WHAT ABOUT? That Psalm That Critics Claim Glorifies ‘Dashing Babies’ on Rocks?
Isaiah prophesies the fall of Babylon by Gustave Dore.
There is an Old Testament passage that is not infrequently cited by critics of Christianity as evidence that God cann0t be all-good or all-just since He encouraged the Israelites to dash the babies of their enemies on rocks to kill them.
Here’s the passage, which is Psalm 137:8-9:
“O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” (ESV)
But does that passage actually teach the Israelites to murder Babylon’s babies? As Eric Lyons of the Apologetics Press explains in the following 4:32 video, in fact, Psalm 137:8-9 isn’t at all about Israelites killing Babylonian babies, but rather those infants being murdered by the Medes when they conquered Babylon.
In other words, the passage is a prophecy about one aspect of the future destruction of Babylon, not a divine endorsement of or encouragement to the Israelites to destroy Babylonian infants.