When Noah and his family emerged from the ark, they reentered a world very different from the one they’d left. There was no longer a protective layer of water above the earth’s atmosphere. Due to
this loss, man’s life expectancy was greatly reduced. It was at this time that God introduced the
new institution of social rule we now call government. In the previous dispensation, anarchy had become a way of life. This new system of authority would help preserve peace and dispense
justice on the earth.

God told Noah:

“For your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting…from each man,
too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever
sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed.” Genesis 9:5, 6

God gave the government the authority to take a man’s life for the crime of murder. He also gave governing men permission to prosecute lesser crimes deserving lesser punishment. Failure to
enforce laws and punish crimes would indicate rebellion toward God and injustice toward men.

Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham had a son named Cush who had a son
named Nimrod who became a powerful world leader in this new governmental system. The name “Nimrod” means “rebel” or “we will rebel.” Nimrod is described as being a “mighty hunter” (Genesis 10:9) and “a mighty warrior” (I Chronicles 1:10). Just because someone is a good warrior, however, doesn’t make him a great leader, a just king, or a shepherd to his people. Government was
designed to provide peace for mankind, but Nimrod used it as a tool to oppress people,
promote himself, and lash out against God. Just three generations after the flood, the
system of world government fell into the hands of one evil man. . The government under Nimrod corrupted the entire earth…again.