Jeremiah 51:1

JEREMIAH 51

PROPHECY AGAINST BABYLON (continued)

(The introduction for Jeremiah 50 also applies to this chapter.)

Jeremiah 51:1-5

"Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind. And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. Against him that bendeth, let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets. For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel."

"Them that dwell in Leb-kamai ..." (Jeremiah 51:1). The proper name here is a kind of trick word called an athbash, devised by numbering the Hebrew alphabet from each end (for example, in English X, Y, Z, would be numbered 3,2, 1, etc.; and A, B, C, would be numbered 1,2, 3, etc. Thus, to form an athbash, the letters of a name would be changed. The letter "A" would be written "Z," and the letter "B" would be written "Y," etc.). Leb-kamai here is an athbash for "Chaldea."[1]

No one knows why such a device was used here. It was usually a device for concealing the meaning of a word from all except those "in the know"; but the equivalent of Chaldea, "Babylon," has already been mentioned. We encountered another example of this in Jeremiah 25:26.

Barnes believed that this word for Chaldea, Leb-kamai, was probably "known to everybody";[2] and, if so, it could have been a kind of nickname for Babylonia, such as "Gotham" or "The Big Apple."

"A destroying wind ..." (Jeremiah 51:1). Keil noted that this should be translated, "The spirit of a destroyer."[3] That rendition is most likely correct, because it was not a "wind" that mined Babylon; it was a human destroyer, Cyrus. In Hebrew, the word for "wind" and "spirit" is the same.

"Strangers ... they shall winnow her ..." (Jeremiah 51:2). "These were the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11) who would destroy Babylon."[4] The word "winnow" was a word connected with the threshing industry; and one still hears remarks like, "He gave him a threshing!"

"For Israel ... Judah ... is not forsaken of his God ..." (Jeremiah 51:5). Throughout this chapter, the destruction of Babylon, and the protection and blessing of Israel are mentioned in that order repeatedly.