Psalm 106:37–40 recounts Israel’s gravest national sin—the shedding of innocent blood through the sacrifice of their children to pagan idols—and records that this sin polluted the land and kindled the wrath of God against His own people.
“Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.” (Psalm 106:37–40)
What Psalm 106:37–40 means in context
Psalm 106 is a historical psalm that recounts Israel’s repeated unfaithfulness throughout its history, from Egypt through the wilderness to the settlement of Canaan. It is a confession psalm: the psalmist acknowledges that Israel’s sufferings were the just consequence of the nation’s sins.
Verses 34–39 describe Israel’s capitulation to the idolatrous practices of the Canaanite nations. They did not destroy the nations as God commanded (v. 34). Instead they “were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works” (v. 35). They served their idols (v. 36). And the climax of this descent into idolatry was the sacrifice of their own children to demons (vv. 37–38).
The language is solemn and deliberate. The psalmist uses the phrase “innocent blood” (dam naqi)—blood that was shed without just cause. The victims are named: “their sons and their daughters.” The recipients of the sacrifice are identified: “devils” (shedim) and “the idols of Canaan.” And the consequence is stated in the starkest terms: the land was polluted, the people were defiled, and God’s wrath was kindled against His own inheritance.
The governing moral principle
When a nation sheds innocent blood—especially the blood of the most vulnerable—it pollutes itself, provokes God’s wrath, and invites divine judgment.
This principle is not confined to child sacrifice in its ancient Near Eastern form. The shedding of innocent blood is a category of sin that Scripture treats with unique gravity throughout the canon. Genesis 9:6 establishes the sacredness of human blood as an image-of-God issue. Numbers 35:33 teaches that blood pollutes the land and the land cannot be cleansed except by the blood of the one who shed it. Proverbs 6:17 lists “hands that shed innocent blood” among the things the LORD hates.
The connection between national sin and national judgment is also a consistent biblical theme. When a nation’s collective action involves the shedding of innocent blood, the guilt attaches not only to the individual perpetrators but to the nation as a whole, especially to its leaders who authorized, funded, or facilitated the bloodshed.
How this connects to war funding
Psalm 106:37–40 connects to the war funding question at the level of principle: a nation that funds the shedding of innocent blood bears corporate guilt for that bloodshed.
- When a government funds military operations that result in the deliberate or reckless killing of civilians—including children—it participates in the shedding of innocent blood. The funding itself is a form of complicity.
- When taxpayer funds are used to sustain conflicts in which innocent life is systematically destroyed, the principle of Psalm 106 applies: the land is polluted, and the nation bears guilt before God.
- The psalm’s description of Israel’s sin is relevant because it shows that even God’s own covenant people were not exempt from judgment when they shed innocent blood. National identity, religious profession, or geopolitical necessity does not excuse the deliberate destruction of the innocent.
The connection is a strong implication. The psalm addresses child sacrifice, not modern military funding. But the principle—that national funding of the shedding of innocent blood provokes God’s judgment—extends to any form of state-sponsored killing of innocents.
Guardrails and limits
Psalm 106:37–40 does not teach that all warfare is sinful or that all military funding involves the shedding of innocent blood. The Reformed tradition (WLC 136) recognizes “lawful war” as an exception to the sixth commandment’s prohibition of killing. A just war, conducted with proportionate means and discriminating between combatants and civilians, is not what the psalm condemns.
The psalm targets the deliberate destruction of innocent life, especially when it is woven into the structures of national policy and funded by public resources. The question for war funding is not whether a nation may ever wage war, but whether a specific conflict involves the systematic or reckless destruction of innocent life, and whether funding that conflict makes the nation complicit in that destruction.
Christians should also guard against using this text to justify absolute pacifism or to condemn all military expenditure without distinction. The moral question is specific: is innocent blood being shed, and is the nation’s money funding it?
The main takeaway
Psalm 106:37–40 teaches that a nation that sheds innocent blood—especially through structures of national policy—pollutes itself and provokes God’s wrath. Applied to war funding, it supports the conviction that Christians and their elected representatives must carefully scrutinize military expenditures to ensure they are not funding the destruction of innocent life. The principle of national guilt for the shedding of innocent blood is a direct biblical teaching with grave implications for any nation that funds conflicts in which civilians are systematically harmed. This is a strong implication, not a blanket condemnation of all military spending.