could smell what those clothes carried, and what he smelled convinced him he was in the presence of his firstborn. The blessing that changed everything flowed from a deception, but the deception was possible because of garments that had traveled from the Garden through Nimrod through Esau to Rebekah's hands.

The Road to Rome

The tradition does not end with Jacob. Esau, cheated of his blessing and his garments both, went to his son Eliphaz and commanded him to kill Jacob on the road. Eliphaz caught Jacob but could not kill him, settling instead for taking everything Jacob carried, leaving him with nothing. The garments by this point had passed through generations of violence, each transfer a theft or a killing or a deception.

Esau's descendants built Rome. The tradition that traces this lineage says the sacred garments traveled with them, entering the imperial treasury, worn eventually by the line of rulers who would descend from Esau's stock. The same coats God sewed in Eden, the coats that had clothed the first human beings in their expulsion, ended up inside the empire that would destroy the Second Temple and scatter Israel into exile. The tradition finds this unbearable and inevitable. The stolen property of the righteous empowers the wicked until the account is settled.

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

Jasher 11Book of Jasher

What about the generations that followed? What were they up to? The Book of Jasher, an ancient text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers some fascinating, and sometimes startling, answers.

The story picks up with Nimrod, that mighty hunter we meet in Genesis. According to Jasher, Nimrod wasn't just hunting animals. He was building an empire. He constructs cities in the land of Shinar (that's Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq). And get this: the names of the cities themselves are a commentary on the Tower of Babel incident!

First, there's Babel, of course, named "because the Lord there confounded the language of the whole earth." Then Erech, because from there God dispersed the people. Eched, a memorial to a great battle. And finally, Calnah, where Nimrod's princes and mighty men were "consumed" because they rebelled against God. Ouch.

Nimrod settles in Babel and, despite the whole tower debacle, doubles down on wickedness. He's even given a new name, Amraphel, because "at the tower his princes and men fell through his means." His son, Mardon, is even worse! The verse reads, "From the wicked goeth forth wickedness." It's a harsh assessment, but it sets the stage for what's to come.

We also hear about a war between the families of Ham, one of Noah's sons. Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, subdues five cities and makes them pay tribute for twelve years. This detail might sound random, but it actually connects to a later biblical narrative involving Abraham and his rescue of Lot (Genesis 14).

But the real heart of this chapter centers on a young Abram. We learn that in the fiftieth year of his life, Abram leaves Noah's house and returns to his father Terah. And here's where things get really interesting. Abram, already knowing the Lord, is appalled by the idolatry he finds in his father's home. Terah, you see, is not just a regular guy. He’s "captain of the host of king Nimrod," and he's deeply involved in serving "strange gods."

The text paints a vivid picture: twelve gods standing in their temples. Abram, filled with righteous anger, vows to destroy them. And he doesn't waste any time.

He confronts his father, asking about the Creator. Terah proudly presents his idols. Abram pretends to be interested in making offerings, even tricking his mother into preparing savory meat for the idols. But of course, the idols do nothing. They can't eat, they can't speak, they can't even move.

Then, the pivotal moment: Abram is "clothed with the spirit of God." He denounces the idols and, in a dramatic act of defiance, he grabs a hatchet and smashes them all! He then cleverly places the hatchet in the hand of the largest idol, setting the stage for a hilarious (and tense) confrontation with his father.

Terah, understandably furious, confronts Abram. Abram, with remarkable audacity, claims the largest idol destroyed the others in a fit of jealousy. Terah, of course, doesn't buy it. "Are they not wood and stone, and have I not myself made them?" he demands.

Abram then turns the question back on his father: "And how canst thou then serve these idols in whom there is no power to do anything? Can those idols in which thou trustest deliver thee?"

The argument escalates, culminating in Abram snatching the hatchet and running away. Terah, enraged, runs to Nimrod, demanding justice.

The scene shifts to a royal court. Nimrod, surrounded by his princes, interrogates Abram. Abram repeats his story about the large idol. When Nimrod scoffs, Abram turns his fire on the king himself, condemning his idolatry and warning him of divine judgment, even referencing the Flood as a consequence of similar wickedness.

Abram concludes with a powerful call to repentance: "Now therefore put away this evil deed which thou doest, and serve the God of the universe, as thy soul is in his hands, and then it will be well with thee." And if not? "Then wilt thou die in shame in the latter days."

The chapter ends with Abram lifting his eyes to heaven, declaring that the Lord sees all the wicked and will judge them. It's a powerful image of faith and defiance in the face of overwhelming opposition.

So, what do we take away from this? The story of Abram's iconoclasm, his smashing of idols, isn't just a tale of youthful rebellion. It’s a foundational narrative about challenging false gods, about speaking truth to power, and about choosing faith over conformity. It sets the stage for the entire Abrahamic tradition, reminding us that sometimes, the most faithful thing we can do is to break the idols in our own lives and in the world around us. And that takes courage, doesn’t it?

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Chronicles of Jerahmeel XXXIIChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

Nimrod was not merely a tyrant. He was the seed of the world's first false religion. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, the compiler Jerahmeel drew on the ancient geographer Strabo of Caphtor to record an alternative tradition: Nimrod was actually a son of Shem, not Ham. He began his reign in Babylon and fathered Bel.

Before seizing power, Nimrod traveled to Jonithes, a son of Noah who possessed the spirit of the Lord. Jonithes foresaw through astrology that Nimrod would come seeking counsel on how to obtain sovereignty. He revealed to Nimrod the vision of four kingdoms that Daniel would later see. And told him that the descendants of Ashur, the children of Shem, would rule first.

After Nimrod died, his son Bel succeeded him in Babylon. After Bel came Ninus, who conquered Assyria and built the great city of Nineveh, which stretched thirty days' walking distance. Ninus defeated Zoroaster the Wise, who had inscribed seven sciences on fourteen pillars of brass and brick to protect them against flood and fire. Ninus burned those books of wisdom.

When Bel died, Ninus was so grief-stricken that he made an image in his father's likeness and called it "Bel." Anyone whom Ninus hated could be pardoned by approaching the image of Bel and supplicating it. Soon the whole world worshipped the god Bel, and variations appeared everywhere. Ba'al Pe'or, Ba'al Zebub. This, the chronicle claims, is how idol worship spread across the earth. In the forty-third year of Ninus's reign, Abraham was born, and on that very same day, the first Pharaoh began to rule in Egypt.

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Jasher 27Book of Jasher

Sefer haYashar, as it's known in Hebrew, is an ancient text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), though the version we have today is likely a medieval work that draws upon older traditions and midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) interpretations.

Our story centers on Esau, the brother of Jacob, and Nimrod, the mighty hunter and king of Babel. According to the Book of Jasher, after the death of Abraham, Esau was frequently out hunting. Nimrod, identified here as Amraphel (a name familiar from the story of Abraham and the kings in Genesis 14), was also a keen hunter, often accompanied by his warriors.

There was a darkness brewing. That "a jealousy was formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau all the days." Why? The Jasher doesn't explicitly say, but we can infer a power struggle, a sense of rivalry between these two powerful figures.

One day, Esau is out hunting and spots Nimrod in the wilderness with only two companions. Nimrod's mighty men were also in the field, but they were far away. Seizing the opportunity, Esau ambushes Nimrod, drawing his sword and cutting off his head! A brutal act, to be sure.

Esau then fights and kills Nimrod's two companions. The cries of these men are heard by Nimrod's warriors in the distance. They rush to the scene, only to find their king and his companions dead. Seeing them approach, Esau flees.

But he doesn't leave empty-handed. Esau takes Nimrod's valuable garments, garments that Nimrod's father had bequeathed to him, garments that had, helped Nimrod gain power over the land. Esau hides these garments in his house.

Exhausted and grief-stricken from the fight, Esau stumbles into his brother Jacob's presence. "Behold I shall die this day," he cries, "and wherefore then do I want the birthright?"

Ah, the birthright. The inheritance, the blessing, the future. Jacob, ever the pragmatist, seizes the moment. He acts "wisely," the text says, and Esau sells his birthright to Jacob. Not only that, but Esau also sells his portion in the Cave of Machpelah, the burial ground Abraham had purchased (Genesis 23). Jacob documents the entire transaction, sealing it with witnesses.

And what of Nimrod? His men carry his body back to the city and bury him. The Book of Jasher tells us Nimrod lived for 215 years and reigned for 185. He died, the text emphasizes, "by the sword of Esau in shame and contempt," and that the seed of Abraham caused his death, as Nimrod had seen in a dream.

The aftermath is significant. Nimrod's kingdom fractures, and the lands he controlled are returned to their original rulers. The people of Nimrod's house are enslaved.

What are we to make of this story? It’s a violent tale of power, jealousy, and opportunity. It paints Esau as a cunning and ruthless figure, not just the simple hunter of popular imagination. And it highlights Jacob's shrewdness, his ability to recognize and seize opportunities, even in the midst of tragedy. It's a far more complex and nuanced picture than we often get.

The Book of Jasher provides us with a glimpse into the tradition of Jewish tradition, displaying how stories evolve, adapt, and offer different perspectives on familiar narratives. It reminds us that even the most well-known figures have hidden depths, and that the past is never quite as simple as it seems.

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Chronicles of Jerahmeel XLChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

After the Tower of Babel, the descendants of the nations scattered into separate companies. The Kittim settled in the plain of Campania by the river Tiber, while the children of Tubal built the city of Sabino nearby. Conflict erupted immediately, the children of Tubal refused to let the Kittim intermarry with them. So during harvest, the young men of Kittim raided Sabino and kidnapped their daughters.

The next year, when Tubal's army marched against them, the Kittim held up the babies born of those stolen daughters on the city walls. "You have come to fight your own sons and daughters," they called out. "Are we not your own flesh and blood?" The attack was called off.

Into this world came Sefo, the son of Eliphaz, the grandson of Esau. He had fled from Egypt after Joseph's death and served as a captain in Carthage. One day, searching for a lost bull near a mountain, he discovered a cave containing a monstrous creature, human from the waist down, goat from the waist up, devouring his cattle. Sefo split its skull open. The grateful Kittim named the beast "Janus" and gave Sefo that name as an honorific, crowning him their king.

He acquired a second name, Saturnus, after the planet Shabtai, which the Kittim worshipped. Janus Saturnus reigned fifty-five years over all the Kittim and Italy. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, this genealogy traces Rome's founding directly back to the house of Esau. Through Sefo's line came generations of kings who built temples, waged wars, and eventually established the city of Roma, named after Romulus, who built its walls and made a covenant with David.

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