10:8 Cush begat Nimrod. As the “son of Cush” (that is, “bar-Cush”) Nimrod probably was later deified and worshipped as Baccus by the Romans. As the founder of Babylon, he also later became the chief god of the Babylonians “Merod-ach” or “Marduk.” His name is preserved in various ways, in many geographical sites or names of deities, having been the most influential leader of mankind when the nations were dispersed at Babel. One of the chief cities of the Assyrians was called Nimrud. He has also been identified as the tyrant Gilgamesh, in the famous Gilgamesh Epic found in the ruins of Nineveh.

10:8 Nimrod. Nimrod, the youngest and most illustrious son of Cush, was given a name meaning “Let us rebel!” and apparently trained by his father for this purpose.

10:9 mighty hunter. This phrase connotes a man mighty in wickedness. It is possible that his hero’s reputation was gained in hunting and slaying the giant animals that proliferated after the flood and were considered dangerous to the small human population of the first century. He built a great kingdom, with the capital at Babel in the plain Shinar (no doubt equivalent to Sumer) in the Tigris-Euphrates valley.

10:10 Accad. Erech is also “Uruk,” one hundred miles southeast of Babylon, the legendary home of Gilgamesh. Accad gave its name to the Akkadian empire, perhaps the same as the Sumerian empire. Calneh is unidentified.