Nimrod

Have you ever called someone a nimrod or maybe heard someone called that? Hearing that taunt that essentially calls someone a dimwit... have you ever wondered what nimrod really means? Here’s the answer I got from the Free dictionary online.

nim•rod
n.
1. also Nimrod A hunter.
2. Informal A person regarded as silly, foolish, or stupid.

Do you think it’s funny that the two definitions given seem so different? I do!

I’m working on #4 from my list and I’m trying to make it daily. I’ve definitely missed days, but by the grace of God I’m reading.

This morning I was reading in Genesis 10. Here are verses 8 & 9:

Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD."

So, the word nimrod was really a compliment back in the day. He was mighty! Here are a couple of other verses about him…

1 Chronicles 1:10-
Cush fathered Nimrod, who was the first to become a great warrior on earth.

Micah 5:6-
They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
   the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.
   So He will rescue us from Assyria
   when it invades our land,
   when it marches against our territory.

A drawn blade; apparently just having a sword wasn’t enough of a threat for the people in the land he inhabited. He was a tough man!

Do you know where the other definition comes from? ‘They’ say it comes from Bugs bunny. It seems Bugs used the “hunter” definition when referring to Elmer Fudd as a “poor little Nimrod”. I guess people dropped the might hunter part but keep the foolish.

Interesting tidbit, isn’t it? I just thought I’d share…