Analysis of the Use of the Image of Labor Pains (ὠδίνες) in the Old Testament
The article examines the use of the term ὠδῖνες in the Old Testament as an image of birth pangs. A woman experiences pain before the birth of a child and, accordingly, before the advent of a new life. Sacred writers use this image, and in several meanings. On the one hand, to depict the most difficult, terrible torment that cannot be avoided. But, on the other hand, they use it as a metaphor for the birth / rebirth of the people (after the exodus from the Babylonian captivity). The same term is used as an image of the resurrection from the dead, that is, a new birth after death. Subsequently, there is a development in the use of this term, and it is already being used as an image of the disasters of the last time, that is, the most difficult trials that were expected at the end of the present age, before the coming of the Day of the Lord, as the birth pangs of the new messianic time. Using this image in this sense helps to understand the theology of the New Testament, where this term is used. To analyze all aspects of the use of this image, the present study was undertaken.