Biblical God Praised For Having Babies Killed
by
Bassam Zawadi
The God of the Bible has a habit of ordering the killing of children:
1 Samuel 15:2,3
2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy [a] everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' "
Hosea 13:16
16 The people of Samaria must bear their guilt,
because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to the ground,
their pregnant women ripped open."
It also seems that He is praised and glorified for doing so:
Psalms 135:1-8
1 Praise the LORD. [a]
Praise the name of the LORD;
praise him, you servants of the LORD,
2 you who minister in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession.
5 I know that the LORD is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 The LORD does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstborn of men and animals.
Psalms 136:10
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights?
His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
Psalms 137:8-9
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-
9 he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
John Gill says in his commentary regarding this verse:
Verse 9. Happy [shall he be] that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. That takes the infants from their mothers' breasts, or out of their arms, and dashes out their brains against a "rock," as the word {k} signifies; which, though it may seem a piece of cruelty, was but a just retaliation; the Babylonians having done the same to the Jewish children, and is foretold elsewhere should be done to theirs, Isaiah 13:16. Nor is this desired from a spirit of revenge, but for the glory of divine justice, and that such a generation of cruel creatures might be rooted out of the earth; see Revelation 2:2. Some allegorically understand this of crushing and mortifying the first motions of sin in the heart; but such a sense seems to have no place here. (John Gill's Exposition to the Bible, Commentary on Psalms 137:9, Source)
Isn't that amazing? The dashing of babies' heads against the rocks is justified because it was done to their babies years ago. This is unjust; you should not punish innocent babies for the crimes that their forefathers have committed. However, Islam is just and would have only held the person who actually dashed the baby's head accountable for his deeds, just like we see in the following hadith:
Saheeh Bukhari
Volume 9, Book 83, Number 23:
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
A Jew crushed the head of a girl between two stones. It was said to her. "Who has done this to you, such-and-such person, such-and-such person?" When the name of the Jew was mentioned, she nodded with her head, agreeing. So the Jew was brought and he confessed. The Prophet ordered that his head be crushed with the stones. (Hammam said, "with two stones.")
You see, only the person who actually crushed the head of the girl between the two stones was punished. They didn't look for his daughter and did the same thing to her.
Usually, God should be praised for the merciful things that He has done for us, not for the ordering of the execution of innocent little children by having swords pierced into them, being killed within their pregnant mother's bellies, or having their heads bashed against rocks unjustly.
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