Endnote 9 – Mounds of Mystery

This interpretation of the tumuli as ceremonial mounds for the kings of Judah opens a window on an enigmatic verse in Jeremiah that speaks of the punishment God will inflict on Babylon for the wicked things it did to Zion (Jeremiah 51:24). God calls Babylon a “mountain of destruction” (har hamashchit). Then God goes on to say that he will make Babylon into a “burnt mountain” (har srefa) from which neither a “cornerstone or a foundation stone” will be taken (Jeremiah 51:25). Srefa is the same term used in the many verses previously cited for the great fire made in memory of the kings of Judah. Our new interpretation of the making of a bonfire as part of the memorial ceremony for the kings of Judah and the piling after the ceremony of earth and rocks into a mound offers a possible explanation for this puzzling verse in Jeremiah. The mounds were named “mountain of burning” and people were not allowed to take any stones from them for construction or any other purpose.