Psalms 137 - The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann

Bible Comments
  • Psalms 137:1 open_in_new

    By the rivers of Babylon, along the banks of which many of the Jews had settled for the period of the captivity, there we sat down, their deep grief having driven them away into the solitude of the country, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion, for the anxiety of the believing Jews did not concern the loss of their temporal goods so much as that of the Sanctuary, the visible sign of the true worship.

  • Psalms 137:1-9 open_in_new

    Song of Grief of the Captive Jews.

    The unknown poet here records the deep grief and mourning of the Jews during the Babylonian captivity and includes a prayer for the destruction of their enemies, since their enmity was a challenge to the God of Israel.

  • Psalms 137:2 open_in_new

    We hanged our harps, otherwise used to accompany joyous and festal songs, upon the willows in the midst thereof, to indicate that all their joyful hymns were hushed. The silent and pensive sitting among the weeping willows by the side of the gently flowing streams agrees well with the feeling of homesickness which filled the hearts of the captives.

  • Psalms 137:3 open_in_new

    For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, either out of curiosity or in derision; and they wasted us, those who had inflicted pain upon them, their oppressors, required of us mirth, an expression of happiness, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. The enemies did not realize how tactless they were, and did not care whether the compliance of the Jews with their request would agree with their depressed feelings or not. They had heard of the wonderful hymns of the Jews and insisted upon being entertained by them. But the resentment and the bitterness of the captives kept them from complying with the request addressed to them.

  • Psalms 137:4 open_in_new

    How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Their sacred songs were, in their minds, inseparably connected with the worship of the Temple, the Sanctuary in Jerusalem, and it seemed to them a desecration to strike up their psalms for the entertainment of their captors; it was opposed to their religious and moral feelings. After this descriptive part of the psalm the poet launches forth in a lyric strain expressive of the feelings which filled the hearts of the captive Jews.

  • Psalms 137:5 open_in_new

    If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, the Sanctuary with the worship of Jehovah, let my right hand forget her cunning, the power of motion in general, and especially her skill with the harp.

  • Psalms 137:6 open_in_new

    If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, in an agony of thirst and suffering; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy, literally, "if I do not place Jerusalem above the summit of my joy," that is, if he, and all believing Jews with him, did not consider the Sanctuary of Jehovah the source of his greatest delight in life. It is an expression of homesick longing which properly pictures the deep remorse and grief of the captives. The poet now, in holy anger, turns to call God's wrath down upon the enemies of Israel, who were, at the same time, the enemies of Jehovah.

  • Psalms 137:7 open_in_new

    es of the earth and of the masses of people as well, but that he maintained his righteous cause in the power of the Lord.