SHESHACH, or Sesach; by this Name Jer. xxv. 26. li. 41.Jeremy hints at Babylon. Jeremiah was to cause all Nations to drink of the Cup of the Fury of the Lord, and the King of Sheshach shall drink after them. And elsewhere, How is Sheshach taken, and how is the Praise of the whole Earth surprized! How is Babylon become an Astonishment among the Nations! But how comes it that he gives this Name to Babylon? St. Jerome1 thinks he does it out of Caution, that he might not provoke Nebuchadnezzar, who then was laying Siege to Jerusalem. We take Shesbach to be a Pagan Deity, who was chiefly worshipped at Babylon. He gives this City the Name of its tutelar Deity, as he says elsewhere, Babylon Jer. l. 2.is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in Pieces. Bel and Merodach were the Gods of the Country. Shesbach was probably the Moon. At Babylon2 they celebrated Feasts call’d Sacæa, which had a great Resemblance to the Saturnalia of the Romans. The Servants then acted the Part of Masters. Strabo says, they were celebrated Strab. l. xi. p. 351, 352.in Honour of Anais, which is the same as Diana, or the Moon. See our Commentary upon Jeremiah xxv. 26. and Gerard John Vossius, de origine & progressu Idololat. l. 2. c. 22.
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