Psalms 137 Research Report

Introduction

Psalms 137 starts with the expression, "By the waters of Babylon." What does this allude to? The composer of this Psalm is anonymous however it was assuredly composed by somebody who had encountered for himself the Babylonian imprisonment. This may have been composed not long after the bondage or perhaps some time into the imprisonment. Stowe (2016) considers the early time of Israel's bondage in Babylon as the definite the authentic setting of the hymn (p.13).

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Historical Context

King David, a man apparently trying to win over God's affections, had crushed Israel's most undermining adversaries and sorted out plans for the working of God's Temple in Jerusalem-the focal point of genuine love. His child, Solomon, assembled the Temple and devoted it to the Lord in an amazing celebration in which God noticeably showed his quality to them. But then amid Solomon's rule he wedded remote spouses who carried with them false divine beings-he enabled false love to occur under his own rooftop. What's more, obviously, definitely, false love started to pervade the country of Israel. This at last brought about common war after Solomon's passing, and the country isolated into two, Judah in the south controlled by Solomon's child Rehoboam, and Israel in the north under Jeroboam. Jeroboam rule sought taking the country back to the Lord. Aniol (2017) shows, God guaranteeing Jeroboam that in the event that he complied with the Law, God would favor him and his regal line (p.6).

The spread of false idol worship prompted a curse. This time it was not at first all-out worshipful admiration. Jeroboam devoted to prevent his subjects from visiting the Jerusalem Temple in the southern kingdom. Jeroboam made two gold calves out of appreciation for Yahweh and made sanctuaries for Yahweh on the agnostic high places and named ministers who were not Levites, and God reviled him as a result of it. God revealed that he does not endure false love. Considering the failure by the general population to disobey his laws, God enabled the northern kingdom to be crushed by Assyria in a progression of intrusions until the kidnapping of the entire population in 722. On the account of their expanding excessive admiration, God raised up the country of Babylon to attack the country. Lastly in 586 the city of Jerusalem alongside the Temple were completely crushed, and in a progression of extraditions the general population were kidnapped to Babylon. Indeed, even the Edomites, relatives of Esau, cousins of the Jews you could state, supported the Babylonians in the annihilation of Judah. The triumph made the God's kin were no longer in their territory, but in a state of banishment. However it was standard for Jews to accumulate for worship by a stream because of the need of stylized washings-this was a training that proceeded for the working of synagogues later.

God was the ultimate ruler of the Israelites therefore everything was under God. Nonetheless, the Hebrews found themselves in a social circumstance that was antagonistic to their religion and unadulterated love. However this is the thing that the psalmist wishes not to do-he wouldn't like to overlook God, he wouldn't like to overlook Jerusalem, the place of God's love. He says in verses 5-6, "In the event that he overlooks the genuine love of God, at that point may it be that he loses his ability to play the lyre or to sing." Aniol (2017) associates the Psalmists claims as one who would never like to utilize these aptitudes with the exception of in the acclaim of Yahweh (p.17).

Themes in Psalms 137

Verses 1-4 are commanded by first individual regular plural structures-"we sat down", "we sobbed", "we recollected", "We hung up", "our lyres", "Our captors" and "our raiders" insulted us: "sing to us!" The appeal summarizes in verse 4, "The secret might we sing? So what do we see here?" We see gatherings of outcasts lamenting, with their lyres noiseless, in memory of Zion. The account casts grieving ceremonies hindered by the negative joke of their Babylonian captors, needing to be engaged by one of the cheerful tunes of Zion-melodies. The captives indicated the difficulty of singing in a remote land. It makes the outcasts' corruption significantly additionally mortifying. What do we hear here? Indeed, Mays (2011) uses Hebrew, to argue of endings making phonetically a grieving sound normal to mourn shapes, happening approximately nine times in the initial three verses (p.421).

Verses 5-6 shape the second piece of the hymn and here the main individual solitary is noticeable as a self-curse tended to not to God but rather to the city of Jerusalem. The curse shows faithful vowing utter faithfulness and dedication to Yahweh. They recite "on the off chance that I overlook you let my correct hand wilt. Again, in verse 6 the Psalmist says, "On the off chance that I don't recollect you ... let my tongue sever to the top of my mouth ... in the event that I don't set Jerusalem over my most elevated happiness." In the alluded verse, we see only one individual-conceivably a Levitical vocalist, for whom the singing of Zion songs would have been an exceptional obligation-vowing never to underestimate the benefit of singing and loving in Jerusalem. It is unclear in the matter of whether he is still in Babylon, or he is presently living back in Yehud. However, he portrays a situation where-by and by melodies of Zion could be sung, however when the memory of bondage was still sharply extreme. Much relies on how we translate "there" in verses 1, 3 and 4. No longer is the character sobbing and joke, yet a quieted self-curse. Aniol shows the as endings overwhelmed the main verses to command inspiring severe sentimentality to endurance (p.422).

In the third part of the Psalm, Psalms 137: 8-9, the focus is on the lord. The Lord name is called when saying the prayer. The singers remember Jerusalem by appealing to the Lord to remember Jerusalem by vindicating the destruction against the partners in its fall that is Babylon and Edom. May (2011) considered the prayers having a naked appeal for retribution (p.423)

Lesson Learnt From Psalms 137

Our happiness is lost when we forsake God and indulge ourselves in sinful acts. The outcasts sobbed as they thought about benefits lost. In Psalm 137: 7, the Psalmists illustrate their frustrations when they sobbed and hung their harps on the sobbing branches of the willow trees. The verse casts a pitiful photo of the tormentors ready profiting from the transgression. Sin dependably pays in the money of distress and hopelessness. We should also set God's interests most important than others. The psalmist promised to recall and lift up Jerusalem over his main euphoria. God's interests would have the most noteworthy need in his life because of the lessons learned in a state of banishment (Todd, 2015, p. 94).

The psalmist is wishing not for retaliation in human terms. He is petitioning God for his equity. He is putting his trust in God's guarantee to compensate the Babylonians for what they had done. In Psalms 137:7 he seeks God's hand by asserting, "Remember, O Lord, What the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell." He is assuming that God will convey his kin, as God had guaranteed. All through this song, he calls the general population to recollect. He petitions God to keep in mind Jerusalem in your anguish-and recollect the Lord's guarantee of deliverance. We as well should look for first the kingdom of God and His nobility (Matthew 6:33). It matches the guidance offered by Colossians 3:2, "To set psyches on the things above, not on the things that are on earth". It explains in Armstrong (2017) conclusion that God ought to have the most astounding spot and need in our lives (p.10).

Personal Reflection

It was interesting to analyze Psalms 137 however I found it challenging to deduce the historical context of the Psalm as well as deriving the themes tackled in it. Nonetheless, there were lessons to learn from it. The most important is that sin deprives us our joy and happiness. Sin dependably aggravates distress and hopelessness. Consider Psalm137:3, "For there our captors requested of us melodies, also, our tormentors' gaiety, saying, "Sing us one of the melodies of Zion." 137:4. I became pessimistic on the viability of singing the Lord's tune in a remote land? Notwithstanding the torment advanced by the desire to go home, their melancholy was increased as their captors mockingly requested music from them. The psalmist and his kindred outcasts declined to "sing the Lord's melody in a remote land." The weight and distress of their circumstance smothered the tune in their souls.

Another lesson learned is that we should always trust in God. For us Christians, trials will come. Although we ought to lament them, yet we should avoid letting despondency a chance to distort our reasoning. Rather, put your expectation in God's deliverance for he says in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

References

Armstrong, A. (2017, July 27). Crosswalk.com. Retrieved April 27, 2018, from What Do We Do with Psalms 137?: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/what-do-we-do-with-psalm-137.html

Mays, J. L. (2011). Psalms. Louisville: Westminister John Knox Press.

Scott Aniol. (2017, January 25). Religious Affection Ministries. Retrieved April 27, 2018, from The Historical Context of Psalms 137: http://religiousaffections.org/articles/articles-on-culture/the-historical-context-of-psalm-137/

Stowe, D. W. (2016). Song of Exile: The Enduring Mystery of Psalm 137. New York: Oxford University Press.

Todd, J. M. (2015). Remember, O Yahweh: The Poetry and Context of Psalms 135-137. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Pulisher.