Psalms 137

Psalms 137:1

Psalm 137: If I Forget You, O Jerusalem!In April, 1948, the Jewish sector of Jerusalem was practically in a state of siege. Food supplies were almost exhausted. The people were existing on a weekly ration of two ounces of margarine, a quarter of a pound of potatoes and a quarter of a pound of dried meat. Then the news spread that a convoy of trucks was arriving from Tel Aviv with supplies. Hundreds of people ran out to welcome the dozens of trucks. They will never forget the first sight they had of the convoy. On the front bumper of the blue Ford leading the procession, someone had painted the words: If I forget you, O Jerusalem. . . . And so these words of Psa_137:5 have become a rallying cry for the Jewish people down through their tumultuous history of captivity and dispersion. 137:1 Written after the return from Babylonian bondage, the Psalm looks back to the bitterness of being exiled from Zion. Whenever they had free time, perhaps on the Sabbath, they gathered by the rivers of Babylon to pray. Memories would come crowding back and the tears would flow. They remembered Zion. To them it was the spiritual center of the whole earth and the center of their lives. They remembered the spiritual joy and exhilaration of being there during the great holy convocations. And now they could no longer go up there to worship, and the holy places were in the unclean hands of the uncircumcised heathen. As they looked into the rivers of Babylon, they saw in them a picture of their own rivers of tears and anguish. As Jeremiah had prayed, “My eyes overflow with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people” (Lam_3:48). And again: O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! (Jer_9:1). 137:2 They had hung their harps upon the willows, or as we would say, they had put them on the shelf. And why not? There was no use for musical instruments. From the human standpoint, at least, there was nothing to sing about. And without a song to sing, there was no need of accompaniment. 137:3 It often happened that the Babylonian captors asked them to sing one of the Hebrew folk songs. As if to rub salt into the wounds, they would say, “Sing us one of those happy songs you used to sing in your homeland!” 137:4 Ridiculous! The Jews wouldn’t sing. Not just because their hearts were breaking, but even more because it would be utterly incongruous to sing the LORD’S song in a land of heathen idolaters. It would be like forgetting Jerusalem. They saw a moral impropriety about mixing the things of the Lord and the things of the world. “The land of the stranger and the song of the Lord can never be found together,” wrote F. B. Meyer. 137:5, 6 Now that he is back in the land the psalmist expresses the enormous determination of his people to have Jerusalem at the center of their lifeand we remember here that Jerusalem stands for the Lord who dwelt there. Should the time ever come when he no longer has that inexplicable, instinctive attachment to Zion, then a fitting retribution would be that his right hand should wither and never again be able to sweep the strings of the harp. Yes, if it should ever happen that Jerusalem doesn’t have first place in his heart, then he concurs that his tongue should cling to the roof of his mouth so that he could never sing the sweet old songs of Zion again. 137:7 Having first pronounced these conditional curses on himself, he finds it an easy transition to think next of those who had had a part in the destruction of the Holy City. Take the sons of Edom, for example. They formed a sort of cheering squad, egging the invaders to wreck it completely. “Raze it, tear it down!” they yelled, “to its very foundation!” May the Lord remember their vicious satisfaction in seeing the city laid low! 137:8 And then there was Babylon, of course, the cruel devastator. Though this nation was the instrument in God’s hands to punish His people, yet He did not excuse the Babylonians for their merciless atrocities. I was angry with My people, I have profaned My inheritance, and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; on the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily (Isa_47:6). I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry, and they helpedbut with evil intent (Zec_1:15). There was no question in the psalmist’s mind as to Babylon’s destruction. It had been foretold by the prophets (Isa_13:1-22; Jer_50:15, Jer_50:28; Jer_51:6, Jer_51:36). Those who accomplished the destruction would have the satisfaction to be used by God as instruments of His judgment. 137:9 The last verse of the Psalm is the one that gives most difficulty: Happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock! To those who have been raised on the non-violent teachings of the NT it seems unusually harsh, vindictive, and unloving. Why should innocent, defenseless children be treated so inhumanely? In answer to the question, we would suggest the following: First, we begin with the premise that this verse is part of the Word of God, verbally and plenarily inspired. Therefore any problem lies in our understanding rather than in the Word itself. Second, the destruction of Babylon’s little ones was clearly predicted by Isaiah: Their little children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished (Isa_13:16). So the psalmist is only saying what God had already foretold (except for the part about the happiness of the ones who execute God’s sentence). Then again we know that innocent children are often involved in the consequences of their parents’ sin (see Exo_20:5; Exo_34:7; Num_14:18; Deu_5:9). No man is an island. What he does affects others, either for good or for evil. Part of the bitterness of sin is that, in being allowed to work itself out, it engulfs others in its tragic retribution. In these imprecatory passages, we keep coming back to the fact that conduct and attitudes that were suitable for a person living under the law of Moses are not necessarily suitable for a Christian living under grace. The Lord Jesus said as much in the Sermon on the Mount (see Mat_5:21-48). No matter how you interpret the verse, the spiritual application is clear. We must deal radically with little sins in our lives. The little darlings must be destroyed or they will destroy us. C. S. Lewis says, in this connection: I know things in the inner world which are like babies; the infantile beginnings of small indulgences, small resentments, which may one day become dipsomania, or settled hatred, but which woo us and wheedle us with special pleadings, and seem so tiny, so helpless that in resisting them, we feel we are being cruel to animals. They begin whimpering to us, “I don’t ask much, but,” or “I had at least hoped,” or “you owe yourself some consideration.” Against all of such pretty infants (the dears have such winning ways) the advice of the Psalm is the best. Knock the little brats’ brains out. And “blessed” he who can, for it’s easier said than done.