By the Rivers of BabylonSample

Righteous Retribution

These verses sound repulsive to our modern sensitivities. To rejoice over the fall of Babylon and call those who would take Babylon’s little ones and dash them against the rock resounds of barbarism. However, if we stand casting judgment upon these words, we miss the whole point of the imprecatory prayer of the exiles. The children of God had suffered tremendously under the Babylonians. Their temple was razed, their homes destroyed, their land dispossessed, their friends slain, their wives raped, their daughters enslaved and their little ones dashed against the rock. The people of Judah were people who now dwelled in a foreign land in misery. In these verses these people who have experienced painful loss cry out for justice. Though Babylon prospers the exiles are convinced that the evil of Babylon will be repaid in the future. God will account Babylon’s violent sins against His people in kind. Babylon’s sins were such that she came to be a symbol of debauchery, sexual immorality, and every evil under the sun (Revelation 18:2-3). Thus, rather than some repulsive refrain gloating at the death of another, what we have here is the passionate protest of God’s people against the injustice they perceived in the world. They cry out for just retribution against evil. The people pray the legal demand of lex talionis to be upheld. 

God is a righteous judge who will render to each one according to his works (Romans 2:6). The sins of every man will be judged. When Christ comes once more as the righteous King, He will judge the living and the dead (II Timothy 4:1). There will no respite for those who rebelled against God. As ancient Babylon fell to rise no more, so too will every sinner under the judgement of God. God will not be mocked. 

Only those rebels who forsake their rebellion and surrender to Jesus will be spared since the judgement upon their sins has already been pronounced on the cross of Christ. Jesus endured God’s righteous retribution for the sins of the elect. Jesus was doomed and destroyed so sinners might live. Therefore today, believers are called to forsake all fellowship with Babylon and reject her sinful clothes. Believers are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14) and be clothed with the garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10). Praise God that He not only judges evil but also delivers His people from evil.