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Nimrod the Empire Builder: Architect of Shock and Awe
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May 7, 2024
In his third book, Dr. Petrovich again delves into a fascinating question touching on the biblical historical narrative and draws on his expertise in Ancient Near Eastern archaeology and the Hebrew Bible to buttress his proposed answer to that question. As the book's title indicates, the subject of this book is a somewhat mysterious figure mentioned in the 10th chapter of the Book of Genesis -- an ancient Mesopotamian king called Nimrod, who is said to have conquered and built up several city-states in Sumer and Assyria at some point in the distant past.
Petrovich first tackled the subject of his book in a cogently-argued scholarly paper, "Identifying Nimrod of Genesis 10 with Sargon of Akkad by Exegetical and Archaeological Means," published in 2013 in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56/2: 273-305. (In my own opinion, I think he made his case excellently, and his paper, which I read some years ago, convinced me that he has made the correct identification of Nimrod.) This book, published 10 years after his paper, is an expansion of that paper. But while his two previous books, "The World's Oldest Alphabet" and "Origins of the Hebrews," were written for a scholarly readership, Petrovich explains in his introduction that "Nimrod the Empire" is intentionally "written for a general audience of people who just love the Bible, not for professional scholars or experts in the field." As such, the tone and style of the book are probably going to be less intimidating for the average reader. Since he wrote with lovers of the Bible in mind, and for a more general audience, Petrovich adopts a much more personal tone and opens up about his life and is unabashed about his evangelical faith.
I think it is only fair, however, for me to observe that the choice to go with a rather spare bibliography and to omit footnotes or endnotes makes the book less useful in itself. For example, through my own familiarity with the subject and relevant sources, I know that his survey of empire building in the Ancient Near East is accurate and is thorough enough for his purposes. Even so, a more extended bibliography of his references for that information would have been useful for any reader without making his book too intimidating for the average reader.
As it is, having read both his 2013 scholarly paper and this book, I can say that Dr. Petrovich has an expert's grasp on his material and of the various disciplines that enable him to make his case for the identification of Nimrod as the Hebrew people's remembrance of the world's first empire-builder, Sargon of Akkad. Chapters 2-6 of his book reproduce and expand upon the evidence and arguments of his 2013 scholarly paper, and it is in these chapters that Dr. Petrovich shows himself to be fully comfortable in his own scholarly element. The remaining three chapters of his book place Sargon/Nimrod's precedent-setting empire-building into their broader historical context within the narrative of the development of Near Eastern and Western civilisation, with Sargon's ambition, power-hunger, and ruthlessness and inhumanity still reverberating today now on a global stage.
In my opinion, the book is perhaps rather "handicapped" in the first chapter's section, "Context for Nimrod's Story in Genesis 10:7-12," because that is where Petrovich is the most expressive of his religious beliefs. There is, of course, nothing at all wrong with that, but that will inevitably limit his potential audience, potentially putting off those who are not religious or who do not share Dr. Petrovich's evangelical faith or his adherence to the Christian doctrine of biblical inerrancy. It could even alienate those who disagree with his interpretation of the Nephilim of Genesis 6, a controverted matter on which Christians are not in agreement. For those who might otherwise find the first chapter of this book distasteful, I would advise you not to give up. If necessary, skip to chapter two and try to give his argument a fair hearing. I think you'll find it well worth your while.
Other than that criticism, the only other critical point I might make has to do with the occasional, pesky typos that inevitably survive the rewriting and proofreading processes. There aren't very many typos, thankfully, but one of them, on page 60, is rather jarring: a confounding of Jeroboam II with the earlier king Ahab. That is, however, only a momentary nod, something to be fixed if there's a second printing.
Petrovich first tackled the subject of his book in a cogently-argued scholarly paper, "Identifying Nimrod of Genesis 10 with Sargon of Akkad by Exegetical and Archaeological Means," published in 2013 in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56/2: 273-305. (In my own opinion, I think he made his case excellently, and his paper, which I read some years ago, convinced me that he has made the correct identification of Nimrod.) This book, published 10 years after his paper, is an expansion of that paper. But while his two previous books, "The World's Oldest Alphabet" and "Origins of the Hebrews," were written for a scholarly readership, Petrovich explains in his introduction that "Nimrod the Empire" is intentionally "written for a general audience of people who just love the Bible, not for professional scholars or experts in the field." As such, the tone and style of the book are probably going to be less intimidating for the average reader. Since he wrote with lovers of the Bible in mind, and for a more general audience, Petrovich adopts a much more personal tone and opens up about his life and is unabashed about his evangelical faith.
I think it is only fair, however, for me to observe that the choice to go with a rather spare bibliography and to omit footnotes or endnotes makes the book less useful in itself. For example, through my own familiarity with the subject and relevant sources, I know that his survey of empire building in the Ancient Near East is accurate and is thorough enough for his purposes. Even so, a more extended bibliography of his references for that information would have been useful for any reader without making his book too intimidating for the average reader.
As it is, having read both his 2013 scholarly paper and this book, I can say that Dr. Petrovich has an expert's grasp on his material and of the various disciplines that enable him to make his case for the identification of Nimrod as the Hebrew people's remembrance of the world's first empire-builder, Sargon of Akkad. Chapters 2-6 of his book reproduce and expand upon the evidence and arguments of his 2013 scholarly paper, and it is in these chapters that Dr. Petrovich shows himself to be fully comfortable in his own scholarly element. The remaining three chapters of his book place Sargon/Nimrod's precedent-setting empire-building into their broader historical context within the narrative of the development of Near Eastern and Western civilisation, with Sargon's ambition, power-hunger, and ruthlessness and inhumanity still reverberating today now on a global stage.
In my opinion, the book is perhaps rather "handicapped" in the first chapter's section, "Context for Nimrod's Story in Genesis 10:7-12," because that is where Petrovich is the most expressive of his religious beliefs. There is, of course, nothing at all wrong with that, but that will inevitably limit his potential audience, potentially putting off those who are not religious or who do not share Dr. Petrovich's evangelical faith or his adherence to the Christian doctrine of biblical inerrancy. It could even alienate those who disagree with his interpretation of the Nephilim of Genesis 6, a controverted matter on which Christians are not in agreement. For those who might otherwise find the first chapter of this book distasteful, I would advise you not to give up. If necessary, skip to chapter two and try to give his argument a fair hearing. I think you'll find it well worth your while.
Other than that criticism, the only other critical point I might make has to do with the occasional, pesky typos that inevitably survive the rewriting and proofreading processes. There aren't very many typos, thankfully, but one of them, on page 60, is rather jarring: a confounding of Jeroboam II with the earlier king Ahab. That is, however, only a momentary nod, something to be fixed if there's a second printing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review