The spirit of Rachel is offered hope in Jeremiah’s prophecy, because her children, who indeed departed the land from Ramah (Jeremiah 40:1), where her weeping was heard, will have a return. The exile will end. Ironically, Herod’s massacre, while provoking fresh weeping, is also a sign that there is hope, because his rage is provoked by the birth of the future king, who will soon be called out of exile to Egypt.
The prophet depicts the figure of Rachel, who weeps when the sons of Jacob are deported. Her complaint sounds in Ramah—a border town between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah from which both countries could be observed. The exiles also departed for Babylon from here (Jeremiah 40:1). Importantly, Rachel, as personified in the prophecy, also receives a promise. Her children will return and the punishment will come to an end. This promise encouraged Israel as a whole, but especially all the mothers in Israel during the many centuries of exile, deportation, and execution by enemies, when it seemed that there would be no future for the people of God.1
Now, the affliction that Herod caused in Bethlehem might be yet another expression of enmity toward God’s people, but with this outburst of rage, the promise of the prophecy of Jeremiah is fulfilled: now there is suddenly hope for the future of Israel. The exile, which seemed to have canceled the deliverance of the exodus because of sin, will no longer be hopeless when God’s Son comes out of Egypt, to which he fled as part of his humiliation.2
17 Alors s'accomplit ce qui avait été annoncé par Jérémie, le prophète: