Children and War Customs

The young men have borne the mill, and the children have stumbled under the wood. Lamentations 5:12


Generally, under Babylonian and Assyrian wartime leadership, children of their opponents were killed in very distressing ways. But sometimes they were spared for slavery.

Tuthmosis III (1504-1450 BC) recorded 84 children among the 2503 captives he obtained in Palestine. A thousand years later, when Jerusalem fell, children were still a good catch for conquering armies. The young men of Jerusalem deported to Babylon had to carry millstones, while the small boys were made to transport timber. That is the context for the the scripture listed above.