Sermon for September 25th, 2016

Psalm 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon—
   there we sat down and there we wept
   when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
   we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors
   asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
   “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How could we sing the Lord’s song
   in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
   let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
   if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
   above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
   the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
   Down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
   Happy shall they be who pay you back
   what you have done to us!
9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones
   and dash them against the rock!

Selah: Ancient Songs Our Souls Still Sing

Up to this point, we've been looking at favorite, well-loved and well-known psalms that provide comfort and inspiration to our souls. Psalm 137 is not, at first glance, one of those psalms. Any psalm that begins with weeping and ends with dashing children against rocks probably requires some explanation.

This psalm is short enough (just nine verses) that we can actually go through it verse by verse. I hope that in the process, I can convince you that within the words of this psalm, there is indeed comfort, inspiration, and a deep poetic beauty.

So. To begin with, there's no preface at the beginning of this psalm, as we've seen with others. No dedication, no attribution, no instructions for singing. That's likely because this psalm was not connected at all with worship in the Jewish Temple, for reasons that become pretty apparent right in the first verse: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.

In the year 587 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon invaded and completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem, killing most of its inhabitants, or else carrying them back to Babylon as slaves.

When Psalm 137 was composed, there was no longer a temple in Jerusalem. There was no longer any Jerusaelm, or Zion, at all, save only in the memories of the Jews in exile. And because of this, memory--the act of remembering--becomes critically important in Jewish culture (right down to the present day).

Verse two: On the willows there, we hung up our harps. The harp, or כִּנּוֹר (kinnor) was the instrument used for worship in the temple, and this (along with the next two verses) gives us a clue that the author of this psalm was probably one of the temple musicians. There's also a metaphorical aspect to this verse: The harp is a national symbol of Jerusalem, while the willow tree is a national symbol of Babylon.

• life of willow tree = approx 50 years. Length of babylonian captivity.