The fall of Jerusalem offered no safety even beyond its broken walls. Those who managed to flee the ruined city found themselves hunted relentlessly across the wilderness, finding no shelter from an enemy that pursued them with uncompromising speed and cruelty.
The primary approach among commentators is that the enemy's chase was unnaturally fast and effortless. The invading forces moved swifter than eagles, running up steep, exhausting mountains with the same ease as if they were sprinting across flat ground [ביאור שטיינזלץ, צאינה וראינה, לחם דמעה]. While this is largely understood as a rapid physical chase [אבן עזרא], another perspective suggests a different kind of terror. In this view, the enemies set the mountains surrounding Jerusalem ablaze to completely block any remaining escape routes for the survivors [תורה תמימה]. The comparison to eagles exposes the sheer cruelty of the attackers. Eagles fly swiftly to secure food, but these enemies had already thoroughly looted the cities. Their exhausting pursuit into distant mountains and deserts was not driven by a search for plunder, but by a pure, unyielding desire to kill and destroy [לחם דמעה].
The specific terrains of this pursuit were not random; they served as a painful reflection of the people's past sins. Being hunted on the mountains came as a consequence for practicing idolatry on high peaks. Similarly, the ambushes in the desert were a direct response to the Sin of the Golden Calf and the baseless weeping of the Israelites in the wilderness, an event that originally established the night of Tisha B'Av as a time of mourning for future generations [לחם דמעה, פלגי מים]. This created a tragic historical reversal. In ancient times, God performed miracles for the Israelites in the desert mountain passes, destroying the Amorites who lay in wait for them. Now, those exact locations transformed into zones of disaster where a new enemy successfully ambushed them [לחם דמעה].
These mountains also symbolize the protective merit of the Patriarchs. The invading forces managed to overcome this ancient spiritual defense because it had been severely weakened by the sins committed in the wilderness [פלגי מים, אלון בכות]. In the spiritual realm, the enemies were even granted the power to defeat the heavenly angels—referred to as the eagles of the sky—who were originally appointed to protect the Israelites [אלון בכות]. Yet, hidden within this profound destruction was a thread of divine mercy. God deliberately caused the enemies to rush and hasten the process of exile. This swiftness ensured that the Israelites would not be entirely wiped out, allowing a small remnant to survive [פלגי מים].
On an allegorical level, this relentless chase represents the constant human struggle against the evil inclination. The evil inclination and its forces act as the pursuers, sometimes masking themselves as friends while actively plotting a person's spiritual downfall. They hunt on the mountains, which represent the righteous and pure individuals whom the inclination works tirelessly to corrupt. At the same time, they wait in ambush in the desert, symbolizing those who are empty of Torah and Commandments, easily catching them in their desolate state as well [לחם דמעה].