FRAMEWORKS:
Psalm 137: Grief from Exile
[Preliminary
Comments: Whether written in Babylon or after their
return, the song remembers the anguish they felt while in Babylon,
as they remembered their great city eventually destroyed while
others cheered on its destruction. How terrible it had been, but
now Babylon also will suffer the Lord's judgment.]
v.1-3
Exile they had wept and refused to sing songs of joy
v.1
By
the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
v.2 There
on the poplars
we hung our harps,
v.3
for
there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of
Zion!'
v.4-6
The exile experience brought anguishing memories of Jerusalem
v.4
How
can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
v.5 If
I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
v.6 May
my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
v.7-9
Neighbours had rejoiced at Jerusalem's fall, and now Babylon will
also fall
v.7
Remember,
Lord , what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
‘Tear it down,' they cried,
‘tear it down to its foundations!'
v.8 Daughter
Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
v.9 Happy
is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
[Additional
Comments: A song of memories [v.1-6] but also a psalm
that acknowledges the justice of God that holds accountable those
who had treated Israel so harshly.]
Continue
to Psa 138