Nimrod, Nibiru, Anunnaki

Study by: Rob Skiba

In the prior post, I laid the foundation for what was going on before and immediately after the Flood as it pertains to the ancient gods. I also showed you what they did that so provoked the God of Heaven to destroy a world that had already been thoroughly corrupted. The Pre-Flood world was an amazing and terrifying place full of hybrids. Our world is turning into the same thing today. But Yeshua warns us:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” – Matthew 24:21-22  

God HAD to step in during the days of Noah in order to preserve mankind, the animals, plants and even the planet itself from the corruption of the gods. Consider how bad it was during the time of the Flood, then consider carefully what Yeshua (Jesus) has to say about the days ahead.

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  – Luke 21:25-2

We next need to look at the Sumerian family of gods (which became that of the Assyrians and Babylonians) .

The Sumerians. Their writings rank amongst the oldest on the planet. It is from those writings that we learn about the “star gods” called the Anunnaki. I could easily find myself writing an entire book series just about them. And believe me, it is very tempting to do so. There is so much that could be said about them concerning the past, but I’ve become more and more intrigued by what may come (from them) in the future. And this series of God vs god will certainly take us there. But for now, let’s just take a little peak into the past.

Wikipedia notes that the Sumerian religion refers to the mythology, pantheon, rites and cosmology of the Sumerian civilization, further stating:

The Sumerian religion influenced Mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other culture groups.

Thus, the Sumerian/Assyrian/Babylonian beliefs are often lumped into the title, “Mesopotamian” as they all centered around that same region of the globe. Concerning the Mesopotamian religion  Wikipedia goes on to say:

Some, such as the historian Jean Bottero, have made the claim that the Mesopotamian religion is the worlds oldest faith although there are several other claims to that title. Although as writing was invented in Mesopotamia, it is certainly the oldest faith in written history. What we know about Mesopotamian religion comes from archaeological evidence uncovered in the region, particularly literary sources, which are usually written in cuneiform on clay tablets and which describe both mythology and cultic practices. However, other artifacts can also be used as the Mesopotamians’ “entire existence was infused by their religiosity, just about everything they have passed on to us can be used as a source of knowledge about their religion.”

Although it mostly died out 1600 to 1700 years ago, Mesopotamian religion has still had an influence on the modern world, predominantly because much Biblical mythology that is today found in Judaism,Christianity, Islam and Mandeanism shares some overlapping consistency with much older ancient Mesopotamian myths, in particular the Creation Myth, the Garden of Eden, The Great Flood, Tower of Babel and mythical Biblical characters such as Nimrod and Lilith (the Assyrian Lilitu). In addition the story of Moses’ origins shares a striking similarity with that of Sargon of Akkad, and the Ten Commandments mirror older Assyrian-Babylonian legal codes to some degree. It has also inspired various contemporary Neopagan groups to begin worshipping the Mesopotamian deities once more, albeit in a way often different from that of the Mesopotamian peoples.

Those are some pretty bold claims. Their writings do predate those of the Bible. As such, many claim that the Biblical accounts are copies of the Mesopotamian accounts of the same incidents. But are they really? Again, an entire series of books could be written about this, so I’m not going to focus too much on all of that here. Google is your friend and using it you can find a lot about this for yourself. But I do think a few things are worth pointing out for the purpose of this blog series.

Historians recognize that dating anything beyond 3,000 BC is often problematic and thus can not be considered absolute.

Estimation of absolute dates becomes possible for the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC. For the first half of the 3rd millennium, only very rough chronological matching of archaeological dates with written records is possible.

What makes that difficult is the Flood, which occurred around 2,350 BC. That global event dramatically disturbed the geology of the Earth and completely obliterated any prior civilizations that may have existed. Thus, at best, all we have are stories and artifacts that can be assumed to date from the periods before (but which were more likely from a time immediately following) the Flood. Tales of events prior to the Flood probably have some basis in truth, but they are often filled with embellishment, contradiction and bizarre, surrealistic accounts as a result of the verbal telling and retelling of those events by many people prior to these stories finally being written down. My personal belief is that Fallen Angels aided in the telling of those Pre-Flood events to different people groups that arose from the division of languages at the Tower of Babel. Then God finally gave the true accounts to Moses some time later to set the record straight. But let’s see how the stories match up in the case of the Sumerians.

Note what Wikipedia has to say about Mesopotamia’s history

The peoples of Mesopotamia originally consisted of two peoples, the Semitic Akkadians (later to be known as Assyrians and Babylonians) and the Sumerians. These peoples were not originally one united nation, but members of various different city-states. In the fourth millennium BCE, when the first evidence for what is recognizably Mesopotamian religion can be seen with the invention in Mesopotamia of writing circa 3,500 BCE, the Sumerians appeared, although it is not known if they migrated into the area in pre historic times or whether they were some of the original inhabitants. They settled in southern Mesopotamia, which became known as Sumer, and had a great influence over the Semitic Akkadian peoples and their culture. The Sumerians were incredibly advanced, as well as inventing Writing, they also invented Mathematics, Wheeled Vehicles, Astronomy, Astrology, The Calendar and created the first City States/Nations such as Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Isin, Umma and Larsa. In the north, in an area known as Akkad, a civilisation known as the Akkadian arose, who spoke a semitic language that was distinct from that of the Sumerians who spoke a language isolate.

So, the earliest evidence of any civilization seems to point to the 3,500 BC timeframe. Wikipedia says that the Sumerians were “incredibly advanced” and that they invented writing, mathematics and all sorts of other sciences and innovations. Well, look at what happened in 3,500 BC (in the chart above). According to the Book of Enoch, that’s when the Watchers showed up! Enoch also records that the Fallen taught men those very things listed above (and more)!

Thus, I believe that the Anunnaki – a race so named because they were “Princess of the Royal (genetic) Seed” (or some translate it as, “Those who from heaven to earth came”) – were the “sons of God” or the Sumerian equivalent of the giant Greek Titans, the Hebrew Watchers and Pre-Flood Nephilim – the first super-advanced parents and hybrid offspring to walk the earth.

They supposedly came to earth from a world known as Nibiru (or the infamous “Planet X”). This is a subject many people are talking about these days – especially as we move through 2012 to the next few years.

Did Nibiru pass by Earth before? Will Nibiru return? Is it even a real planet at all? I believe the answer to all three questions is yes.

Notice how researchers like to say that many stories in the Old Testament represent “shorter versions of” or “copies of” ancient Sumerian writings. We read the same thing in the paragraph from Wikipedia above. Well, while doing my research, I found a Short Chronology Timeline of ancient cultures and in that timeline something immediately jumped out at me. The earliest records point to one of the first kings of the Mesopotamian region, a man known as Sargon.

Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great “The Great King” (Akkadian Šarru-kīnu, meaning “the true king” or “the king is legitimate”),was an Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 23rd and 22nd centuries BC.The founder of the Dynasty of Akkad, Sargon reigned from 2,270 to 2,215 BC (short chronology).He became a prominent member of the royal court of Kish, killing the king and usurping his throne before embarking on the quest to conquer Mesopotamia. He was originally referred to as Sargon I until records concerning an Assyrian king also named Sargon (now usually referred to as Sargon I) were unearthed.

Many have made the connection that “Kish” is the “Cush” of the Bible (Nimrod’s father according to Genesis). So, is this record saying that Nimrod killed his father? It would seem so. The above quoted Wikipedia source also makes the connection that Sargon may in fact be Nimrod:

Stories of Sargon’s power and that of his empire may have influenced the body of folklore that was later incorporated into the Bible. A number of scholars have speculated that Sargon may have been the inspiration for the biblical figure of Nimrod who figures in the Book of Genesis as well as in midrashi and Talmudic literature.  The Bible mentions Akkad as being one of the first city-states of Nimrod’s kingdom, but does not explicitly state that he built it.

That author suggests that this Sargon character was the “inspiration for the biblical figure of Nimrod” implying that the Bible merely borrowed its story from elsewhere. But I submit that the Bible is simply confirming the story – just from a Hebrew perspective (as dictated to Moses by God). Nimrod is not a name. It is a title that means, “the rebellious one.” That certainly seems to fit the above description of Sargon. Notice also the sculpture of this character to the right. It has one eye missing! Keep this in mind as we continue this study.

The date given for his reign is 2,270 – 2,215 BC. That believed date almost perfectly fits the timeframe depicted in my Biblical Timeline of Human History Chart as being just prior to the Tower of Babel (which of course was built by Nimrod)!

Researchers believe the Sumerians referred to the Anunnaki as the creators of life – or more specifically man – on this Earth. Keep this in mind as well. Those “creation” events are written after the fact. But notice, even in their writings, the Sumerians believe that the Anunnaki returned to mate with human women. Hmmmm. Sound familiar? Again, their timing of events certainly seems to match the timing of Biblical events that I’m writing about in this series, don’t they?

I believe what we are seeing here is evidence that the Devil very strategically set the stage long ago for The Coming Great Deception. And notice that the Anunnaki are said to have landed and set up shop in what the Bible calls, the land of Shinar – or ancient Iraq (Babylon). Hmmmm. Again I ask, “Sound familiar?”

When it comes to the Sumerian god family tree, things get pretty complicated!

There are other charts that have some different arrangements, so I’m not even sure that anyone truly knows the actual breakdown. Wikipedia tries to simplify it for us:

The majority of Sumerian deities belonged to a classification called the Anunna (“[offspring] of An”), whereas seven deities, including Enlil and Inanna, belonged to a group of “underworld judges” known as the Anunnaki (“[offspring] of An” + Ki). During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian pantheon included sixty times sixty (3600) deities.

The main Sumerian deities are as follows:

• An: God of heaven/the firmament.
• Enlil: God of the air (from Lil = Air); patron deity of Nippur.
• Enki: God of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge; patron deity of Eridu.
• Inanna: Goddess of sexual love, female fertility and warfare; matron deity of Uruk.
• Ki: Goddess of the earth.
• Nanna, God of the moon; one of the patron deities of Ur
• Ningal: Wife of Nanna.
• Ninlil: An air goddess and wife of Enlil; one of the matron deities of Nippur; she was believed to reside in the same temple as Enlil.
• Ninurta: God of war, agriculture, one of the Sumerian wind gods; patron deity of Girsu and one of the patron deities of Lagash.
• Utu: God of the sun at the E’barbara temple of Sippa

As I said, I have seen many different variations of family trees for these gods. I have tried to weed through them in order to create a chart that we can work with. Thus, I present the following (simplified) diagram of the Sumerian god family tree:

In this simplified chart, we have Tiamat and Apsu (as well as Anshar and Kishar) in the Ultimate Source Tier, followed by Antu, Anu and Ki as the Top Tier gods who produced Enki, Nin-khursag and Enlil as Middle Tier gods. And in the Final / Demi-god Tier, we see Marduk, Ninurta and Gilgamesh (which all seem to represent Nimrod in one form or another). In this case, it is Marduk as the Babylonian version of Nimrod who is the one who rises up to usurp all of the others to become the top god.

Observe what the on-line Jewish Encyclopedia has to say about this:

Two prominent theories are now held in regard to Nimrod’s identity: one, adopted by G. Smith and Jeremias, is that Nimrod is to be identified with the Babylonian hero Izdubar or Gishdubar (Gilgamesh); the second, that of Sayce,Pinches, and others, identifies Nimrod with Marduk, the Babylonian Mercury. The former identification is based on the fact that Izdubar is represented in the Babylonian epos as a mighty hunter, always accompanied by four dogs, and as the founder of the first great kingdom in Asia. Moreover, instead of “Izdubar”—the correct reading of which had not yet been determined—Jeremias saw the possibility of reading “Namra Udu” (shining light), a reading which would have made the identification with Nimrod almost certain. Those who identify Nimrod with Marduk, however, object that the name of Izdubar must be read, as is now generally conceded, “Gilgamesh,” and that the signs which constitute the name of Marduk, who also is represented as a hunter, are read phonetically “Amar Ud”; and ideographically they may be read “Namr Ud”—in Hebrew “Nimrod.” The difficulty of reconciling the Biblical Nimrod, the son of Cush, with Marduk, the son of Ea, may be overcome by interpreting the Biblical words as meaning that Nimrod was a descendant of Cush.

Two other theories may be mentioned: one is that Nimrod represents the constellation of Orion; the other is that Nimrod stands for a tribe, not an individual (comp. Lagarde, “Armenische Studien,” in “Abhandlungen der Göttinger Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften,” xxii. 77; Nöldeke, in “Z. D. M. G.” xxviii. 279).

So, here we see our buddy Nimrod represented in yet another pantheon of ancient deities. You just can’t get away from the guy!

There are two others in the Sumerian pantheon of extreme interest: Enlil and Enki. They had the same father (Anu), but two different mothers. And guess what? These step-brothers didn’t get along!

According to Sumerian texts (as detailed in Genesis of the Grail Kings ), Anu made a decision:

“The gods had clasped their hands together, Had cast lots and had divided. Anu then went up to heaven. To Enlil the Earth was made subject. The seas, enclosed as with a loop, They had given to Enki, the Prince of Earth.”

Laurence Gardner points out:

“Enki was not happy about his brother’s promotion because, although Enlil was the elder of the two, his mother (Ki) was Anu’s junior sister, whereas Enki’s mother (Antu) was the senior sister. True kingship, claimed Enki, progressed as a matrilineal institution through the female line, and by this right of descent Enki maintained that he was the first born of the royal succession.”

“I am the great brother of the gods.

I am he who has been born as the first son of the divine Anu.”

Thus, through pride and envy Enki was discontent and sought to be “top dog.” In this myth, we see a similarity between God being personified as the character of Enlil and Lucifer as Enki. And there is no shortage of interesting information out there depicting who did what amongst the people of earth and when. But what I find most interesting is the fact that Enki is depicted as essentially the “good guy” – the one who both created mankind as well as offered him wisdom and knowledge.

In his book, The Gods of Eden, William Bramley noted,

“We therefore find Ea [Enki] as the reputed culprit who tried to teach early man (Adam) the way to spiritual freedom. This suggests that Ea intended his creation, Homo sapiens, to be suited for Earth labor, but at some point he changed his mind about using spiritual enslavement as a means.”

While Enki is credited for having created Adam and Eve, Enlil is depicted as the one who created Eden. And from a Biblical perspective, it was Enki who was the serpent in the garden offering spiritual enlightenment by offering the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they did eat the “forbidden fruit,” it was Enlil who drove them out of the Garden. Enki then came to their aide and clothed them. Throughout the Sumerian texts, it is Enlil who is depicted as the stand-offish one who lets his people suffer. He is the one who causes the problems. Enki is depicted as the good guy, the savior, the angel of light. Wikipedia describes him:

Enki was considered a god of life and replenishment, and was often depicted with two streams of water emanating from his shoulders, one the Tigris, the other the Euphrates. Alongside him were trees symbolizing the female and male aspects of nature, each holding the female and male aspects of the ‘Life Essence’, which he, as apparent alchemist of the gods, would masterfully mix to create several beings that would live upon the face of the earth.

In character Enki is not a jester or trickster god, he is never a cheat, and although fooled, he is not a fool. Enki uses his magic for the good of others when called upon to help either a deity or a human. Enki is always true to his own essence as a masculine nurturer. He is fundamentally a trouble-shooter god, and avoids or disarms those who bring conflict and death to the world. He is the mediator whose compassion and sense of humor breaks and disarms the wrath of his stern half-brother, Enlil, king of the gods.

Whereas, to the Sumerians, Enlil was the one who helped create the humans, but then got tired of their noise and tried to kill them by sending a flood. Thus, I suspect that this view of the One True God will be prominent when the Anunnaki return – with Enki appearing as our “good creator god,” the one who loves us and wants to protect us from the “big bad god” Enlil.

I say that as a warning because, as the opening to the old Battlestar Galactica  series used to say, “There are those who believe that life   here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may   have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. [That   they may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost   civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis.]*   Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to   survive somewhere beyond the heavens.” * from the extended theatrical version

The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens series and a whole lot of other documentaries are out there seriously pushing that idea. It’s not just science fiction anymore. It has become mainstream. They are brainwashing us into believing that the Anunnaki are our creators and friends. Therefore, I am writing this series of blogs because with Planet X presumably on its way back, and the inhabitants of Nibiru possibly stopping by to say, “Hi” – warning us about some impending doom (which would really be the return of Christ), we must not be fooled into believing the lie.

According to Creation.com, in an article titled, Aliens in your bedroom? a recent survey showed:

• There are about 150 reported sightings worldwide every day. [Note: this number is increasing.
• 90–95% of all UFO sightings have been readily explained as natural or man-made phenomena, such as the planet Venus or mistaken satellites. [Note: I       believe this number is exaggerated. If you look at the “readily explained” answers given, they are usually quite ridiculous – especially to the person who knows what they saw. If anyone tried to “explain away” what I saw as “natural or man-made phenomena” I would laugh at them]
• UFOs have been seen on commercial and military radar screens—even by a US President (Jimmy Carter in 1969).
• They are said to change shape and merge into one another.
• They appear to defy the laws of physics by traveling thousands of miles per hour, and change directions without slowing down.
• Some polls suggest that up to 20 million Americans have seen a UFO and four million claim to actually have been abducted by aliens.
• Science fiction is the most popular entertainment genre of today, accounting for about 70% plus of all movie box office receipts at any one time.
• UFO ‘experiences’ are often generational; that is, spanning several generations of family members.
• The UFO cults are some of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world (the Raelians for example).

In another article titled, Prepare ye the way—the aliens are coming! Popular fantasy becomes cultural ‘fact’  Creation.com author, Gary Bates notes:

Vatican astronomer wants to baptize ET

In late 2009 the Vatican held a conference to discuss how Catholic theology is affected by the existence of extraterrestrials. It should be worthy of note that no one ever really questioned whether ET exists or not. That ‘fact’ seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Note that I was actually interviewed by the Washington Post for my opinion on the conference. Then international news broadcaster CNN repeated my summation from that interview. The CNN report can be seen here. Now the Pope’s astronomer Dr Guy Consolmagno, on whom we have reported before said he would even be happy to baptize an alien, but “Only if they asked”. It was reported that “A self-confessed science fiction fan, he said he was ‘comfortable’ with the idea of alien life.”

My friend and fellow researcher, LA Marzulli likes to say, “UFOs are real, burgeoning and not going away!” And he is absolutely right! This issue is not going away. In fact, we’re going to start seeing more and more strange phenomena in the skies and I believe we are due a “visitation” any day now. Through all forms of media, we have even been conditioned to expect them. In fact, the following video produced over a decade ago (in 1995) says “Disney engineers have designed a way to prepare humans for their inevitable alien encounter.”

Notice how Disney depicts “our inevitable alien encounter!” Again, I am reminded of Yeshua’s words:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” – Matthew 24:21-22 

Also, remember that King Solomon said,

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 1:9

Alien abduction phenomena is nothing more than repackaged Genesis 6 activity. In fact, I would go even further and state that it is a fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s words regarding the toes of the great statue in King Nebuchadnezzar’ dream:

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.– Daniel 2:42 & 43 

You may disagree with that interpretation and it may be tempting to blow all of this stuff off as crazy, but again I remind you of the words of our Lord:

“As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

There have been wars and rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, earthquakes and all sorts of other “signs” for the last two thousand years. That stuff isn’t all that unusual. Why did Yeshua specifically liken the time of His return to the days of Noah? What was so different about Noah’s day from any other time in history? It was the stuff I am writing about. The activity of the Fallen Angels, the Watchers, the Nephilim and their offspring. It was the reality of the Anunnaki that set those days apart as different from any other in human history and we’d be wise to know about them so that we can discern the times we are living in and be prepared for what is coming.

I was about to wrap this post, but I felt like there was one more thing to address – one more interesting point about the Mesopotamians – before moving on to explore the Egyptian mythology. And that is the issue of the Code of Hammurabi supposedly being a precursor to the Ten Commandments. Did Moses simply rip off another culture’s laws and claim them for the Hebrews? Was he simply a copycat?

The Code of Hammurabi was written by a Sumerian man named (big surprise!) Hammurabi around 1,786 BC.

Hammurabi is best known for the promulgation of a new code of Babylonian law: the Code of Hammurabi.This Law was written before the Mosaic Code and was one of the first written laws in the world. The Code of Hammurabi was written on a stele, a large stone monument, and placed in a public place so that all could see it, although it is thought that few were literate.

The Prologue of the Code states:

When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunnaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

and continues…

When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness in . . . , and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.

As we’ve already seen, Marduk was yet another name for Nimrod. So, who was this Hammurabi? We know that he served under king Marduk and that he appears to have been a “righteous man.” According to Wikipedia, the name Hammurabi is Akkadian from Amorite and it derives it’s meaning from Ammurāpi, meaning “the kinsman is a healer,” and from Ammu meaning, “paternal kinsman,” and Rāpi, “healer”. So, his Amorite name essentially means, “a paternal, kinsman healer.” Hmmmmm.

Placing Hammurabi in the late 1,700’s BC, means he lived just after the time of the Biblical Patriarch, Abraham. And actually, looking at the chart above, if the Code of Hammurabi was written in 1,786 BC, that means it was probably written just after the death of Nimrod (Marduk).

Since it was Anu and Bel who commissioned Hammurabi to write these laws in order “to destroy the evil doers: so that the strong should not harm the weak,” could it be that Marduk’s murder was the reason for the publishing of these laws? Now that the “rebellious one,” the “man of lawlessness” was dead, maybe it was time to put some laws into action? Was there any precedence for creating laws that might resemble those which would later come in the form of the Ten Commandments?

Consider this promise God made to Abraham’s son Isaac:

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.  – Genesis 26:4-5 

What commandments, statutes and laws did Abram keep? Moses won’t be around for quite some time, so the text is not talking about the Ten Commandments. So, what laws could God be referring to?

Abram left Ur which was in the land of Shinar (Babylon) around 1,947 BC. But prior to that, He had used Abram to teach all of Nimrod-Marduk’s people the ways of God. We know this because of a very interesting story from the Book of Jasher. There was an event that happened to Abram when he was 50 years old. God spared his life. The king (Nimrod) inquired about how he was saved. Abram told him that it was the One True God of Heaven that saved him. Here is what happened next:

And Abram went forth from the king in peace, and many of the king’s servants followed him, and about three hundred men joined him. And Abram returned on that day and went to his father’s house, he and the men that followed him, and Abram served the Lord his God all the days of his life, and he walked in his ways and followed his law. And from that day forward Abram inclined the hearts of the sons of men to serve the Lord. – Jasher 12:41-43

So by that time, Abram was definitely a “one God only” kind of guy. He had put off all of the old gods of his father and that of Nimrod’s kingdom. Whereas, from the full description in the prologue to the Code of Hammurabi, it is pretty obvious that Hammi still strongly believed in many different gods. He referred to “Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunnaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth” – neither of which represents the God of Abram. He also mentioned a bunch of other gods from the Sumerian pantheon after that. Therefore, if the Ten Commandments were supposedly a copy of the Code of Hammurabi, I don’t think the FIRST Commandment given to Moses would be

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me!”

No. I’m thinking it may be that the Code of Hammurabi was a copy of some as yet not found document or verbal law that was known to Abram (as stated in Genesis 26) and thus taught to the people of the land from which Hammurabi came. Therefore, as opposed to thinking Moses copied Hammurabi, the tables might be turned and the accusation may well be that Hammurabi copied some of the laws and principles that Abram had followed!

The point I’m trying to make here is that many secular scholars love to try and find ways to discredit the Bible. This is one such attempt. As we’re learning here, to say that the Hebrews copied the Sumerians, the Babylonians and others is not really a valid accusation. And as one Rabbi put it (regarding the Hammurabi vs Moses argument),

Only by emphasizing the similarities do the two codes look similar. By carefully analyzing the differences, however, we find that the two codes are based on strikingly different principles.

Professor Greenberg adds,

The main difference between the two law systems can be found in the introductions and side comments of the codes. Hammurabi repeatedly refers to his code as “my words which I have inscribed on my monument.” They are his words. In the Babylonian theology, the king was appointed by the gods to establish justice. The king was the source of the law.

In the Bible, this is not the case. G-d is the source of the laws. They are referred to as “words of G-d” and never of man. Indeed, violation of the law is seen as a religious sin. “He who acts wilfully [against the law] whether he belongs to the native-born or the aliens is reviling G-d” (Numbers 15:30).

For more, see: http://www.aishdas.org/toratemet/en_yitro.html

What I hope you are seeing here is the fact that ancient history can be reconciled to the Biblical account in many ways. Our Bible is true and trustworthy. Every story is relevant. And viewing the Bible from a mythological word view is proving to be a valuable way of interpreting those stories. I believe this method is also revealing some things that I don’t think you could otherwise see without approaching the material from this angle.

As we move forward, you are going to find that the usual interpretation of Bible prophecy is going to take on a whole new dimension… and likely lead to far different conclusions than those typically taught in most churches. But if Yeshua’s statement in Matthew 24:37 is true, then I believe the events of Genesis 6 represent the Rosetta Stone for understanding the future. And that is the purpose of these blogs – to explore what was going on “in the days of Noah” so that we can truly understand the times we are living in now and the days to come.