Psalm 137

The psalmist mourned the plight of the exiled Israelites. He expressed strong love for Zion and strong hatred for Israel's enemies.

"This psalm needs no title to announce that its provenance was the Babylonian exile. Every line of it is alive with pain, whose intensity grows with each strophe to the appalling climax."²⁰⁵

 1. Sorrow in exile 137:1-4

137:1 The writer related that he and his fellow exiles mourned over Zion's destruction as they thought about it in distant Babylon. The rivers of Babylon were the Euphrates and its canals. Even though their situation was pleasant the exiles wept as they remembered Zion.

137:2-4 The exiles could not bring themselves to sing about Zion even when their Babylonian neighbors urged them to sing songs about their native land. Normally this would have brought back pleasant memories, but the memories broke the Israelites' hearts. They could not sing at all so they hung their harps on the poplar trees. Their songs were about the Lord.

 2. Love for Jerusalem 137:5-6

The poet promised to remember Jerusalem forever. He called down imprecations on himself if he ever forgot the city that had been the scene of so much joyful worship in the past. The hand and tongue stand for all action and speech. One reason the Israelites loved Jerusalem so much was that it was the site of their annual festivals that were joyous occasions of praise and fellowship (cf. Lam. 1-2).

 3. Hatred for enemies 137:7-9

137:7 The psalmist had previously said that he would remember Jerusalem. Now he called God to remember Jerusalem's destroyers. The Edomites had encouraged the Babylonians as they besieged and devastated the city (cf. Ezek. 25:12; Joel 3:19).

137:8-9 He also prayed that the Babylonians would experience a destruction similar to the one they had inflicted on the Israelites (cf. Isa. 13:16). Evidently during the destruction of Jerusalem the Babylonian soldiers mercilessly killed young Jewish children. Verse 8a should read, "O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction"(NIV). God had promised to curse those who cursed Abraham's descendents (Gen. 12:3). From the viewpoint of the victors over Babylon, the Persians, the fall of Babylon would be a blessing.

Believers who experience God's discipline for their sins may feel great sorrow. Sometimes discipline cuts us off from the blessings of corporate worship and the joy it brings. It is always appropriate to ask God to remain faithful to His promises.