So as mentioned, invasions of Israel tended to come out of the North. Isaiah talks of a ruler whom God has raised up to trample evil rulers underfoot.

“I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun one who calls on my name: and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.” Isa 41:25 WEB

Notice how strangely Isaiah speaks of this one. He is “raised up … from the north,” yet he has come “from the rising of the sun,” which is actually East. Yet it says this is “one who calls on my name”? It doesn’t sound like a pagan ruler. We will have to come back to this reference. Others are clearer.

Jeremiah is preaching to an evil nation,
one that deserves punishment!

He starts off saying that punishment is coming, and is coming from the North.

“The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, What see you? I said, I see a boiling caldron; and the face of it is from the north. Then Yahweh said to me, Out of the north evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls of it round about, and against all the cities of Judah.” Jer 1:13-15 WEB

It is time for them to run for their lives, Jeremiah says.

“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.” Jer 6:1 WEB

A people will come from the North. It is clearly implied that it is the Lord who is stirring them up.

“Thus says Yahweh, Behold, a people comes from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.” Jer 6:22 WEB

And it is clear it is God Himself
who is doing this.

“behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Yahweh, and I will send to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.” Jer 25:9

Even Babylon, though she is God’s chosen instrument for vengeance for the sins of Israel and others, when it comes her time, it will still come from the North.

“For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; … ” Jer 50:9 WEB

But not all of the references to the North
fit this mold.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901