Why does the Bible like smashing babies against rocks?

Question

"A blessing on anyone who seizes your babies, and shatters them against a rock." Psalms 137:9. I know a lot of Christians say they read Psalms to comfort and relax themselves.

Answer 1

Oh my God it does say that!! WOW thats sicker than all the biblical inscest!!

Answer 2

Nobody who's quoted the full scripture has dealt with what the psalm actually says - if you cross us, we'll get you back.

Now, I think the imagery of dashing children's heads into rocks is a bit extreme, but the writer must have intended the effect. It's a good question: why does this bit of the Bible imply that murderous revenge is acceptable? Is it acceptable, or is this a part of the Bible which needs to be read in context as well?

Answer 3

thats funny...i havent seen anyone do that....just because a thing is written in a book does not mean you should do it.

The Christians dont view the bible the same way muslims view the Quran....the muslims view the quran as the absolute word of God that should be followed exactly...i for one only concern myself witht the gospel of Jesus and the words of Jesus.

by the way David was speaking figuratively about Babylon..not human babies.

137:8 O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated!10

How blessed will be the one who repays you

for what you dished out to us!11

137:9 How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies

and smashes them on a rock!12

Answer 4

Hi

I will try and answer your question.

The Bible to my understanding should be read with the understanding of history and culture. that is to say it should be read putting into consideration the context.

This particular charpter is a lament of the Isralites when they were taken to exile by the babylonians. Babylon at this particular time was in its hight of prosperity and dominion. They were believed to be cruel, idol worshippers and merciless captors. 2kings 24 & 2kings 25 2chronicles 36:17,

A lament of the Isralites in Babylon, where they were tortured, not allowed to worship thier God, and sometimes forced to worhip Idols. Remember Babylon detroyed the temple of Solomon, carried away all the sacred items from the temple, took away all the riches/wealth of Jerusalem and tore the walls of Jerusalem. The killed both children, young men, women.

My understanding of this verse, is not that the Bible Likes to smash babies against the rocks, but rather a figure of speach, where they say that Their God will come to rescue them and that Babylon will be get a payback of all they did to them.

It Reads:
Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back
forwaht you have done to us-
who take your babies and smash them against a rock

if you look at the following chapters of Ezra, Jeremiah they are a continuation of the Story of Exile, and the Return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding the wall.

I do hope I have helped.

Answer 5

Larry, there is more to Psalms than that passage. Check out Psalm 40, U2's Bono used it for a gorgeous song: "40" But I agree it's harsh. Passages like this bring up questions, "OK, God is supposed to be love, why the heck did he invite us to a brutal world full of pain, and then he orders the Israelites to perpetrate infanticide." This is a bitter pill in the Bible (there are others) but is it grounds to judge God, the Israelites and the Bible and label them all: irrelevant or false? One explanation for the passage is this: the Israelites were a tiny people in a sea of other : religions, ethnicities and folks who were very anti monotheism. Yes God could do anything! But he chose to work through this blunt instrument of a specific ethno-religious group: the Jews. The Jews, like all of us, were constantly finding ways to fall away from monotheism: sex cults, worshipping Baal etc. This type of brutality was a means to keep the Israelites free of societies that wanted to dilute and absorb their ethnicity and faith. The question is, does crushing babies head against a rock really reflect God's heart? Christ said in Matthew 19:14, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
The baby crushing could have been the Israelites horrific way of keeping themselves "pure", perhaps it wasn't God's choice but their's. The Bible covers a huge amount of ground with brutal unflinching honesty. When taken as a whole it points us to a good, loving God. But ultimately that choice of who God really is or isn't is yours to make. Through Christ I have mustered up a faith (despite this horrific world) that God is good. When I began from that premise I was able to wrestle with the Bible as a whole and find a God who "makes me lie down in Green pastures and leads me beside still waters." Psalms 23

Answer 6

The psalm is predicting that the conqueror of Babylon will delight in smashing their babies against rocks as the Babylonians did with the babies of Israel.

Answer 7

The bible does give a lot of comfort to readers but also gives explanations as to why Jehovah God has acted as he has,what he will do in the future, and why. It gives the blessings of doing what is pleasing to God and the consequences of doing what is wrong. He never does anything without warning and he always sends his prophets to tell and give people a chance to know what is going to take place and choice to turn around. Here you have to understand who he is talking about and what is taking place. Jehovah has used great leaders to accomplish his purpose such as the Persian ruler Cyrus to free his people from the ancient world power "Babylon the great," or false religion. At Psalm 137:8,9 the 10 horns who are on the head of the wild beast of which the harlot system of false religion has ridden for so long are not the happy ones referred to here. It is the greater Cyrus "Jesus Christ" who will figuratively grab hold of the "children" of the harlot-like system of false teaching against what looms up like a "craig," the unyeilding Kingdom of Jehovah God by Jesus Christ. So the political powers are merely the instruments used by the God of the Witnesses to carry out his own purpose.—Revelation 17:17. They do not do this out of any love for Jehovah's worshippers but are used to accomplish his purposes. Thus, Jesus Christ in Kingdom power is the “happy” one foretold by the psalmist! So it is imperative that if we do not want to partake of her sins that we do as stated in Revelation “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.”—Rev. 18:4; Jer. 50:8.
For more information:

The End Of False Religion Is Near
http://www.watchtower.org/e/kn37/article_01.htm

Do You Know the Truth About Armageddon?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20051201/article_01.htm

Why Was An Ancient World Destroyed?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20020301/article_01.htm

Answer 8

I don't believe you have asked this question because you really need an answer. You think you are smart???

Do you know who are these children the psalm is talking about?
the daughter of babel: do you think there is a guy called babel& the psalmist is encouraging people to stone her children??? If you are smart you would have known that He is talking about the children of slavery, the offspring of the ruin, the outcome of sin

In James1: 15 it says: Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death>

Would you ask then how come desire is pregnant??? It's a symbol if you know what does it mean!!!

Answer 9

137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

137:2 On the willows in its midst, we hung up our harps.

137:3 For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

137:4 How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?

137:5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

137:6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you; if I don't prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

137:7 Remember, Yahweh, against the children of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!"

137:8 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who rewards you, as you have served us.

137:9 Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

Looks to me like it's one of those, "Though you may weep now, for all the evil done to you. IF in captivity, do not mourn. You will be rewarded. Your captures will suffer" kind of thing. Read all of the passage, not a line.

Answer 10

I have this referenced to Isaiah 13:16. This tells of the end times. ... and 17 says the Medes do it.

Answer 11

The Lord says, "Revenge is mine, I shall repay."

Read the oracle to get the context:
O Lord, remember what the Edomites did
on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem.
"Destroy it!" they yelled.
"Level it to the ground!"
O Babylon, you will be destroyed.
Happy is the one who pays you back
for what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who takes your babies
and smashes them against the rocks!

Who is happy? Who is doing the smashing? ???