Commentators note that the 'beast of the field' can be understood in two ways. Literally, it refers to God using wild animals like lions and bears as a direct judgment, a reversal of the promised peace in Leviticus 26:6. Figuratively, as scholar John Gill suggests, these 'beasts' can represent cruel and oppressive foreign kings and empires, such as those from Assyria and Babylon, who would later conquer and scatter Israel.