Psalm 137
“By The Waters Of Babylon” “This psalm needs no title to announce that its provenance was the Babylonian exile. Every line of it is alive with pain, whose intensity grows with each strophe of the appalling climax” (Kidner p. 459). It looks like the Psalm is written some time after the captivity and the writer is remembering what life in Babylon was like. “In pathetic but beautiful language the exiled psalmist mourned the plight of those who wept in a strange land and could not sing their songs of Zion. Opposite to his intense love for Zion was his hatred for the destroyers of Zion; so he turned to voice imprecations against Edom and Babylon who had destroyed the city of God” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 890).
Life In Captivity 137:1 “By the rivers of Babylon”: “The scene has the vividness of first-hand experience. The waters of Babylon included a system of canals across the huge plain, a landscape alien enough in any circumstances to natives of the hills and valleys of Judah” (Kidner p. 459). One such community of Jews was settled by the river Kebar (Ezekiel 1:1; 3:15). 137:1 For many Judeans, life in Babylon was good, in fact the vast majority of Jews who went into captivity decided to stay there even after Cyrus allowed the Jews to return. The prophet Jeremiah had encouraged them to make a living, to increase in number, and to seek the peace and prosperity of the land (Jeremiah 29:4-9). Yet even in the midst of plenty, they wept and mourned over what had happened to Jerusalem. 137:2 “We hung our harps”: The harps are hung up both because of the sadness the exiles experienced and out of loyalty to Jerusalem. Note that distress is not the same thing as despair. “Although the exiles were unable to sing the songs of Zion in Babylon, they nevertheless did not break their harps in pieces or throw them in the stream. Instead they hung them on the poplars, presumably saving them for what would surely be a better day. This is faith that is determined never to forget Jerusalem” (Boice p. 1189).
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137:3 “For there our captors demanded of us songs”: Some suggest that this was demanded in a mocking tone, “Let’s hear you sing about that land you will never see again”. On the other hand the request may have been sincere, “We were asked to sing about Zion”. Yet, such men are called “our tormentors”. “The taunts of the tormentors were like the question, “Where is your God?” (42:3, 10; 79:10; 115:2)” (Gaebelein p. 827). “As for lyres and the demand for songs, it happens that a relief from Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh, in the neighboring land of Assyria, portrays a situation not unlike this, with three prisoners of war playing lyres as they are marched along by an armed soldier” (Kidner p. 459). “There will be no cultural event in Babylon, no folk festival of old Hebrew tunes. In exile there is no song” (Williams p. 472).
Defiance 137:4 “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”: “A fine stubbornness has already been implicit in the gesture of verse 2, refusing to expose the songs and high claims of Zion to ridicule” (Kidner p. 459). Point to Note: It seems clear that the faithful understood that the songs which they sang about God and His city were not for performance or entertainment purposes. “The Lord’s Song cannot be sung there. These songs are not for performance. They are not entertainment. Therefore, they cannot be sung out of context…Songs of worship must be presented to the living God, not to pagan princes. At the heart of this lies a critical theological point: songs of praise must be presented to the One worthy of our praise” (Williams p. 473). Such people still had their dignity. They refused to “perform” for the Babylonians, or turn spiritual songs into cute folk tunes for someone’s amusement. They refused to sell out. Sadly, a good number of religious groups today present their faith as something cultural, quaint, and a commodity to be sold just like a piece of antique furniture. 137:5 The writer vowed to retain Jerusalem in his memory. “For a right-handed person the expression in verse 5 would be a way of referring to his greatest skill and strength…In this stanza the pronouns turn from the plural to the singular, from ‘we’ to ‘I’. Thus, in these verses each individual pledges his or her own personal loyalty to Jerusalem. Suffering may be shared; it often is. But determination to remember God and walk in His ways is something each of us must do individually. You must do it, and so must I !” (Boice pp. 1189-1190).
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Note that loyalty to God includes remembering the things of God. “The godly could not forget Jerusalem and everything it stands for: covenant, temple, presence and kingship of God, atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation” (Gaebelein p. 828). Have we vowed to remember the things of God, that is, never to forget our salvation, the value of the church, the vital importance of sound doctrine, and so on? Verse 4 isn’t a defeatist attitude, rather it springs from a burning loyalty which the disaster has only raised to a new pitch of intensity. Does suffering and hardship make us only more determined to hold to God and His word? “Regardless of the present state of Jerusalem, he refuses to forget that she is God’s city, where His temple and name dwell…If the psalmist doesn’t use his tongue to sing praises to Zion, he may as well be struck dumb. What other ultimate use to there for our voices, if not to praise God and worship Him? There is a conviction in these simple thoughts. We exalt the rich and famous. We exalt rock stars, movie stars, and fast-lane tycoons. We use our voices to express our joy over many idle things. How does our devotion to the living God measure up to the simple thoughts in these verses? How willing would we be (seriously) to be maimed or silenced if we did not praise God above all our other joys?” (Williams pp. 473474). Could we not say the same thing concerning if we don’t share the gospel with others, if we don’t speak out against evil, if we don’t teach our children, if we don’t communicate with our spouses, then what is the use of being able to speak? Notice that the writer called down a curse upon himself if he wasn’t faithful to God. Does a similar thought enter our prayers? Do we ever pray, “God, if I become unfaithful, see to it that I can’t find any happiness in a life apart from You”? That is, the desire that God would providentially see to it that we could never find any contentment in any sin, and that we would be cursed men and women if we strayed. 137”6 “If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy”: Wow! Is serving God more important to us than our favorite pastime, pleasure, hobby, and so on? Is serving God more important than our children, spouse, and physical family? What is your “chief joy” in life? Is that more important to you than serving God?
Prayer For Divine Judgment 137:7 As the writer reflects upon the moments of Judah’s fall, he remembers the Edomite involvement. The Edomites had done everything to disgrace Judah and to keep the Judeans from escaping (Lam. 4:21; Ezekiel 25:12-14; 35:5-15; Obadiah 11-14). Not only did they hinder the desperate people in Judah, they
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also encouraged the Babylonians to tear Jerusalem down to her very foundations! In like manner, there are many modern day “Edomites” who would love nothing more than to see the Church of Christ vanish from the face of the earth. They rejoice when congregations divide, are struggling, or cease to exist. They are glad when members fall away and when member’s children forsake the faith of their parents. And God does remember and judge those who stand against His people (Malachi 1:1ff). 137:8-9 The Lord would repay the Babylonians measure for measure, even dashing their little ones against the rocks (Isaiah 13:16), for the Babylonians had apparently done this to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Points to Note: 1. This is what is means to leave room for the wrath of God (Romans 12:19). “On reflection of it (Psalm 137) may be the voice of seasoned religion which knows profoundly what it costs to beat off despair….It is an act of profound faith to entrust one’s most precious hatreds to God, knowing that they will be taken seriously” (Gaebelein pp. 829-830). 2. The prayer here is for a complete overthrow of the Babylonian Empire, the thought that some day the arrogant Babylonian captors will taste the defeat they have dished out and that they will be rendered to such a state of desolation and defenselessness that they are unable to defend even their infants. 3. “So this psalm takes its place in Scripture as an impassioned protest, beyond all ignoring or toning down, not only against a particular act of cruelty but against all comfortable views of human wickedness, either with regard to the judgment it deserves or to the legacy it leaves; and not least, in relation to the cost, to God and man” (Kidner p. 461). 4. This prayer is in complete harmony with what God has revealed in Scripture, that is, the wicked will be judged (Obadiah 11-14), and one will reap what they have sown (Romans 2:6; Galatians 6:7). 5. The writer refuses to take his own revenge, rather, he is simply asking that God would make good on His promises to punish the unrepentant. Closing Comments: In the time of Jesus, some people asked about the death of a few apparently innocent people in His day. Some Galileans had been murdered by Roman soldiers, and a tower had collapsed on some people who were standing beside it. The onlookers asked Jesus how it was possible that things like this could happen in a world ruled by a just, yet merciful God. Was it because these people were worse sinners that others? Was it because God was either too weak to avert the tragedies, or didn’t care? Jesus responds (Luke 13:2-5), that the question is not why God judges some, but rather why He has spared us, we being the sinners that we are. 4
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