Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Psalm 137 grew out of the exile and was sung by captives in Babylon. The closing line is the exiles' lament over Babylon, expressing their fierce desire for Babylon to receive the violence it had inflicted on them, calling the destruction of Babylon's children a just reversal for the devastation of Jerusalem and its people. It is a prediction concerning ancient Babylon and its destruction, fulfilled when Cyrus and Darius captured the city, declaring God's retributive justice in that Babylon's oppression would make its downfall welcome and its conquerors celebrated for removing a grievous curse. It is a prayer for judgment on violent oppressors rather than personal revenge, pleading that law be upheld and atrocities receive just punishment, with its cruelty belonging not to the psalmist's own spirit but to the Medo-Persian soldiers who would execute it.
Words and Historical Setting
Psalm 137 grew out of the exile as a song sung by captives in Babylon. It was written after the Babylonian captivity, after the restoration from Babylon. Its writer was a child of God who had endured the worst of the captivity.
Others held that it was written during the Babylonian captivity, in the latter portion thereof during the reign of Belshazzar when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest, by Asaph, Ethan, and others. In that reckoning it mingles the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives with exhortation and encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from their persecutors. It has also been understood as a prophecy of the Babylonian captivity.
Justice, Prophecy, and Application
The closing line belongs to the exiles' lament over Babylon and expresses their fierce desire for Babylon to receive the violence it had inflicted on them. Babylon's violence had devastated Jerusalem and its people, and the call for the destruction of Babylon's children is a just reversal of the harm inflicted on Zion. Its words arise from Israel's captivity and longing to return to Jerusalem.
The severity is a prayer for judgment on violent oppressors, not personal revenge. It pleads that law be upheld, the community protected, and those who commit atrocities receive just punishment. Though part of an imprecatory passage against Babylon, its cruelty refers not to the psalmist's own cruel spirit but to the cruelty of the Medo-Persian soldiers.
The line is a prediction concerning ancient Babylon and its destruction, fulfilled when Cyrus and Darius captured the city and its inhabitants were slaughtered indiscriminately. Babylon had sacked Jerusalem, burned the temple, taken Israel captive, and cruelly oppressed those under its rule. The declaration that the destroyer of its little ones would be happy means Babylon's oppression would make its downfall welcome and its conquerors celebrated for removing a grievous curse. It does not urge cruelty but declares God's retributive justice and the judgment people would express about Babylon's destruction.
The image portrays the brutal killing of children during warfare, where a baby torn from its mother and dashed against stones illustrates the slaughter and devastation that have marked human history. In vengeance against an enemy it describes brutal killing of children, depicting mob violence in the imagined destruction of the republic. The Israelites in Babylon felt they were in the land of an enemy and conqueror, where they did not want to be and suffered. This makes captivity a fitting picture of death as the enemy's land, from which the dead are to come again.
Psalm 137 grew out of the exile and was sung by captives in Babylon. The closing line is the exiles' lament over Babylon, expressing their fierce desire for Babylon to receive the violence it had inflicted on them, calling the destruction of Babylon's children a just reversal for the devastation of Jerusalem and its people. It is a prediction concerning ancient Babylon and its destruction, fulfilled when Cyrus and Darius captured the city, declaring God's retributive justice in that Babylon's oppression would make its downfall welcome and its conquerors celebrated for removing a grievous curse. It is a prayer for judgment on violent oppressors rather than personal revenge, pleading that law be upheld and atrocities receive just punishment, with its cruelty belonging not to the psalmist's own spirit but to the Medo-Persian soldiers who would execute it.
Words and Historical Setting
Psalm 137 grew out of the exile as a song sung by captives in Babylon. It was written after the Babylonian captivity, after the restoration from Babylon. Its writer was a child of God who had endured the worst of the captivity.
Others held that it was written during the Babylonian captivity, in the latter portion thereof during the reign of Belshazzar when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest, by Asaph, Ethan, and others. In that reckoning it mingles the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives with exhortation and encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from their persecutors. It has also been understood as a prophecy of the Babylonian captivity.
Justice, Prophecy, and Application
The closing line belongs to the exiles' lament over Babylon and expresses their fierce desire for Babylon to receive the violence it had inflicted on them. Babylon's violence had devastated Jerusalem and its people, and the call for the destruction of Babylon's children is a just reversal of the harm inflicted on Zion. Its words arise from Israel's captivity and longing to return to Jerusalem.
The severity is a prayer for judgment on violent oppressors, not personal revenge. It pleads that law be upheld, the community protected, and those who commit atrocities receive just punishment. Though part of an imprecatory passage against Babylon, its cruelty refers not to the psalmist's own cruel spirit but to the cruelty of the Medo-Persian soldiers.
The line is a prediction concerning ancient Babylon and its destruction, fulfilled when Cyrus and Darius captured the city and its inhabitants were slaughtered indiscriminately. Babylon had sacked Jerusalem, burned the temple, taken Israel captive, and cruelly oppressed those under its rule. The declaration that the destroyer of its little ones would be happy means Babylon's oppression would make its downfall welcome and its conquerors celebrated for removing a grievous curse. It does not urge cruelty but declares God's retributive justice and the judgment people would express about Babylon's destruction.
The image portrays the brutal killing of children during warfare, where a baby torn from its mother and dashed against stones illustrates the slaughter and devastation that have marked human history. In vengeance against an enemy it describes brutal killing of children, depicting mob violence in the imagined destruction of the republic. The Israelites in Babylon felt they were in the land of an enemy and conqueror, where they did not want to be and suffered. This makes captivity a fitting picture of death as the enemy's land, from which the dead are to come again.