The North (ṣāpôn) in the Book of Jeremiah

Abstract

Abstract The »foe from the north« is a well-known trope in the book of Jeremiah. In 1989 David Reimer argued that this enemy should be understood as a nonspecific earthly enemy, with mythical overtones deriving from the location of Yhwh’s divine abode on Mount Zaphon. Contemporary historiographical debates, together with Otto Eißfeldt’s arguments for an Israelite tradition of a »mythischen Nordberg«, exerted significant influence on Reimer’s discussion. This article examines these presuppositions, reconsiders the evidence, and argues that Jeremiah’s enemy »from the north« is a simple geographical reference to the Babylonian Empire.