A Thought From The Psalms

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Psalm 137:8,9

What a terrible thing to say. Why is the writer of Psalm 137 speaking this way? He is furious and wrathful. His people have been conquered and brutalized by Babylonian soldiers, and he wishes that the Babylonians will be cursed with the same brutality that they have heaped upon God’s people.

This Psalm is what Bible teachers and theologians call an imprecatory Psalm, one that calls down curses on the enemy. It’s an angry, revenge filled, “You’re gonna get yours!” kind of Psalm.

Babylon in its conquering of the world in ancient times was not a nation that waged war according to international laws. They had no rules of engagement intended to protect the civilian population of their enemies. Kill, spoil, and destroy is how they did it.

Imagine what this Psalmist had seen with his own eyes when Babylon conquered Jerusalem and all Israel. Like other nations in battle at that time, they mowed down people in the streets chopping them in pieces with swords. Like other nations in battle at that time, they probably “ripped up the women with child” (Amos 1:13 re: Amalek), and may have pulled some baby (babies) from the mother’s belly and cast it on the ground to die, if it wasn’t dead already. When little toddlers were running in fear from the battle hardened brutes of Babylon, the soldiers, like other soldiers at that time, may have grabbed the child by its ankles, swung it around his head, and battered it against a rock or other object hard enough to crush the little skull. They may have heard cheers and laughter from their fellow soldiers patrolling the streets of the vanquished city.

It is hard for any modern person to imagine how even a battle hardened soldier of any army, who had seen and been a part of the most horrendous war situations, could, for any reason, be that hard, that murderous.

The Psalmist implies he expected that one day Babylon’s children would be treated “as thou has served us.”

Eventually God judged Babylon as He had promised (Jeremiah 25:12) for their iniquity, and the women and children of that wicked city did not fair well.