The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

Jeremiah 29:10: The Hebrew preposition l e (lamed)
Furuli’s First Book 453
The preposition l e is the most common preposition in the Hebrew Old
Testament. According to a recent count, it occurs 20,725 times, 1352 of which
are found in the book of Jeremiah. (Ernst Jenni, Die hebräischen Prepositionen.
Band 3: Die Präposition Lamed, Stuttgart, etc.: Verlag Kohlhammer, 2000, p. 17)
What does it mean at Jeremiah 29:10? Since the first edition of my book on the
Gentile times (GTR) was published in 1983, this question has been asked of
dozens of qualified Hebraists around the world. I contacted some and so did
some of my correspondents. Although some of the Hebraists explained that l e
in a few expressions has a local sense (”in, at”), in most cases it does not, and
they unanimously reject this meaning at Jeremiah 29:10. Some of them are
quoted in GTR 4 (Ch. 5, B-2).
Furuli disagrees with their view. He believes that because l e is used in a local
sense in some expressions at a few places it is likely used in this sense also in
Jeremiah 29:10. He argues:
”Can it really be used in the local sense ‘at’? It certainly can, and The
Dictionary of Classical Hebrew lists about 30 examples of this meaning, one of
which is Numbers 11:10, ‘each man at (le) the entrance of his tent’. So, in each
case when le is used, it is the context that must decide its meaning. For example,
in Jeremiah 51:2 the phrase lebâbel means ‘to Babylon’, because the preceding
verb is ‘to send’. But lirûshâlâm [the letters li at the beginning of the word is a
contraction of le+yod] in Jeremiah 3:17 in the clause, ‘all the nations will gather
in Jerusalem’ has the local meaning ‘in Jerusalem’, and the same is true with the
phrase lîhûdâ in Jeremiah 40:11 in the clause, ‘the king of Babylon had left a
remnant in Judah’.” (p. 86)
Well and good, but do these examples allow l e bâbel at Jeremiah 29:10 to be
translated “in” or “at Babylon”? Is this really a likely translation? Is it even a
possible one? This question was sent to Professor Ernst Jenni in Basel,
Switzerland, who is undoubtedly the leading authority today on Hebrew
prepositions. So far, he has written three volumes on three of the Hebrew
prepositions, b e (beth), k e (kaph), and l e (lamed). In Die hebräischen Prepositionen.
Band 3: Die Präposition Lamed (Stuttgart, etc.: Verlag Kohlhammer, 2000), he
devotes 350 pages to the examination of l e . His answer of October 1, 2003 was:
“As I recently have received an inquiry from Germany concerning
Jer. 29,10 (likewise in connection with a theory of Jehovah’s Witnesses),
I can answer you relatively quickly.
My treatment of this passage is found in the Lamed-book p. 109
(heading 4363). The rendering in all modern commentaries and
translations is ‘for Babel’ (Babel as world power, not city or land); this is
clear from the language as well as also from the context.
By the ‘local meaning’ a distinction is to be made between where?
(‘in, at’) and where to? (local directional ‘to, towards’). The basic meaning
of l is ‘with reference to’, and with a following local specification it can
be understood as local or local-directional only in certain adverbial expressions
(e.g., Num. 11,10 [Clines DCH IV, 481b] ‘at the entrance’, cf. Lamed pp.