Slaying the infants of Babylon
And if we must also explain the slaughtering, and with it the righteous man’s power in all things, we must say that when he says, “In the mornings I killed all the sinners of the earth, to destroy from the city of the Lord all who work lawlessness” (Psalm 101:8), by “earth” he meant figuratively the flesh, whose “mind” “is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), and by the city “of the Lord” his own soul, in which there was “a temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16), since he had received a right opinion and conception of God, one admired by all who saw it.
So at the moment when the rays of the sun “of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2) shone upon his soul, as though empowered and strengthened by them, he slew every “mind of the flesh” (Romans 8:7), which is called “sinners of the earth”, and destroyed from “the city of the Lord” within his own soul all the thoughts “that work lawlessness” and the notions hostile to the truth. In this way too the righteous destroy every living remnant (Deuteronomy 2:34) of the enemies, the ones that come from wickedness, so that not even an infant evil, just beginning to sprout, is left.
So too we understand the text in the hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, which runs thus: “O wretched daughter of Babylon, blessed is he who will repay you the recompense with which you repaid us; blessed is he who will seize your infants and dash them against the rock” (Psalm 137:8–9). For the “infants of Babylon”, a name that is interpreted “confusion”, are the confusing thoughts arising from wickedness that have just sprung up and are rising in the soul. The man who seizes them, so as to break their heads against the firmness and strength of the word, dashes “the infants” of “Babylon” “against the rock”, and for this reason becomes “blessed”.
Let God, then, command that the things of wickedness be slain “young and old” and “along with their whole race”; in this he teaches nothing contrary to what Jesus proclaimed. And let God bring about, “before the eyes” of those who are Jews “in secret” (Romans 2:29), the destruction of the enemies and of all that comes from wickedness. And let this be what is meant by saying that those who do not obey the law and word of God, having become like the enemies and been shaped by wickedness, shall suffer these things, which those who have fallen away from the words of God deserve to suffer.
Greek
Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ καταφονεύειν δεῖ διηγήσασθαι ἅμα καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τοῦ δικαίου περὶ πάντα, λεκτέον ὅτι φάσκων· „εἰς τὰς πρωΐας ἀπέκτεινον (πάντας) τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἐκ πόλεως κυρίου πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν“ γῆν μὲν τροπικῶς ἔλεγε τὴν σάρκα, ἧς „τὸ φρόνημα“ „ἔχθρα ἐστὶν εἰς θεὸν,“ πόλιν δὲ „κυρίου“ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν, ἐν ᾗ ἦν „ναὸς θεοῦ,“ χωρήσας δόξαν καὶ ὑπόληψιν ὀρθὴν περὶ θεοῦ καὶ θαυμαζομένην ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν ὁρώντων αὐτήν. ἅμα οὖν ταῖς τοῦ ἡλίου „τῆς δικαιοσύνης“ αὐγαῖς ἐπιλαμπούσαις αὐτοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ ὡσπερεὶ δυναμούμενος υπ᾿ αὐτῶν καὶ κραταιούμενος ἀνῄρει πᾶν „τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς,“ λεγόμενον „ἁμαρτωλοὺς γῆς,“ καὶ ἐξωλόθρευεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἑαυτοῦ „πόλεως κυρίου πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν“ λογισμοὺς καὶ τὰ ἐχθρὰ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἐνθυμήματα. οὕτως δὲ καὶ ἀναιροῦσιν οἱ δίκαιοι πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ ἀπὸ κακίας ἐρχομένων „ζωγρίαν,“ ὡς μηδὲ νήπιον καὶ ἄρτι ὑποφυόμενον κακὸν καταλείπεσθαι. ἡμεῖς οὕτως ἀκούομεν καὶ τοῦ ἐν ἑκατοστῷ καὶ τριακοστῷ καὶ ἕκτῳ ψαλμῷ ῥητοῦ, οὕτως ἔχοντος· „θυγάτηρ Βαβυλῶνος ἡ ταλαίπωρος, μακάριος, ὃς ἀνταποδώσει σοι τὸ ἀνταπόδομά σου, ὃ ἀνταπέδωκας ἡμῖν· μακάριος, ὃς κρατήσει καὶ ἐδαφιεῖ τὰ νήπιά σου πρὸς τὴν πέτραν.“ „νήπια“ γὰρ „Βαβυλῶνος,“ ἑρμηνευομένης συγχύσεως, οἱ ἄρτι ὑποφυόμενοι καὶ ἀνατέλλοντες ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ εἰσιν συγχυτικοὶ λογισμοὶ οἱ ἀπὸ κακίας· ὧν ὁ κρατῶν, ὡς καὶ τῷ στερεῷ καὶ εὐτόνῳ τοῦ λόγου προσρῆξαι αὐτῶν τὰς κεφαλὰς, ἐδαφίζει „τὰ νήπια“ τῆς „Βαβυλῶνος“ „πρὸς τὴν πέτραν,“ γινόμενος διὰ τοῦτο „μακάριος.“ ἡβηδὸν οὖν τὰ τῆς κακίας καὶ παγγενεὶ κτείνειν κελευέτω ὁ θεὸς, οὐδὲν ἐναντίον διδάσκων οἷς Ἰησοῦς κατήγγειλε, καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν „ἐν κρυπτῷ“ Ἰουδαίων ποιείτω ὁ θεὸς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀπὸ κακίας ἀναίρεσιν. καὶ τοιοῦτόν γε ἔστω τὸ τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους νόμῳ καὶ λόγῳ θεοῦ, ὁμοιωθέντας τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ ποιωθέντας ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας, πάσχειν ταῦτα, ἅπερ ἄξιον πάσχειν τοὺς ἀποστάντας λόγων θεοῦ.