Episode 55 - A Look at Psalm 137

We learn much from the history found in the Old Testament that helps us grow in our relationship with God and our walk with our Master.  Psalm 137, although one of the most troubling of psalms teaches us about God's faithfulness to us, and our need for faithfulness to Him.  

I invite you to listen as I look at one of the most troubling of Psalms.

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Transcript

Hello friends, I'm your host Dave Laton and welcome to the podcast, Walking With Our Master, an outreach of the Prattville Church of Christ designed to inform, encourage, and teach as we daily walk with our Master. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 states:  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

We know however that there are some strange and difficult scriptures to understand.  And sometimes, we may not understand how these apply to us.  In this episode, I want to look at one such passage from scripture.

I want us to look at Psalm 137 and what it teaches about God’s faithfulness and our faithfulness to Him.

Before we look at this Psalm, please understand that it is overwhelmingly clear that children are special to God.  He gives stern warnings about harming children.  He highlights qualities like humility, trust, and openness as being essential to enter the Kingdom of heaven.  He punished nations, for practicing the evil of child sacrifice. 

Yet in this Psalm, we find a statement that at first glance seems to ask God to sanction harming children in a horrific and deadly way.

Let’s begin by read Psalm 137

By the waters of Babylon,  there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows[a] there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!” O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!  Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

 Wow!  Those are incredibly disturbing words.  It presents a horrifying image.  

Let’s look at this Psalm and see what we can learn from it.

 First, Psalm 137 is known as an Imprecatory or Precatory Psalm.  Imprecatory means it contains a curse or a prayer for evil against someone.  It refers to the act of cursing or wishing harm on others. This Psalm is indeed a curse as it ends with a statement that one is happy (blessed) who seizes infants and dashes them against the rocks.

We don’t know for certain who wrote this Psalm.  Many scholars feel it was written by someone who was very familiar with the exile of the Jews during the Babylonian captivity between 597 and 539 BC.  This is seen by how the author expresses deep sorrow for the loss of Jerusalem and a strong desire for its restoration.  This deep sorrow would result from someone who experienced the cruelties and horror of the savagery shown to Israel.

 I want to also look at some of the context of this Psalm. Looking at context gives us greater and more accurate understanding of what the psalm says.

 God did not allow King David to build the Temple in Jerusalem but did allow his son Solomon to build it.   The finished Temple was dedicated to God and became the center of Jewish worship and culture.  This seemed like a golden age for Israel.  They were powerful and respected throughout the known world.  It was recognized that God had indeed blessed Israel.

 However, as Solomon continued in his reign, he allowed worship of false Gods to take place, even within his own household.  Ultimately false worship began to spread throughout Israel. This eventually led to civil war and Israel was divided into two kingdoms after Solomon’s death.

 There was the northern kingdom of Israel with 10 tribes and the southern kingdom of Juda with 2 tribes.  The northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC leading the displacement of much of the population.  The southern Kingdom fell to the Babylonians and Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC.

 The Babylonian Captivity shaped much of the Old Testament and influenced the development of the Jewish identity. 

 It was with this background that Psalm 137 was written.

 God’s people are no longer living in the land God had promised would be theirs.  But note, God’s promise was contingent upon the Jews remaining faithful to Him.  As we’ve seen, they abandoned God therefore God drove them out of the promised land.  Does that sound familiar?  It should.  This is the same thing that happened to Adam and Eve.  They disobeyed God so he removed them from his presence.  Israel disobeyed and rejected God in far worse ways than Adam and Eve.  Their punishment was to lose the promised land.  But we know, just like Adam and Eve, God is faithful to his promises.    God told Israel that He would retore them to the promised land after a 70 year period.  That period was a time of punishment where they learned to return to God.  By the way, that’s a lesson for us as well.  God does lose his love for us.  He eagerly seeks us to return.  That’s the message of the Prodigal Son.  Paul spoke to it in Romans 8:38-39. 

 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Paul’s words remind us that we move away from God.  God does not move away from us.  He eagerly offers us a way back to Him through Jesus our Lord and Savior.

 That is also the promise of 1 John 1:7.

 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

 Hope for reunification with God, although faint, remained with Israel in their banishment.  And hope remains with us when we repent and turn to God.

 Let’s go back to the Psalm.

 So because of their disobedience and abandonment of God, the Jews lost Jerusalem and the Temple, and their occupation of the promised land.  Thus they have lost the most prominent symbols of their identity.

 Let’s look at the first 6 verses of Psalm 137

You can feel the deep sadness in the words of the Psalm.  They were God’s people in a strange land, no homes, no place to worship, they were aliens and strangers.  They were in a hostile land that was hostile to their worship of God.  The people of Israel were greatly pressured to forget God and take up the religion and culture of their captors.  This is the setting for the Old Testament stories of Daniel and the Lion’s Den and the three Hebrews in the Fiery furnace.

 The writer of the Psalm does not want Israel to forget God or Jerusalem.  How can they worship God when they are so far from his place of worship?  How can they worship God when they are exiles in a land that is hostile worshipping God?  How can they sing songs of praise and joy to God in a strange land?

 The writer then seems to change his focus.  He goes from deep sorrow to now wishing terrible things upon his captors.  That sounds very human. The writer of the psalm remembers the disgrace of the Edomites who looted Jerusalem and the Babylonians who destroyed the city (Verses 7 – 9).

 This is the imprecatory part of the Psalm. Through the strong imagery in verse 9 the writer is calling for the complete destruction of the nation that destroyed Israel, just as they had done.  Included in this was the massacre of children, just as their captors had massacred their children.  It doesn’t justify wishing evil on another, but we certainly understand the human emotion and desire for revenge. It is a frequent desire to seek revenge for wrongs done to us. We can certainly understand this even in our world today.

 It should be remembered that the Psalms express intense emotions. Some wonderful and beautiful, and some, like Psalm 137, dark and troubling.  Also remember that the Psalms were written by man and directed to God.  Although inspired writing, they are not written by God directed to man. 

 Psalm 137 is not a selfish prayer for personal revenge. It is a plea for God to intervene. The writer is not rejoicing over dashing babies. He rejoices over God’s justice that would ultimately punish Babylon.

 Here’s something we can take away from this Psalm.  Let’s be careful what we say, especially among those who are not believers.  Imagine if in our anger or sorrow we spoke out with a curse upon someone – That’s the way of the world.

 We would set ourselves up for ridicule.  We certainly would not be bringing glory to God.  God teaches us, that we are not to seek revenge in this nature.

 Romans 12:17-19 - Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”

 There is a lot we can learn from the Old Testament as for God’s faithfulness to His promises.  We learn how God’s rejection was caused by our unfaithfulness.

Israel was shaped by their experiences, and so are we.  We do not have to experience God’s wrath.  We learn from the events from scripture that God clearly teaches us what he wishes and rewards us when we follow his wishes.  That is His promise and He is faithful to His promises

 So rather than rebel, let’s always seek to do as God wishes.

 Well friends, I'm your host Dave Laton.  Thank you for joining me in this podcast.  I hope you will continue to do so. If you wish to share with me something from your walk with our Master or you would like to learn more, please email me at: walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com.

 I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.  And until next time, remember, we give all glory to God the Father.