ophet had, at the point of time where he had taken his
stand, viz., the capture of the city, represented that calamity of this
[Pg 468] people, under the image of the pains of child-bearing. It thus
becomes equivalent to--Thou shalt be obliged to bear, not only the
pains which precede the birth, but also the highest of all pains, viz.,
the pains of the birth itself. What the latter are in relation to the
former, that, in the view of the prophet, is the carrying away out of
the Holy Land,--the expulsion from the face of God (an expulsion
similar to that of Cain when he was obliged to flee from Eden), when
compared to the mere capture. Hence the close connexion with what
follows, by means of [Hebrew: ki]. The word [Hebrew: vgHi] (the _o_ is,
for the sake of euphony, employed instead of _u_; just as in ver. 13
[Hebrew: dvwi]) is, by most interpreters, translated, "And lead out."
But we must object to this, on the ground that [Hebrew: gvH] has always
an intransitive signification only, viz., "to break forth;" and this
signification is here quite suitable, more so even than the transitive;
for it marks more emphatically the _pain_ during the birth, which is
here the only point: Jer. iv. 31. It is, as it were, a dissolution of
the whole nature, a violent breaking of it into pieces. The "now," just
as the "now" at the commencement of the description of the scene,
belongs to the _ideal_ standing-point, where the carrying away is just
at hand; for this is the period of the future into which the prophet
has been carried. The "dwelling in the field" is the intervening
station between the "going forth" and "the coming to Babylon." In the
open air, exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather (compare the
expression, "Under the dew of heaven," in Dan. iv. 22, 30 [25, 33]),
the prisoners were collected for the purpose of being afterwards
carried away. The word [Hebrew: ed], as well as the twofold [Hebrew:
wM], are emphatic. Irresistibly, the divine _judgment_ advances to its
last goal; but as irresistibly does divine _mercy_ wrest from the
enemies the prey which seemed to have been given to them even for
ever.--The futility of all attempts to explain away the distinct
prophecy of the Babylonish captivity in this passage has been shown in
the _Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel_, p. 151 sqq. How even
_Caspari_ could join in these attempts, it is difficult to explain.
Even he is of opinion that the prophet had expected the cata