ANCIENT HEBREW CYPHER by G. W. A.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 22, 1868

ANCIENT HEBREW CYPHER.

By G. W. A.

In the “Complete Analysis of the Bible,” by Rev. N. West, is a brief sketch of each book, its authenticity, contents, scope, by whom written, &c. In speaking of the book of Jeremiah the following interesting paragraph occurs:

“There are some peculiarities in his writings, of which the most curious is his use of a sort of secret writing, or cypher, called in Hebrew, “Atbash,” which is a part of that secret learning of the Rabbins known as the Kabbala. This ‘Atbash’ consists in turning the Hebrew alphabet end for end, using the last letter instead of the first, the last but one instead of the second, and so on; as if in English we should put z y x w v, &c., instead of a b c d e, and should spell ‘bad’ by writing it yzw. Thus, in chap. xxv, 26, the word ‘Sheshach’ is unintelligible; but if, according to the Atbash, ‘Babel’ (i. e. Babylon) be substituted, a clear meaning appears. The same word, Sheshach, appears again, and can be treated in like manner, in chap. li, 41; and the words translated ‘in the midst of them that rise up against me,’ in the first verse of that chapter, if treated in the same way, become ‘Chasdim,’ i. e. Chaldees.”

The above, to say the least, is an interesting idea, and may possibly throw some light on the word Sheshach, in the 25th of Jeremiah, which heretofore has been a somewhat difficult term to explain. G. W. A.