98. What Figure Is Conveyed by the Words "Rachel Weeping for Her Children"?

The passage in Matthew 2:18 relates to the Baby-Ionian captivity. Rachel, the wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is figuratively represented as rising from the tomb and lamenting over the loss of her children. Raman in Benjamin was a scene of pillage and massacre in Jeremiah's time (see Jer. 31:15), and hence is chosen by the prophet in his figurative scene of lamentation.