SHESHACH
A poetical name for Babylon, signifying, as some judge, house or court of the prince, Jer 25:26 ; 51:41.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Sheshach
(Heb. Seshak’, , probably an artificial word; Sept. v.r. ), 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 , 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 represents , represents , represents , 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 comes from , shikshak, to overlay with iron or other plates, so that it might designate Babylon as . 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.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Sheshach
(Jer. 25:26), supposed to be equivalent to Babel (Babylon), according to a secret (cabalistic) mode of writing among the Jews of unknown antiquity, which consisted in substituting the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the first, the last but one for the second, and so on. Thus the letters sh, sh, ch become b, b, l, i.e., Babel. This is supposed to be confirmed by a reference to Jer. 51:41, where Sheshach and Babylon are in parallel clauses. There See ms to be no reason to doubt that Babylon is here intended by this name. (See Streane’s Jeremiah, l.c.)
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Sheshach
Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41; i.e. Babylon, from their goddess Shach reduplicated, as they named Misael Meshach. SHACE was the designation of a Babylonian feast to Shach, of five days’ duration, during which unbridled license prevailed as at the Roman saturnalia. Slaves ruled their master, and one called zogan in each house in royal garments ruled the rest (Jer 51:39; Jer 51:57; Isa 21:5). Cyrus during it took Babylon; thus Jeremiah prophesies the concomitants of the capture. The Kabalistic system (Athbash, “the first Hebrew letter being expressed by the last, the second by the last but one,” etc.) would make Sheshach answer to Babel. But in Jer 51:41 concealment cannot have been Jeremiah’s object, for he mentions “Babylon” (Jer 51:42). It is not likely the Kabala was as yet invented.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Sheshach
SHESHACH.A cryptic name of Babel, found in the received text of Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41. It is formed by the method called Atbash, that is a substitution of lau for aleph, shin for beth, and so on. The word is, however, no part of the original text of Jeremiah, being a conceit of later editors. In both passages it is lacking in LXX. [Note: Septuagint.] Cf. Leb-kamai.
J. F. McCurdy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Sheshach
sheshak (, sheshakh, as if humiliation; compare , shakhakh, 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 (Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41; the Septuagint omits in both passages). By the device known as Atbas (), 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., is substituted for , babhel. This theory has not failed of opposition. Delitzsch holds that Sheshach represents Sis-ku-KI 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, KAT2, 415; COT, II, 108 f.) Lauth, too, takes Sheshach to be a Hebraization of Siska, a Babylonian district. Winckler and Sayce read Uru-azagga. 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.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Sheshach
Sheshach, a name twice given by Jeremiah to Babylon (Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41). Its etymology and proper signification are doubtful.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Sheshach
[She’shach]
Mystical name applied to Babylon. Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41; cf. Jer 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 end 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.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Sheshach
H8347
A symbolic name, apparently applied to Babylon.
Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Sheshach
She’shach. (from the goddess, Shach, reduplicated). Sheshach is a term which occurs only in Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41, where it is, evidently, used as a synonym, for either Babylon or Babylonia.