Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 51:41-44
An Exultation Over The City of Babylon's Demise (Jeremiah 51:41).
We note in this exultation the emphasis on what is to happen to Bel (Marduk), the chief god of Babylon. Babylon had boasted that it was Marduk who had given them the nations. Now Marduk would be caused by YHWH to spew them out (although some see it as referring to the return of the Temple vessels), and no more nations would flow to him any more. Marduk would be revealed as just what he was, the work of man's hands.
“How is Sheshach taken!
And the praise of the whole earth seized!
How is Babylon become a desolation,
Among the nations!
The sea is come up on Babylon
She is covered with the multitude of its waves,
Her cities are become a desolation,
A dry land and a desert,
A land in which no man dwells,
Nor does any son of man pass by it.”
Sheshach was originally probably a cryptogram for Babylon on the athbash principle, shin replacing beth and chaph replacing lamed (similar to z replacing a, y replacing b, x replacing c, and so on). Used as a cryptogram in letters passing between Jerusalem and Babylon so as to disguise the fact that Babylon was being spoken of it may well have gradually been incorporated into Hebrew thought as a parallel name for Babylon. Indeed it may well be that its use here was intended to indicate that the cryptogram was no longer needed because Babylon's power was broken.
Some, however, argue for Sheshach as being a genuine alternative name for Babylon, citing the possible name of a moon god, Shishaki, or seeing it as meaning ‘warlike city'. Whichever way it is taken, however, it undoubtedly refers here to Babylon. Only Babylon could have been described as ‘the praise of the whole earth' (compare ‘Babylon the glory of the kingdoms' - Isaiah 13:19, and this especially so when the name is given in parallel with that of Babylon in typically Hebrew fashion.
So that magnificent city, so powerful and seemingly impregnable with its vast walls, praised by the whole earth, will be seized. It will become a desolation among the nations. As Isaiah puts it, it will be ‘as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah' (Isaiah 13:19). Once praised by all it will become a heap, a ruin. And this will be caused by ‘a sea' coming up on it, covering it with the multitude of its waves. This picture is a regular one in Scripture to describe an invading army, a ‘sea of nations'. See, for example, Jeremiah 46:7; Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 17:12.
And this ‘sea', instead of refreshing the land like the Nile did Egypt, will turn it into a desert. Her cities will become a desolation, a dry land and a desert. It will become a land which is totally uninhabited, which no man passes through.
“And I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon,
And I will bring forth out of his mouth what he has swallowed up,
And the nations will not flow any more to him,
Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.”
But above all would be the defeat of Bel (Marduk), the chief god of Babylon, of whom Nebuchadrezzar and the Babylonians had claimed that it was he who had defeated the nations and brought them in thrall to Babylon. It was he who in their eyes had swallowed up the wealth of the nations, including the golden vessels of the Jerusalem Temple. YHWH would execute judgment on him, and extract from his mouth all that he had swallowed up. The golden vessels would be returned to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:7). Nations would no longer flow to Babylon with their tribute, nor would they honour it and seek its glory. For even the mighty double wall of Babylon will fall, that double wall which bore the names of Imgur-Bel (Bel protects) and Nimetti-Bel (dwelling of Bel). The outer wall was four metres (12 feet) thick, and the inner wall six and a half metres (21 feet) thick. They were separated by a gap of seven metres (23 feet). It was a formidable defence. Thus would YHWH, having used Babylon as a means of chastening His people, bring Babylon into the dust, and Marduk would be unable to do anything about it. The dwelling of Bel would become a ruin, the protection of Bel would prove worthless. To the world of that day, which fervently believed in its gods, this would have been significant indeed.