Difference between revisions of "Sheshach"

<p> Mystical name applied to Babylon. Jeremiah 25:26; Jeremiah 51:41; cf. Jeremiah 51:1 . The meaning of the word is not known. According to [[Jerome]] the name Babylon, from Babel, was made up of the letters B B L (the 2nd and the 12th letters of the Hebrew alphabet) these were changed into SH SH CH (the 2nd and the 12th letters reckoning from the <i> end </i> of the same alphabet), a mode well known to later Jews. It has been supposed that the [[Jews]] made this alteration in the name in order that they might speak of the judgements coming upon [[Babylon]] without giving offence to those who had carried them away captive. </p>

<p> She'shach. (from the goddess, Shach, reduplicated). Sheshach is a term which occurs only in Jeremiah 25:26; Jeremiah 51:41, where it is, evidently, used as a synonym, for either Babylon or Babylonia. </p>

<p> (Heb. Seshak', שֵׁשִׁךְ, probably an artificial word; Sept. Σεσάκ v.r. Σησάχ ), a term occurring only in Jeremiah (25:26; 51:41) who evidently uses it as a synonym either for Babylon or for Babylonia. According to the [[Jewish]] interpreters, followed by Jerome, it represents בבל, "Babel, " on a Cabalistic principle called "Athbash" well known to the later Jews the substitution of letters according to their position in the alphabet, counting backwards from the last letter, for those which hold the same numerical position counting in the ordinary way. (See [[Cabala]]). Thus ת represents א, שׁ represents ב, ר represents ג, and so on. It may well be doubted, however, whether this fanciful practice were as old as Jeremiah's time; and even supposing that were the case, why should he use this obscure term here, when Babylon is called by its proper name in the same verse? C.B. Michaelis conjectures that שׁש ׁ comes from שׁבשׁ, shikshak, "to overlay with iron or other plates, "so that it might designate Babylon as χαλκόπυλος. Von Bohlen thinks the word synonymous with the [[Persian]] Shih-shah, i.e. "house of the prince;" but it is doubtful whether, at so early a period as the age of Jeremiah, Babylon could have received a Persian name that would be known in Judea. Sir H. Rawlinson has observed that the name of the moon god, which was identical, or nearly so, with that of the city of [[Abraham]] [[Ur]] (or Hur), "might have been read in one of the ancient dialects of Babylon as Shishaki, " and that consequently "a possible explanation is thus obtained of the Sheshach of Scripture" (Herod. 1, 616). Shesach may stand for Ur; Ur itself, the old capital, being taken (as Babel, the new capital, constantly was) to represent the country. </p>

<p> ''''' shē´shak ''''' ( שׁשׁך , <i> ''''' shēshakh ''''' </i> , as if "humiliation"; compare שׁכך , <i> ''''' shākhakh ''''' </i> , "to crouch"): The general explanation is that this is "a cypherform of 'Babel' (Babylon)" which is the word given as equivalent to "Sheshach" by the [[Targum]] ( Jeremiah 25:26; Jeremiah 51:41; the [[Septuagint]] omits in both passages). By the device known as <i> '''''Atbaš''''' </i> (אתבשׂ ), i.e. disguising a name by substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the letter next to the last for the second, etc., ששך is substituted for שבבל , <i> '''''bābhel''''' </i> . This theory has not failed of opposition. Delitzsch holds that "Sheshach" represents <i> '''''Šiš''''' </i> - <i> '''''kû''''' </i> - <i> '''''KI''''' </i> of an old Babylonian regal register, which may have stood for a part of the city of Babylon. (For a refutation of this interpretation see Schrader, <i> KAT2 </i> , 415; <i> COT </i> , II, 108 f.) Lauth, too, takes "Sheshach" to be a Hebraization of Siska, a Babylonian district. Winckler and Sayce read <i> '''''Uru''''' </i> - <i> '''''azagga''''' </i> . Finally, Cheyne and a number of critics hold that the word has crept into the text, being "a conceit of later editors." See further [[Jeremiah]] , 6. </p>

<p> She´shach, a name twice given by Jeremiah to Babylon . Its etymology and proper signification are doubtful. </p>