Infanticide: the intentional killing of infants. In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible. In most countries, female infanticide is more common than the killing of male offspring, due to sex-selective infanticide.
One of the forgotten themes of the bible is the killing of infants. One of my major goals in life is to share the bible with as many people as possible. I do this in person and across the internet. The bible is such an amazing book, I think the citizens of our planet should know as much about it as possible. Today, I want to share about infanticide.
When Christ returns to the Earth in his glory to usher in the last days, some bad stuff is going to happen. The well-known prophet Isaiah was kind enough to give us a preview. It helps me understand why people are so anxious for His return.
Isaiah 13:15-18 New International Version (NIV)
Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives violated.
See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.
Their bows will strike down the young men;
they will have no mercy on infants,
nor will they look with compassion on children.
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| Ancient Figurines |
Once upon a time, the people in Samaria disrespected God by making little silver statues. They probably looked a little like these ones from Madhya Pradesh. Of course God couldn’t tolerate that, so it was imperative that their infants receive dashing and their pregnant women be torn open. This of course raises the question: in God’s eyes, is it a worse punishment for a woman to be “violated,” or “ripped open?”
Hosea 13:16 New International Version (NIV)
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.
When the children in Israel were living in Babylon (remember the stories about Daniel in the Lion Den and Ashack, Meshack, and Abednego?) God decided that one day the Babylonians would be punished for making His chosen people move from Palestine to Iraq. In Psalms, we get to learn how great it will be to be the one who gets to punish the Babylonian people.
Psalms 137:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
Holy crap! This whole time I was assuming it was BAD to dash infants. I can’t believe I was wrong. It may be time for me to re-evaluate my personal morals. I’m clearly even further out of synch with God than I thought!
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