Why were babies dashed to pieces in Isaiah 13:16?
Isaiah 13:16 gives a very brutal description of babies being dashed to pieces. Did God command this, and why did this happen?
Isaiah 13:16
KJV - 16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
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Tim Maas
The cited verse is describing the treatment that would be visited upon the Babylonian empire when it would be conquered by the Medo-Persian empire. In addition to the generally barbaric nature of warfare throughout human history (which -- as indicated in the cited verse -- often does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants), God's permissive will would have allowed this to occur as a just retribution for the way in which the Babylonians had previously conquered the Israelite tribes of Judah and Benjamin (as recounted in 2 Kings 24-25), and taken them into captivity in Babylon for seventy years. (Despite the sinfulness of the tribe of Judah that led to being judged through its captivity, it was still part of God's chosen people from whom the Messiah would eventually come.)
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