NRSV By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. His brothers did not treat him kindly when he went to bring them food while they were at the battle front (1 Samuel 17:28). We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. read more. In both cases, the matter in view is whether or not God’s people in exile will worship him as he commanded or whether they will give into the pressure of their pagan captors and bow to false gods. .May" These are both Qal imperfects used in a jussive sense. Posted on Oct 31, 2017. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. This verse actually gives us a lot of information. This was written after the Babylonians had destroyed the temple of Jerusalem and exiled its elite residents to Babylon in order to forestall another rebellion. Psalm 137- 1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. The Necessity of the Incarnation, Sale On Some of Our Favorite Homeschool Curricula, The Future of Fundamentalist Education: Delivery, By the Waters of Babylon, Episode 13 now available: “Three Forms of Culture”. This writing is a … He wanted people of faith to understand that the Lord is always present for his devout ones and that it is humans themselves who isolate God from their lives. Psalm 137 Perhaps written during the Babylonian Captivity, this psalm communicates a sense of anguish so deep that it cannot be expressed even in the familiar musical lament. On the willows there we hung up our harps. In its whole form of nine verses, the psalm reflects the yearning for Jerusalem as well as hatred for the Holy City's enemies with sometimes violent imagery. Their captors mocked them, “Sing for us one of your worship songs!” But the captive Hebrews could not. Psalm 137 was written by the rivers of Babylon, where the exiled Jews wailed and lamented the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash.They wondered how they would continue to endure on foreign soil. This Psalm is wisely placed. Because of their increasing idolatry, God raised up the nation of Babylon to invade the nation, and finally in 586 the city of Jerusalem along with the Temple were utterly destroyed, and in a series of deportations the people were taken captive to Babylon. Psalm 137:8-9. Psalm 137 - Psalm 137 is a lament written either during or shortly after the exile. It was customary for Jews to gather for worship by a river due to the necessity of ceremonial washings—this was a practice that continued for the building of synagogues later. On the branches of the willow trees, we hung our harps and hid our hearts from the enemy. Many discussions on the purpose of the Psalms and what it means for the Scriptures to be 'divinely inspired' inevitably look at this passage. (f) "Oblivisceris (O Domine) dexterae meae", Gejerus; so some in Michaelis. 137:5 If I forget you, O Yerushalayim. (i) "nudate", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt. The psalm is in 3 parts. The LXX’s “carried us captive” is a guess. This time it wasn’t initially full-blown idolatry, but out of a pragmatic desire to keep his people from traveling to the Temple in Jerusalem, which was in the southern kingdom, Jeroboam made two gold calves in honor of Yahweh and made temples for Yahweh on the pagan high places and appointed priests who were not Levites, and God cursed him because of it. (Ps 137, NASB) It is not often that theologians can agree upon the date of authorship of a text, but Psalm 137 is an exception. This plaintive ode is one of the most charming compositions in the whole Book of Psalms for its poetic power. (y) "Venit ad Euphratem----Populus et cannae riparum summa tegebant, spemque dabant salices----". The psalm uses words like weeping beside willow trees. Many Jewish writers, as Aben Ezra observes, interpret this of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans: who said, rase it, rase it even to the foundation thereof: or "make it naked" or "bare (i) to the foundation"; pull down its walls, lay them level with the ground; root up the very foundation of them, and let nothing be left or seen but the bare naked ground; so spiteful and malicious were they. The psalmist tells of the exiles’ tears and of their poignant memories of Jerusalem. l. 2. v. 110. They must have been compiled and put together in their present form by some … Two of the most well-known stories from the Old Testament are specifically meant to highlight how difficult it was for the Hebrews to worship God as he had commanded in such a pagan setting. 1. Requirements from Acts 1:21–26 (Part 1 of 2), Some Thoughts about the hymnal Cantus Christi. The spiritual songs of Zion are the songs of electing, redeeming, calling, pardoning, and justifying grace; which natural men neither understand, nor can learn, but scoff at and despise. p. 181. Psalms was written by David. This means that we can say when the *psalmist wrote Psalm 137. This is the context for Psalm 137. But they lamented to you, because they knew you were still listening to their prayers. "May. "the voice of the Spirit of God answered and said, "if I forget", &c.''. Psalm 137:5-6 is a self curse used for literary intensity! The *psalmist is the person that wrote the psalm. In 516 B.C., Persia (now Iran) destroyed Babylon. Those that rejoice in God, for his sake make Jerusalem their joy. Why We Won’t Livestream During Lockdown (Though We Could), Hoping Through the Darkness Before Dawn: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, What Is an Apostle? We continue to, Kevin T. Bauder Old-line liberals used to argue against the virgin birth of Christ. THERE ON THE POPLARS WE HUNG OUR HARPS FOR THERE OUR CAPTORS ASKED US FOR SONGS, OUR TORMENTORS DEMANDED SONGS OF JOY; THEY SAID, “SING US ONE OF THE SONGS IN ZION.” ... either prophetic or written in captivity. Exposition of the Entire Bible by John Gill [1746-63]. 3 For there our captors. The hymnwriter John L. Bell comments alongside his own setting of this Psalm: "The final verse is omitted in this metricization, because its seemingly outrageous curse is better dealt with in preaching or group conversation. Psalm 137. Background and themes. And in both cases, it is the vast minority that actually follow God’s commands; as far as we know, most of the nation forsake the true worship of God. But his greatest heartache must have been the toxic relationships among his sons. Can you explain Psalm 137 to me please? Psalm 137 – The Mournful Song of the Exiles. They were in exile. The psalmist writes from exile in what today is southern Iraq. As I point out later in this series, the psalmist wants us to feel revulsion at that line; that’s the point. (586 BC) The people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, were taken captive and exiled by the Babylonians. Yes, Psalm 137 was … We read in verse 1, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” Zion is synonymous with Jerusalem. It is a lament for the disobedience that led to Israel’s captivity in Babylon, the city of sin. Psalms 119:3 speaks of doing no iniquity, while this verse treats of the method of not sinning. In Psalm 137, the Israelites lamented. PSALM 137. Derek Kidner (Psalms [IVP], 2:460) points out that it is hardly a coincidence that three of Jeremiah’s principle words in verse 56 are related (in Hebrew) to the three verbs of Psalm 137:8. Stockium, p. 447. 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