Psalm 137

Описание: When I was a lad, one of the biggest disco hits of the 1970s was Boney M's rendition of 'Rivers of Babylon' (   • Boney M. - Rivers of Babylon  ). Needless to say, I had no clue what the song was about at the time. If you knew about who or what Rastafarians were, you knew that Rastafarianism was connected somehow to Babylon...apart from that, there was near total ignorance on my part.

So, you might imagine Psalm 137 was a surprise to me when I first read it. The scene of Psalm 137 is set when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
conquered Judah and carried everyone off into exile (Daniel 1:1-2). Believers in the real and living God, who used to sing their songs of Zion to God, were now forced to sing the same songs with the same instruments...forced by their captors who, since they themselves were unbelievers, cared only for the entertainment value. From Psalm 137:3 (NIV): 'our tormentors demanded songs of joy.'

The thing is, the oppressor can never be able to successfully force the true believer to 'perform' worship for their own entertainment, as the Psalmist states in verse 4: 'How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?'

But another lesson is that the true believer cannot forget how to worship God, no matter how much 'exile' he has to endure. If he does 'forget', then the Psalmist invokes a curse that he will forget how to play the harp with his right hand (verse 5), or lose the ability to sing altogether (verse 6). Only the true believer understands 'Jerusalem to be (his) highest joy' (verse 6).

The good news is that the Psalmist knows that God knows how he got there, and that he knows that God will repay. Ultimate vengeance and restoration is certain, although it may not be within the Psalmist's lifetime.

1. The Edomites were supposed to be brothers with the Israelites, but sin had gotten the better of them and they banded with the true unbelievers (the Babylonians) to destroy Judah. A special measure of destruction was reserved for the Edomites throughout the Bible. The Psalmist prayed that God remember what the Edomites did that led to this point (Psalm 137:7).
2. However, the Psalmist was so certain of Babylon's eventual destruction that he stated it as a matter of fact, not even asking God in prayer to intervene (verses 8-9). The Babylonians' carnage and brutality visited on the Israelites' children would indeed be revisited upon them.

So, what does this say about the Christian's attitude to oppression? Are we supposed to pray for our enemies' destruction? Bear in mind that Psalm 137 was written before Christ. Jesus taught grace, not works. Psalm 137 rightly teaches judgment, and rightly teaches that we leave God to wreak His wrath on our oppressors. But the missing stuff in Psalm 137 isn't there...because Jesus hadn't yet come. Jesus taught that we should not just love our neighbors, but love our enemies too. I think Psalm 137 points to Jesus in that He is starkly absent, and that it's only in Christ that we live out our full life in the kingdom, with grace and love, knowing that it's God the Father who will execute His wrath.