As we read in the story of Babylon, initially the ego, “Nimrod” is in power, demanding to always be worshipped. “Do whatever it takes to make others respect you,” your ego keeps murmuring.
It follows that your Nimrod is incredibly dependent on other people. He must support them, pay them, nurture them, and at the same time, oppress them.
Indeed, the ego rises precisely when it oppresses others. Hence, the next degree of the ego’s (Nimrod’s) development in you is when it begins to recognize its own dependence, vulnerability, and fragility.
This process is called “the recognition of evil in Nimrod.” It is when you finally get the feeling that your freedom is somehow restricted.
You are dependent on everybody else. That is the problem of kings, presidents, and whoever else might be in power. But in reality, it is the problem of every person.
So your next degree is Abraham. He is freedom, he is ascent, he is the revolutionary idea that comes to you after all the suffering, and the discoveries that bestowal, not reception, must be the sole purpose of your existence. He wants to deny and discard all the lies and excesses. This is the new degree arising in you, in your Nimrod.
What Does Terah, Abraham’s Father, Represent?
Terah is “one of the most esteemed nobles,” Nimrod’s right hand, Nimrod’s ideologist, the ego’s ideologist. So, the ego inside you grows, and the Terah inside you must find a new way to manage this growing ego in a way that you can continue to feel pleasure.
Terah represents the method of fulfilling a desire.
The birth of Abraham is the inner revolution that takes place in Terah. It is the actual method of fulfilling Nimrod. This event symbolizes the fact that it is impossible to fulfill yourself as before at the new degree of the growing ego. The method of fulfillment itself needs drastic change. This revolution is known as Abraham.
So Terah begets Abraham to completely revamp the method of fulfilling his ego, the Nimrod in him.
What Does Abraham Represent?
“…a star, dashing about the firmament in all directions. It devoured four stars to the east, to the north, to the west, and to the south.”
The “star, dashing about the firmament” inside you is the sign that Abraham stands for bestowal. It is the change from an egoistic intention to one of complete bestowal. From this day forward, the method of Abraham will rule over all four phases of the ego’s development, meaning over all of your desires.
From the moment Abraham is born, deep within the bowels of your ego you begin to realize that all the things that used to fulfill you before are senseless. Your possessions no longer satisfy you; life has lost its flavor, and former pleasures are empty. Frantically, you search for a way out of this dead end.
This is how a completely new approach (star) is born within you. It is a new way of fulfilling your desire, a new method that turns a new page in your life and actualizes all the new desires created in you (north, south, west, and east). It is a happy time for you, for a new intention to bestow is born within you.
“What Is the Meaning of the Bible Story of King Nimrod, his Astrologists, and his Decree to Kill all Newborn Sons?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
