Psalm 137

... and we wept.

Read/pray the psalm. (Full text at bottom.)

No. (But yes.)

1 By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,

when we remembered you, O Zion.

2 As for our harps, we hung them up

upon the trees [or “willows”] that are therein.

• Commentaries are quick to point out that these trees would NOT have been our “weeping willow,” because our species is Asian in origin, and our species was named Salix babylonica by Carl Linnaeus, in 1753, only because he mistakenly linked it to this reference in Psalm 137, and…

  • Yada yada yada. Fine.

  • But “willows” is a common translation of the Hebrew for “trees” (עֲרָבִים aravim), even as early as the first Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (3rd century BC).

  • And more importantly, we can see it; it works.

    • It’s not the ONLY way to interpret this word, of course, maybe not even the most correct way, technically.

    • But if you want to go the science route, you can find plenty of pictures of Populus euphratica, the species that likely was growing along the Euphrates, bent over, because that’s what trees often do, when growing on a water bank. So there.

• And more importantly still, this is a song of lamentation.

• Ironically, God protected his people in Babylon, and made them prosper.

  • Chastised, they return to Israel much more faithful and devout than those who remained in the land.

  • (That’s a common experience among all expatriates, myself included—greater patriotism for having lived away from one’s home country.)

• As a result, they long long long for Jerusalem.

So…

• We are stranger, sojourners, in Babylon.

• We long for home, for the New Jerusalem.

• But it will come to us; Jesus the Everlasting Builder will bring it to earth.

• Pray:

"Come, Lord Jesus! Establish Jerusalem and make her the praise of the earth." (based on Isaiah 62:7 and Revelation 22:21)

OPTIONAL: Gaither, “Rivers of Babylon” (Live)

Psalm 137
Super flumina

1	By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, * 
		when we remembered you, O Zion.
2	As for our harps, we hung them up * 
		upon the trees that are therein.
3	For those who led us away captive required of us a song and melody in our heaviness: *
		“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” 
4	How shall we sing the Lord’s song *
		in the land of our captivity?
5	If I forget you, O Jerusalem, *
		let my right hand forget its skill.
6	If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, *
		if I prefer not Jerusalem above my dearest joy.
7	Remember the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem, *
		 how they said, “Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.”
8	O daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery, *
		happy shall be the one who rewards you as you have done to us.
9	Blessed shall he be who takes your children * 
		and throws them against the stones.

New Coverdale Psalter