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Nimrod- the first ruler and Ashur

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Rabbi Ari Shvat

Tishrei 14, 5776
Question
B’resheet 10:8-12, Nimrod is said to be the first powerful ruler on earth. Kush was his father and Nimrod was a grandson to Noah. So I understand Nimrod was African from Ham. Then it talks of Ashur. Is Ashur and Nimrod the same person?
Answer
The subject of v. 11 is still Nimrod, and it means, from Shinar, Nimrod went (continued) to Ashur. The Ramban proves this from Micha 5, 5, where the prophet refers to the land of Ashur as the land of Nimrod, so apparently it was Nimrod who went to Ashur and continued building and ruling there. Ashur was the son of Shem (10, 22), one generation older than Nimrod, who apparently had already founded a city (and afterwards a country) named for him (in English: Assyria).
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