Thursday, April 23, 2009

Reflections on Psalm 137


    Psalms 137 (Contemporary English Version)

  1. Beside the rivers of Babylon we thought about Jerusalem, and we sat down and cried.
  2. We hung our small harps on the willow trees.
  3. Our enemies had brought us here as their prisoners, and now they wanted us to sing and entertain them. They insulted us and shouted, "Sing about Zion!"
  4. Here in a foreign land, how can we sing about the LORD?
  5. Jerusalem, if I forget you, let my right hand go limp.
  6. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I don't think about you above all else.
  7. Our LORD, punish the Edomites! Because the day Jerusalem fell, they shouted, "Completely destroy the city! Tear down every building!"
  8. Babylon, you are doomed! I pray the Lord's blessings on anyone who punishes you for what you did to us.
  9. May the Lord bless everyone who beats your children against the rocks!


The writer of this psalm was a victim of the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem. This captivity was preceded by a horrendous assault on Jerusalem involving untold atrocities. Once the Jews were brought to their knees, they were marched off to captivity in Babylon where they endured the taunts of their captors, typical of an oppressor to the oppressed. Out of these experiences comes this psalm. It starts with reference to the desolateness of their situation after which the insults of their captors is mentioned. Verses 5 & 6 allude to the writer's attachment to his country followed by a prayer for judgment and retribution upon their enemy.

A number of thoughts pass through my mind as I read this. I try to imagine the extend of grief the writer must have felt and experienced, which I can only imagine. I think of God's hand at work in these experiences of the Jews and how He was guiding events even among people who did not recognize His existence. Israel had turned away from God and were little different from their heathen neighbors at this time in history. God used one of those heathen neighbors to bring judgment on them. But though the Babylonians were used as an instrument of God's judgment they had only contempt for the God of the Jews. It was not to their credit that they had been used to bring judgment on the Jews, and so judgment also came to them at the hands of the Persians. It was this destruction of Babylon at the hands of the Persians that brought the release and return of the Jews to their homeland and beloved Jerusalem. It is a mystery to us how God acts to use the choices and decisions of people for His purposes without overriding the freedom of choice He has given them. Here He was using the actions of powerful nations for His purposes, even nations that had no respect for Him.

Any pleasure in going our own way apart from God is only temporary. The paths of our choosing eventually bring us to our knees. If we come to our knees in surrender to God, the circumstances that bring us there have a purpose. Otherwise they are only tragic. Even if the paths of our choosing bring about actions God uses for His purposes as with the Babylonians, there is no joy in it. Our choices still bring us to our knees as they did the Babylonians. We are wise to learn early in life that the best choices of life are in choosing to allow God to direct our paths.

No comments:

Post a Comment