Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 137:1-2 and following. Indeed, here begins a penultimate series of psalms, mostly by David. They take up the account of the final restoration of Israel from its servitude in the midst of the nations, through its tribulation, to deliverance and, in Ps. 145 to 150, general praise. The beginning of Psalm 137 evokes the captivity of Babylon. How could the poor transported have sung to order and rejoiced under the yoke of the oppressor? There is no joy for them far from Jerusalem. Those who took everything from them could not take away their memory. Thus, dear believers, strangers in a hostile world, we find nothing for our hearts, but we possess in Christ a joy that no one takes away from us (John 16:20-22). Let us never forget the celestial city! For God will complete what concerns us, not by the destruction of the race of the wicked, but by the return of the Lord.
For Edom and Babylon are the enemies of which the faithful of God’s Israel speak, so long afflicted. Babylon, as we know, is often treated as a mystery in Scripture. As for Edom, let’s just notice that his judgment is announced in a frightening way. “When the whole earth rejoices, I will reduce you to desolation” (Isaiah 34; Jer 49; Ez 35; Obadiah; Evil. 1). For Esau (the layman) deliberately chooses the world for its portion, ignoring all of God’s promises. But to return to the happier subjects presented to us by this magnificent collection, we notice this: while Israel was captive in Babylon, the faithful never sang; on the way back they sometimes sang; but once in the land, it was without ceasing that they sang hymns – either of blessing (134), either praise (135) or thanksgiving (136), and this continuously. The same is true for the believer. He learns that with all his cheerfulness before he knows the Lord, he must remain only a memory full of shame and sadness.
Now he must perform services mixed with joy and sorrow, prayer and praise; but he awaits the moment when, living in the house of God forever, nothing will interrupt his hymns or tarnish his joy. However, we can add this: reading these psalms as the language of the faithful of the residue from their departure from Babylon until their arrival in the land, and considering these exiles in the light of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, we can say that they experienced soul exercises more blessed in Babylon than those of the people once in Egypt; and on the way back, than those of Israel in the wilderness. There was not the same manifestation of glory, but more inner spiritual energy. No cloud above them, but inside the hidden exercise of the heart. In Babylon they hung their harps from the willows; standing, ready to go, they show admirable faith on the banks of the Ahava River; on the way, they encourage each other by sometimes singing a hymn; Arrived in the country, although in weakness and opprobrium, they devote themselves to service and praise.
Then Ps. 137 is the only one that mentions Babylon to give the full story of Israel’s sufferings; in the last days it will have only a mystical fulfillment, but one that has its importance, because it was at the time of the captivity of Babylon that the divine presence in Jerusalem ended and the power of the Gentiles was established. For faith could not be happy in a foreign land, nor could it sing the hymns of Zion. These faithful, whom we find here, do not form a heavenly people; that is why their thoughts turn to Jerusalem, which faith never forgets. Babylon must be destroyed; his judgment is ardently desired: Edom’s enmity is not forgotten. Thus, the purpose of the Psalm is to express all the attachment that, in their captivity, the faithful have to Zion; the heart could not be separated from her on the foreign land.
‘Daughter of Babylon, the devastated…!’ The psalmist discerns God’s coming judgment, though not yet apparent, by the eye of faith, as the apostle calls faith “the contemplation of unseen things.” (Hebrews 11:1.) As incredible as it may seem that any calamity should invade an empire as powerful as Babylon was then, and impregnable as was generally considered, he sees in the glass of the Word its destruction and overthrow. He calls all the people of God to do the same, and by faith since the elevation of the oracles of heaven, to despise the pride of this abandoned city. If God’s promises inspire us with hope and trust, and God’s Spirit attenuates our afflictions to the rule of His own righteousness, we will raise our heads to the lowest depths of affliction, and glorify in the fact that He is well with us in our worst distresses, and that our enemies are devoted to destruction.
By declaring happy those who should ‘repay their revenge on the Babylonians’, he does not mean that the service rendered by the Medes and the Persians, in itself, has met with God’s approval. For they have been driven into war by ambition, insatiable lust and unprincipled rivalry; but he declares that a war that has been waged in a manner under the auspices of God must be crowned with success. As God had decided to punish Babylon, he pronounced a blessing on Cyrus and Darius, while on the other hand, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 48:10) declares the cursed who should do the Lord’s work negligently, that is, fail to forcefully carry out the work of desolation and destruction, to which God had called them as his hired executioners. He may seem to have a taste of cruelty, that he wants tender and innocent babies to be thrown and mutilated on the stones, but he does not speak under the impulse of a personal feeling, and uses only words that God himself had authorized, so that it is only the declaration of a just judgment, as when our Lord says: “How much you measure, it will be measured again.” (Matthew 7:2.) But Isaiah (Isaiah 13:16-17) had issued a special prediction in reference to Babylon, which the psalmist no doubt has here in his eyes – “Behold, God has sharpened the iron and bent the bows; he sent the Medes and the Persians, who would look neither at silver nor at gold; they will thirst only for blood. »
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Near the rivers of Babylon:
· Discouragement
-Moses Nb 11:15 Rather than treat me like this, kill me, I beg you, if I have found favor with your eyes, and that I do not see my misfortune.
-Joshua Joshua 7:7 Joshua says: Ah! Eternal Lord, why did you pass the Jordan to this people, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and make us perish? Oh! if we could have stayed on the other side of the Jordan!
-Elijah 1 Kings 19:4 For him, he went into the wilderness where, after a day of walking, he sat under a broom, and asked for death, saying: Enough is enough! Now, Eternal, take my soul, for I am no better than my fathers.
-Job Jb 10.1 My soul is disgusted with life! I will give effect to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
-David Ps 42:7 My soul is slaughtered within me: So it is to you that I think, from the land of the Jordan, from the Hermon, from the mountain of Mitsear.
-Jeremiah Jr 15:10 Woe to me, my mother, for what you have made me born a man of dispute and quarrel for the whole country! I don’t borrow or lend, and yet all curse me.
-The disciples Luke 24:17 He said to them: What do you talk about as you walk, that you may be all sad?
· Patriotism, examples
2 Sam 10:12 Be firm, and show courage for our people and for the cities of our God, and may jehovah do what he sees fit! 1 Kings 11:21 When Hadad learned in Egypt that David was lying with his fathers, and that Joab, the leader of the army, had died, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go to my land. Neh 2:3 and I answered the king, “Let the king live forever! How could I not have a bad face, when the city where my fathers’ tombs are destroyed and its gates are consumed by fire? Ps 137:1 On the banks of the rivers of Babylon, We sat and wept, remembering Zion. Isaiah 66:10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, make her the subject of your elation, All of you who love her; Tremble with her with joy, all of you who mourn over her;
· Prisoners of war
Gen 14:2 they sometimes went to war on Bera, king of Sodom, on Birscha, king of Gomorrah, on Sshineab, king of Adma, on Shemesber, king of Tseboïm, and on the king of Béla, who is Tsoar. Nb 31:9 The children of Israel took the women of the Midianites prisoner with their grandchildren, and they plundered all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their wealth. Dt 20:14 But thou shalt take for oneself the women, the children, the cattle, all that will be in the city, all its spoils, and you shall eat the remains of your enemies which the Lord your God has delivered to you. Dt 21:11 perhaps you will see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you will have the desire to take her as your wife. 2 Kings 25:6 They seized the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Ribla; and a sentence was pronounced against him. 2 Ch 28:15 And the men whose names have just been mentioned rose up and took the captives; they used the spoils to clothe all those who were naked, they gave them clothes and shoes, they made them eat and drink, they anointed them, they led on donkeys all those who were tired, and they led them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.
· Spirit of vengeance, examples
2 Kings 6:21 The king of Israel, seeing them, said to Elisha: Will I strike, will I strike, my father? 2 Ch 18:26 You will say, “So saith the king: Put this man in prison, and feed him with bread and water of affliction, until I return in peace. Ps 137:9 Blessed is he who seizes your children, and crushes them on the rock! Mk 6:19 Herodias was angered against John, and wanted to make him die. John 18:10 Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. This servant was called Malchus. Acts 23:12 When the day came, the Jews formed a plot, and made imprecations against themselves, saying that they would abstain from eating and drinking until they had killed Paul.
From all of the above, we note that this psalm sounds like the language of the captives returning to Jerusalem. They remember their captivity in Babylon: they could not then, they could not there, sing hymns. They refused to take their harps for anything other than the praises of Zion; they refused to pinch the ropes in the presence of Zion’s enemies. That’s what they remember now, and it’s spontaneous and natural. They now harvest with songs of joy, but while carrying their wreaths, they remember that they sowed with tears. The Feast of Tabernacles, the largest of the Jewish holidays, the type of joy of the people during the reign, had similar reminders. For seven days the people lived in huts in memory of the desert. But all these looks back only served to make their current joy more vivid and perfect and our hearts have no difficulty in understanding this. Back in their land, the faithful of Israel demand that the judgments reach their persecutors. This should not be surprising either: there is a concordance between these exercises of the heart and the celestial scenes. In Revelation, in fact, we witness the various activities of the glorified saints, either proclaiming their present joy, remembering their distress and low state of the past, or anticipating the judgment that will soon fall on their enemies (see Rev. 5:7, 11). Christ, their “next of kin” who made their redemption, is the object of their praise. Christ who will take charge of their vengeance is the object of their expectation. They are ready, when he rises as a vigilante, to triumph by his judgments (Rev. 19), as they were to celebrate his grace (chapter 5).
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” the opposite fate of the righteous and the wicked.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.