Psalm 137

¹By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yea, we wept

When we remembered Zion.

²We hung our harps

Upon the willows in the midst of it.

³For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,

And those who plundered us requested mirth,

Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴How shall we sing the Lord’s song

In a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

Let my right hand forget its skill!

⁶If I do not remember you,

Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—

If I do not exalt Jerusalem

Above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom

The day of Jerusalem,

Who said, “Raze it, raze it,

To its very foundation!”

⁸O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,

Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!

⁹Happy the one who takes and dashes

Your little ones against the rock!

Preamble: One of the few captivity psalms, psalm 137 reflects upon the strong feelings and desires of the captives.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yea, we wept

When we remembered Zion.”

The Psalm opens with the captives recalling how they collectively wept by the rivers of Babylon. For it was there they had a chance to reflect upon all that had happened to their beloved Zion.

Vs. 2-3 ²We hung our harps

Upon the willows in the midst of it.

³For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,

And those who plundered us requested mirth,

Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

And so, it is was while they sat by the willows that grew on the banks of river Babylon that they hung up their harps upon them, literally yes, but also symbolically, for by doing so they gave expression to their deep melancholy state. And yet while they were there in their deeply saddened and defeated state that their captives asked a song of them, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” As if to rub salt into their wounds. God’s people though would be host for their captors delight and joy. For they had seen the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem, and they had endured much suffering, hunger, and misery before the city was taken (see the Book of Lamentations), and when it was taken the temple was destroyed, their homes were looted, their wives were ravished, even their small children and infants were brutally slain before their eyes, and the older children who survived were made to bear such weighty burdens that their legs gave out beneath them. Nothing then of what they once loved remained, they had their lives and not much else, and so when their captors ask them for “mirth”, that is to delight them with one of their joyful songs the captives lost all heart to play the songs of Zion.

Vs. 4 “How shall we sing the Lord’s song

In a foreign land?”

And so instead of speaking out, their captors request is internalized, and they ask themselves the question, 

“How shall we sing the Lord’s song 

In a foreign land?”

Indeed how shall they (or any of us) sing the Lord’s praises to a people who have destroyed His? No, silence is the only response when faced with such cruelty.

Vs. 5-6 ⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

Let my right hand forget its skill!

⁶If I do not remember you,

Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—

If I do not exalt Jerusalem

Above my chief joy.

Turning away then from their captors request, the captives now make a vow to never forget Jerusalem, to always hold it as their most dearest desire. For Jerusalem is the city of the Lord, it is where Zion is, it is where the Temple, it is where the Lord is... and so to forget it, and use their God given musical talents for anything other then its (and thus His) exaltation, would be tantamount to treason against Him. 

Therefore even though they were going away to a foreign land, a land where they will spend the next 70 years in captivity as God said they would (Jer. 25:11-12). Nonetheless at the end of their captivity God would return them to their own (Jer. 29:10). Therefore, their hearts are steadfast that they will remember Jerusalem, that they will always exalt it above their chief joy (for that is where the songs of Zion are to be sung, always for and before the Lord our God and Savior). Jerusalem then is the place where they will return and the Lord God will be worshipped by them once again (Isaiah 43:21). Therefore, they now make it their chief aim in surviving their captivity to remember Jerusalem above all else and return there, (to never then find their delight in a foreign land and “god”), so much so that they invoke a curse upon themselves if they do not keep Jerusalem as their chief desire and goal above all else. Their skill that Lord has given them to make such wonderful music will be sanctified and set apart by them for the Lord alone. Now this will be later seen when the captives return, when wall and temple is rebuilt, and they set up their singers upon it once again to worship the Lord God alone (Nehemiah 12:27-43, 44-47).

Vs. 7 “Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom

The day of Jerusalem,

Who said, “Raze it, raze it,

To its very foundation!””

The captive’s introspection and prayer now brings out their request that the Lord remember what was done to them on the day of their downfall, to remember how the sons of Edom spurned on their captors as they destroyed Jerusalem and ravished God’s People. Now we know Lord our God's response to their cruelty towards His people, and from these selected passages here, (there are much more but these should suffice to make the point), that the Lord our God does not look kindly upon those who rejoice in His peoples hurt or harm. The sons of Edom then would be destroyed forever (see Isaiah 34:1-17; Ezekiel 35:1-15, 36:2-5; Obadiah 1-16, vs. 12-14 etc.). 

Vs. 8-9 ⁸O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,

Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!

⁹Happy the one who takes and dashes

Your little ones against the rock!

The closing of this Psalm is in bitterness, as the captives recall how the Babylonians took their infant children and for sport smashed them upon the rocks. Therefore, knowing that after God was done dealing with them His people for their sins against Him, that He would then turn His focus and wrath on their cruel tormentors they can say such things as a kind of bitter consolation for what was done to them. For the Babylonians was to be destroyed, for just as God raised them up to exercise judgment on His people, so with His seeing what they did so cruelly to His people, He would repay them accordingly, by raising up the Medes and Persians to destroy them forever (Isaiah 13:1-22; 14:1-11, 22-23; 21:1-10; 43:14-15;47:1-15; 48:1-22; Jeremiah 50:1-51:38 etc.). That is what is being stated here, and again should serve as a warning to anyone (any nation) who is now raised up and thinks that the violence and cruelty and injustice of their hands will not be repaid by Him.  

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.