ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 FALAITE NOVEMA 17, 2023

Cryptic Name 

Ko e Hingoa Fakapulipuli

JEREMIAH 25:17, 26

THEN I TOOK THE CUP FROM THE LORD'S HAND AND MADE ALL THE NATIONS TO WHOM THE LORD SENT ME DRINK IT ALL THE KINGS... AND ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH WHICH ARE UPON THE FACE OF THE GROUND, AND THE KING OF SHESHACH SHALL DRINK AFTER THEM.

SELEMAIA 25:17, 26

17 Pea u to‘o ‘a e ipu mei he nima ‘o Sihova, pea u fakainu‘aki ‘a e ngaahi pule‘anga, ‘a ia na‘e fekau atu au ki ai ‘e Sihova;

26 mo e ngaahi tu‘i kehekehe ‘o tokelau, ‘a e ofi mo e mama‘o, hokohoko atu; pea mo e ngaahi pule‘anga kotoa ‘o māmani ‘oku ‘i he funga ‘o e kelekele: pea fakamuimui ‘e inu ‘e he Tu‘i Sēsaki.

Pore over every ancient map in the world and you'll never locate Sheshach not because it didn't exist but because, for some unknown reason, Jeremiah goes all CIA on us here. Sheshach is a cryptic name for Babylon, formed by a cipher called Athbash. Here's how Athbash works: The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is replaced by the last letter, the second letter by the next-to-last letter, and so forth. In English, A would be replaced by Z, B by Y, and so on. So, for example, "low" in Athbash becomes "old" and "zoo" becomes "all." In Hebrew, through this clever alphabetic trick, Babylon becomes Sheshach. Some translations-rather boringly, in my opinion - shelve Jeremiah's trick altogether by rendering Sheshach as Babylon.

Why the secrecy? We don't know. Elsewhere Jeremiah is quite willing to mention Babylon by name. What we do know is that Sheshach would be drinking the Lord's cup soon. And we also know that at the world's end, Babylon-symbol of all evil power-will be defeated by the returning King of kings (Rev. 18:2). There's nothing cryptic about that.

To you, King Messiah, we lift the cup of salvation and call on your redeeming name.