A Biblical View of Victimology, Part 1
O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!
Psalm 137:8–9
What in the name of God is this scripture doing in the Bible? Scholars have provided a number of explanations. Here’s my take.
Firstly, their existence in scripture is not to be misconstrued with an endorsement of the desire. If only biblically endorsed desires were permitted in scripture then the bible would be a much thinner, less interesting, and frankly less helpful book.
Secondly, I take the inclusion of verses 8–9 as a kind of juxtaposition against verses 3–4,
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
Babylon had just sacked Israel — raped, pillaged, and killed men, women, and children throughout the land. They spared the especially talented or beautiful in order to bring them back to Babylon to serve the royal court. Verses 3–4 recount the torment these hostages felt as they were required by their captors to sing “happy songs” while bound in chains.
Contrast that the way God reacts to the frequent lament of his people throughout the Psalms. He doesn’t simply command them to change their tune. God could rightly demand only happy songs from his people and could certainly edit the scriptures in such a way as to only include the happy songs. Instead he lets his people sigh and moan and even say — terrible things. So in my opinion, the inclusion of verses 8–9 says something about the way God handles hurting people.
Finally, I think there’s another very relevant reason why verses 8–9 are included in the scripture. God wants us to see that very often, the victim becomes the victimizer. We know this is true in cases of sexual abuse. The extent to which it is true is not widely understood but researchers are aware of a clear link between victims of sexual abuse and perpetrators of sexual abuse. This seems to be especially so with males and even more so with males who had been molested by women. This connection is usually referred to as the “victim to perpetrator cycle.”
Beyond sexual abuse specifically, the inclusion of verses 8–9 remind us that being sinned against makes one much more likely to feel justified in his/her own sinning. It would make sense that the “victim to perpetrator cycle” is an inately human phenomenon that surfaces across all kinds of violence and abuse and does not necessarily manifest itself in a purely corollary action. I think Psalm shows that to be the case. I believe the Bible as a whole bears out this principle.
In other words, hurt people hurt people. Contrary to the current cultural perspective, victimhood, however genuine, does not lead immediately to sainthood. It is far more likely to make you angry, bitter, and even cruel.