197 The Revelation of Jesus Christ you have a picture of the man who was an apostate in the eyes of God, who was the founder of the city that is called Babylon-a man named Nimrod. The Word of God tells us some definite facts about this man. Genesis 10:9, the Au thorized Version, reads: "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord." We do not get the true meaning from this translation. The ancient rabbis tell us that this statement means that Nim rod went out from the presence of the Lord, in the sense that he turned his back upon God and His truth, and became "a hunter of souls," seeking to turn multitudes of men away from God and unto himself. The Lord declared to the people of the earth that they were to scatter abroad, but Nimrod went out to defy God and call the multitude that he had gathered unto himself to consolidate. Thus he was the first to conceive the principle abroad in the world today-that in unity there is strength. So he banded the men together, that they might build a city and a tower which was to reach unto heaven. As we read the account in Gen. I I :1-9, we note that the words "may reach" in verse 4 are in italics, meaning that they were not in the Hebrew manuscripts. They were put in by the translators. It is likely, therefore, that the "top" of the tower was a design of the heavens, a spherical dome marked with the signs of the zodiac, setting forth the position of the heavenly bodies. The zodiac has been used by the mystery religions through the ages past. Such a stone has been found in Mexico recently among the Aztec Indians. The probable thought is that the zodiac was used in connection with the tower of Babel. and that this tower, with the mysteries that began there, they dared to call "Babel." According to this interpretation, the audacity of Nimrod and his followers is seen in the fact that the word "Babel" means the "Gate of God." The syllable "el" is one of the names of Jehovah; that is the reason why there are so many names in the Word of God that end with "el." "Immanuel" means "God with us"; "Israel," "a prince with God." "EI Shaddai" is one of the names of God. When Nimrod's fol lowers had the temerity to name their city the "Gate of God," they implied that in this way man could approach Jehovah and be brought into a right relationship with Him on other grounds than the altar and the sacrifice which pointed on to Calvary.
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