Apologetics: Dashing infants against rocks??

        In my daily reading, I’ve just come through Psalm 137, and what a shocker that last verse is—  “Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” My first instinct is to repudiate it with all my heart. Then I remember that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” and that “God is love.” However can these three quotations be reconciled? Pages and pages have been written about this Psalm, but it is essentially a prayer for justice, and for the righting of wrongs.

        The word “infant” may mean a very young or even a grown child (compare the “children” of Israel), and focuses on relationship and not on age. It points to the fact that the sins of the fathers are being repeated in the next generation. These deaths seem to be the psalmist’s view of the only way the sins of the fathers can be stopped. Since we believe that babies who die go straight to heaven, this is far better in the eternal scheme of things than for the children to grow up,  reject God, and be lost forever. It confirms our Lord’s comment about Judas  (Mark 14:21) that, “It would be better for him if he had not been born” — not “if he had not been conceived” (perhaps indicating that the soul comes into existence at conception). It was the same with David’s son by Bathsheba— when he died, David said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (Indicating that the baby was already in Paradise.)

        Modern unbelievers point to this verse and say “How brutal!” But what about the writhing in pain that occurs as a modern Canadian unborn baby is “salted out” or aborted by dilation and evacuation (D&E)? Abortion is arguably a great deal more brutal. Of course, in neither case are we taking into account the taker of these lives—“Thou shalt not kill.” We have to remember, too, that this is not a blessing on the killers. It is a statement of fact about the unthinking cruelty of the warriors who would later conquer Babylon, specifically, the Medes and Persians, in 539 BC. They were “happy” in their evil, much like a modern-day terrorist!

        To return to the three quotations in the first paragraph, as Christians, we must repudiate this sentiment. Our Lord, himself said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Mat.5:43-44. God is love. The souls of those children are safe in His care!                           Ì