The writer of the Psalm is mourning the complete destruction of their holiest temple and city, Jerusalem, and the mass slaughter of their people. In their rage and sorrow after the death and destruction they have suffered, they wish the same upon those who inflicted it. This includes razing the Babylon empire to the ground (as the Babylonians did to Jerusalem) and the killing of their children (as the Babylonians did to their children).
It is a tough read, as the writer is clearly in distress, but this action is seen as just punishment by the writer and a fulfillment of the Prophecy in Isaiah 13:16. In addition the action was unfortunately common in the times of the Old Testament, as shown in Homers Iliad. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Thank you for the context. I feel like you could find similar sentiments today over less severe harms.
Honestly, that type of retaliation is happening right now by the descendants of those that wrote the Psalm. Goes to show we really haven’t progressed much in how we treat each other in 3000 years.
What is the context here?
The writer of the Psalm is mourning the complete destruction of their holiest temple and city, Jerusalem, and the mass slaughter of their people. In their rage and sorrow after the death and destruction they have suffered, they wish the same upon those who inflicted it. This includes razing the Babylon empire to the ground (as the Babylonians did to Jerusalem) and the killing of their children (as the Babylonians did to their children).
It is a tough read, as the writer is clearly in distress, but this action is seen as just punishment by the writer and a fulfillment of the Prophecy in Isaiah 13:16. In addition the action was unfortunately common in the times of the Old Testament, as shown in Homers Iliad. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Thank you for the context. I feel like you could find similar sentiments today over less severe harms.
Honestly, that type of retaliation is happening right now by the descendants of those that wrote the Psalm. Goes to show we really haven’t progressed much in how we treat each other in 3000 years.