Beraishis 10B Nimrod – Tyranny in the Name of God

וְכוּשׁ יָלַד אֶת נִמְרֹד הוּא הֵחֵל לִהְיוֹת גִּבֹּר בָּאָרֶץ. הוּא הָיָה גִבֹּר צַיִד לִפְנֵי השם עַל כֵּן יֵאָמַר כְּנִמְרֹד גִּבּוֹר צַיִד לִפְנֵי השם

Kush begot Nimrod; he began to be a hero upon the earth. He was a crafty hero before God; hence the saying: Like Nimrod, a crafty hero before God.

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Being a גבור, a mighty hero, wasn’t something the world hadn’t seen before. There were the נפילים mentioned above in chapter 6. But Nimrod’s signature and calling, the essence of his life was לִהְיוֹת גִּבֹּר בָּאָרֶץ. What Nimrod began continues to this day.

This is the beginning of Noach’s prophecy taking shape. Moral bondage leads to social bondage. Here we have a grandson of Cham beginning to overpower others.

גבורה is a gift from God. Its proper use is to enforce justice. But Nimrod did exactly the opposite with his might and cleverness.

He was a גִבֹּר צַיִד. The word צַיִד means to entrap through plotting and scheming. (This word is related to זוד as in the word מזיד, plotting, and סוד, secret).

According to the Jewish perception, secret politics are bad politics. The glory of kings is when their deeds are clear and transparent. As the verse in Proverbs (25:2) says, כְבֹד מְלָכִים חֲקֹר דָּבָר.

Nimrod used force and cunning to catch men for his plans. Power put to use for the purpose of justice has no reason to hide. But Nimrod had selfish aims for his use of power.

Nimrod sensed his material and perhaps intellectual superiority over others. He put those to use to subjugate those who were inferior to him, exploiting them for his needs.

The source of tyranny is force and cunning from the leadership, not the submission from the followers.

Nimrod was the first to misuse the name of God. He did all of this לִפְנֵי השם,  before God. He masked his tyranny with the halo of Divine approval, demanding approval of his authority in the name of God.

Some generations later tyrants, also descendants of Cham, took this even further, declaring themselves as gods. The pharaohs bowed before images of themselves.

Nimrod is the prototype of all future tyrants who crown themselves with the halo of holiness. Their power and political policies all in the name of God described here by the words: כְּנִמְרֹד גִּבּוֹר צַיִד לִפְנֵי השם.

Beraishis 10:8-9
pages 255-257