This blog is continued from Abram and Nimrod (Part 1).

The animosity between Abram and Nimrod is a shadow picture of what we can expect in the coming last days. At Abram’s birth the stars proclaimed the destruction of rebellious Nimrod and his Babylonian kingdom.

Jasher 8:2 And when all the wise men and conjurors went out from the house of Terah, they lifted up their eyes toward heaven that night to look at the stars, and they saw, and behold one very large star came from the east and ran in the heavens, and he swallowed up the four stars from the four sides of the heavens.
3 And all the wise men of the king and his conjurors were astonished at the sight, and the sages understood this matter, and they knew its import.
4 And they said to each other, “This only betokens the child who has been born to Terah this night, who will grow up and be fruitful, and multiply, and possess all the earth, he and his sons for ever, and he and his seed will slay great kings, and inherit their lands.”

This event has both short-term and long-term ramifications; and is a shadow picture of things to come.

Two years after Abram was once again delivered miraculously, this time from Nimrod’s furnace, Nimrod has a dream.

Jasher 12:47 And the king dreamed that all his troops sank in that river and died, and the king took flight with three men who were before him and he escaped.
48 And the king looked at these men and they were clothed in princely dresses as the garments of kings, and had the appearance and majesty of kings. …
50 And the king was grieved at the sight, and he awoke out of his sleep and his spirit was agitated; and he felt a great terror.

After this dream Nimrod resolves again to have Abram killed. But Terah (Abram’s father) is not about to lose another son and takes the advice of Abram, Noah and Shem and flees Babylon to save Abram’s life and possibly his own. They leave for Canaan but only get as far as Haran. It is from here that Abram leaves Haran and goes into Canaan for the second time. This is where we meet Abram, this amazing 75-year-old man of Yehovah, for the first time in Genesis.

Now Yehovah had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as Yehovah had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Gen 12:1-4)

Within the year, because of the great wealth that both Abram and Lot possess, Abram finds that they are unable to live together because of the amount of space needed for their livestock and tents. So Lot separates from Abram and dwells in the garden-like, fruitful plains of the Jordan.

Jasher 15:42 But I pray thee separate from me, go and choose a place where thou mayest dwell with thy cattle and all belonging to thee, but keep thyself at a distance from me, thou and thy household.
43 And be not afraid in going from me, for if any one do an injury to thee, let me know and I will avenge thy cause from him, only remove from me.
44 And when Abram had spoken all these words to Lot, then Lot arose and lifted up his eyes toward the plain of Jordan.

But within a few years 800,000 men from the north who are led by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam and three other kings, one of which is Amraphel (aka Nimrod) the King of Shinar, come to Sodom and points south and east. On their journey south they are looting, killing (including giants) and bringing more cities under Chedorlaomer’s control.

Jasher 16:2 And these four kings went up with all their camps, about eight hundred thousand men, and they went as they were, and smote every man they found in their road.

Yes, I did say “giants,” just like the Anakim! The Rephaim, the Zuzim and the Emim are all giants. These are the same giants in the same place that we, Israel, will fight almost 450 years in the future just before Yehovah brings us into our land.

In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar. (Gen 14:5-7)

Anakim
The descendants of Anak (Jos 11:21; Num 13:33; Deu 9:2). They dwelt in the south of Palestine, in the neighborhood of Hebron (Gen 23:2; Jos 15:13). In the days of Abraham (Gen 14:5, Gen 14:6) they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan. (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)

Rephaims:
A race of aboriginal or early inhabitants East of the Jordan in Ashterothkarnaim (Gen 14:5) and in the valley of Rephaim Southwest of Jerusalem (Jos 15:8). They associated with other giant races, as the Emim and Anakim (Deu 2:10, Deu 2:11) and the Zamzummim (Deu 2:20). (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

The Emim had dwelt there in times past, people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. (Deu 2:10-11)

That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But Yehovah destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place. (Deu 2:20-21)

In a last-ditch effort to survive the forthcoming onslaught; Lot, the people of Sodom and the surrounding cities join their forces in the valley of Saddim just south of the Dead Sea. But what hope do they have against 800,000 giant killers?

It is the prophesied seed of Abram that will deliver Lot and, in the end,  all the world from all the rebellious kingdoms of Nimrod.

Go to “Abram and Nimrod (Part 3)