In Ether 2:1 we find the name "Nimrod." According to Warren and Palmer, after the Flood, in 2811 B.C., a king by the name of Etana ruled in the city of Kish, in Mesopotamia. The same individual is in the list of kings at the city of Uruk under the name of Lugal-Banda in 2805 B.C. (Warren, B.S., and Tvedtnes, J.A., 1983). Warren and Tvedtnes have concluded that not only are Etana and Lugal-Banda the same individual, but also that their description contains many elements which are similar to the famous Nimrod of the Old Testament account. Specifically, Lugal-Banda was known earlier as the Lord of Marad (Semitic word) or Martu (Sumerian word), meaning the Lord of the West. The consonants of that title (NMRD) are consonants in the name, NiMRoD. In the Semitic scripts from the ancient Near East, only the consonants were included, not the vowels. Thus, it was concluded that Lugal-Banda was the best candidate for the Nimrod of the Genesis account. He ruled until about 2797 B.C. [Bruce W. Warren and David A. Palmer, The Jaredite Saga, ch. 2, unpublished]
“Jared Went Down into the Valley Which Was Northward Valley of Nimrod”
Nibley has suggested that the valley of Nimrod known to the Jaredites is "the great valley system due north of upper Mesopotamia," in the region of Lake Van in eastern Turkey. In this area, the explorer and scholar Emin found the name of Nimrod attached to many legends and place names during the late 1800's. According to Randall Spackman, the huge valley system of the Euphrates-Murat Rivers, referred to by Nibley, is north of Mesopotamia . . . (see illustration). Near both ends of the valley system, approximately 225 miles apart, there are mountains known today as Nemrut Dagi or "Mount Nimrod." The Jaredite travelers could have gone "down" into this great valley system if their route from Babylonia took them along the favored nomadic route, the pastoral corridor. . . Following the pastoral corridor away from lower Mesopotamia, their route would have run roughly parallel to the Tigris River for nearly 500 miles before crossing over the Eastern Taurus Mountains and down into the Murat River valley. [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey to America, pp. 34-36]
Geographical [Theory Map]: Ether 2:1 Jared Goes down into the Valley of Nimrod (Year)
Ether 2:1 Jared . . . went down into the valley which was northward ([Illustration]): Map II The uprooting of the Jaredites should not be viewed as a unique phenomenon, but as part of a much larger scattering of vast numbers of people in ancient Mesopotamia. Map II shows three established trade routes along the Euphrates River or from Asshur on the Tigris River across northern Mesopotamia to Harran and Carchemish (the land northward). [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey to America, pp. 27-29, unpublished]
Ether 2:1 Jared . . . went down into the valley which was northward (Valley of Nimrod) [[Illustration]]: Map III, A proposed Jaredite route from Babylonia] [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey to America,, p. 37, unpublished]
“Nimrod”
Glenn Scott notes that Jubilees 8:12-30 tells us the following about the lands of inheritance for the three sons of Noah after the Flood:
To Shem . . . the whole land of the Red Sea, and the whole land of the east and India . . . all the land of Lebanon . . . and the mountains of Ararat" [obviously the Middle East].
And for Ham came forth the second portion beyond the Gihon [Nile] towards the south . . . and toward the west to the Sea of Atel [the Atlantic], towards the north to . . . the Great Sea [the Mediterranean] of God [Sythia] and to all of the country east thereof . . . This is the land which came forth for Japheth and his sons . . . for their generations forever . . . a great land in the north but it is cold [obviously Asia].
However, Hugh Nibley notes that Clement of Rome, in his Homilia (9:3) wrote, "Noah's descendants waged bitter war among themselves, after his death, to see who would possess his kingship; finally one of the blood of Ham [Nimrod] prevailed." (Nibley 1988 World of the Jaredites, 165)
Genesis 10:8-10 tells us, "He [Nimrod] began to be a mighty one in the earth. . . . And he began a kingdom, and the beginning was Babel . . ."
Josephus (4:2) indicated that the original purpose of the tower of Babel was to unite the people in a vast project of constructing a refuge in case of another flood. That was to them a real and terrifying prospect in view of their recent past. The construction of such an artificial mountain on the flat alluvial plain, was an understandable response by those former hill people. However, through the years, the emphasis shifted to a "Mountain of God" or "Hill of Heaven" concept, perhaps from placing a temple on its summit, which permitted them to worship their God (or gods) on high places . . . The translator of the Book of Jasher, in a footnote, suggested that Nimrod's desire to teach idolatry and to raise the tower was a means of uniting all peoples under his standard. . . . [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust: New Light on an Ancient American Record, pp. 17-19]
“Nimrod”
The name "Nimrod" is mentioned in Ether 2:1. According to Hugh Nibley, in Genesis 10:4 we read that Nimrod, the "mighty hunter against the Lord," founded the kingdom of Babel, and in the next chapter that Babel was the name of the tower built to reach to heaven. (Note that the vague "before the Lord" of the Kings James version (Genesis 10:9) conceals the true meaning, rendered "against the Lord" by the Rabbinical and early Christian writers) This Nimrod seems to be the original arch-type of the "Mad Hunter." (Note that under the direction of Nimrod men said, "We will ascend to heaven and smite him (God) with bows and spears; and God knew all their works, . . . and he saw the city and the tower which they were building," (Jasher 9:20).
A very early Christian writing tells how Noah's descendants waged bitter war among themselves after his death, to see who should possess his kingship; finally one of the blood of Ham prevailed, and from this the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians derive their priesthood and kingship. "From the race of Ham," says the text," came one through the magical (as opposed to the holy) succession named Nimrod, who was a giant against the Lord . . . (p. 165) Even Isaiah (Isaiah 14:12-14) recalls that in the beginning the adversary himself set up his throne "upon the Mountain of the assembly in the regions of the North," and there pretended to be "like the Most High."
Nimrod claimed his kingship on the ground of victory over his enemies. His priesthood, however, he claimed by virtue of possessing "the garment of Adam." The legends of the Jews assure us that it was by virtue of owning this garment that Nimrod was able to claim power to rule over the whole earth, and that he sat in his tower while men came and worshiped him. The Apocryphal writers, Jewish and Christian, have a good deal to say about this garment. To quote one of them: "the garments of skin which God made for Adam and his wife, when they went out of the garden, were given . . . after the death of Adam . . . to Enoch"; hence they passed to Methuselah, and then to Noah, from whom Ham stole them as the people were leaving the ark. Ham's grandson Nimrod obtained them from his father Cush. As for the legitimate inheritance of this clothing, a very old fragment recently discovered says that Michael "disrobed Enoch of his earthly garments, and put on him his angelic clothing," taking him into the presence of God. This garment of Enoch was supposed to be the very garment of skins that John the Baptist wore, called by the early Christians "the garment of Elias." An Arabic "Life of John the Baptist" says that Gabriel brought it to John from heaven as "the garment of Elijah"' "it went back," says John Chrysostom, "to the beginning of the world, to the times before which Adam required covering. Thus it was the symbol of repentance. . . ." (pp. 168-169)
Incidentally, the story of the stolen garment as told by the old rabbis, including the great Eleazer, calls for an entirely different rendering of the strange story in Genesis 9 from the version in our King James Bible. They seemed to think that the erwath of Genesis 9:22 did not mean "nakedness" at all, but should be given its primary root meaning of "skin covering." Read thus, we are to understand that Ham took the garment of his father while he was sleeping and showed it to his brethren, Shem and Japheth, who took a pattern or copy of it (salmah) or else a woven garment like it (simlah) which they put upon their own shoulders, returning the skin garment to their father. Upon awaking, Noah recognized the priesthood of two sons but cursed the son who tried to rob him of his garment. By an extremely common type of substitution, the simlah of Genesis 9:23 could very easily stand for an original tsimlah, a copy, imitation, pattern, or by an equally common type of transposition for Salmah, a garment or mantle, as in Micah 2:8. Even as it stands simlah means only a woven garment and can hardly refer to the original skin article. This is, apparently, the source of the widespread legend that Ham stole the garment of Noah and claimed to possess the priesthood by virtue of his illegal insignia. Ham's descendants, Cush and Nimrod--both Africans, though Nimrod in his wandering moved to Asia--made the same claim. It is interesting that according to certain ancient scriptures which the Latter-day Saints claim have been restored by revelation in our own age, Pharaoh (who represents the Afro-Asian line of Cush-Nimrod) was blessed as to the kingship but cursed as to the priesthood, and he offered Abraham the privilege of wearing his own royal insignia in hope that Abraham would return the compliment by allowing Pharaoh to wear his priestly ones (Abraham 1:26-27). According to a very old tradition, Pharaoh coveted the priesthood of Moses exactly as his ancestor Nimrod did that of Abraham, and it was said that the Pharaohs of Egypt dressed in a skin garment "to show that their origin was older than time itself." (Note, Abraham's refusal to make the exchange was the real reason for his being expelled from Egypt, according to apocryphal writers.)
Whatever the details, the priests and kings of antiquity certainly wore such garments, and the skin garment was often imitated in woven materials, in fact, the skin garment was itself held to be a substitute for a still older garment made of the leaves of the ficus religiosus.(pp. 169-171) [Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, pp. 165, 168-169]