Psalm 137:1-9 rA

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Psalm 137:1-9[1]

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.  Yes, we wept when we remembered Zion.  We hung our harps on the willows in the middle of it: for there, those who carried us away captive required of us a song.  Those who wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], “Sing us the songs of Zion.”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in an alien land?  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget.  If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.  Remember, Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze, raze, to its foundation.”

O daughter Babylon, who are to be destroyed, blessed [is he], who rewards you as you have served us.  Blessed [shall he be], who takes and dashes your little ones against the stones.[2] [3]

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[1] Truly, there is a Psalm for every season and emotion of man.  The Psalms of David are set around 1000 BC.  This Psalm is set after 586 BC, after the Babylonian Captivity and Exile.  The psalmist is bathed in anger, bitterness, and grief.  He is able to see and understand the promise of God to Solomon, that God answers all prayer directed to Him, and His Temple in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion: so he prays accordingly.  However, Solomon’s Temple is destroyed, it seems like the end of the world to this psalmist, and he is not yet able to grasp that there is, and always was, a heavenly Jerusalem, a heavenly Zion, and a heavenly Temple, far greater than Solomon’s Temple.  So he clings to his earthly memory through his tears of anger, bitterness, and grief.  In such a state the psalmist lashes out at all around him.  This is a normal part of the grieving process.  In fact we see several aspects of the grieving process in play here: anger (obviously), denial (he can’t quite face the fact that the Temple and everything in it is gone), negotiation (“let my tongue”, etc.), depression (“how shall we sing”, etc.).  The only thing missing is acceptance: the psalmist cannot yet see God’s grace and mercy in his misery, and he cannot yet embrace his captivity as a blessing from God.  So the fact that the psalmist lashes out is to be expected: he utters a wicked and terrifying oath.  “Blessed [shall he be], who takes and dashes your little ones against the stones.”

Before we judge the psalmist harshly, or even at all, perhaps we should consider some harsh realities.

The psalmist has witnessed living babies being killed by hammering them against rocks.  There are people who have witnessed firsthand Dresden, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Oklahoma City, or New York.  These are terrible soul scarring experiences: these witnesses will never fully recover.  It seems as if everything except breath itself has been take away from them: they wait, only to die, and thus, at last, forget.

In grief, the psalmist says things that (s)he would not say or mean, were (s)he in a better, more recovered frame of mind.  The psalmist would be able to embrace the reality, knowing that “what men intended for evil, God intended for good.”  Knowing, (s)he would eventually be able to forgive.  Knowing, we come to realize that these terrible tragedies are not driven by mere human will; but rather by demonic forces far beyond human power.

Grief often takes years for recovery.  We all experience grief at some time or other: all of us die, all of us see death.  We hope for patience and understanding as we struggle with grief.  It’s not something we will just snap out of: we have to endure the experience and its raging gamut of emotions.  We should extend the same patience and understanding to this poor psalmist.

The real beauty of this Psalm is found in the psalmist’s naked honesty: (s)he is just being honest with God.  Would to God that our prayer would achieve such honesty.  This is a Psalm for grief.

In spite of all these things, we must see a strong note of the consummation of the kingdom in this Psalm.  “We wrestle not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).”  Our adversary is Satan, who deceives and manipulates the leaders of this world.  Consequently, taking vengeance is forbidden to us.  On the other hand, the judgment of Yahweh is coming upon this world.  In Christ, we will participate in that judgment.  “Blessed [shall he be], who takes and dashes your little ones against the stones.”  Blessed is Christ, Who brings the final and just judgment.  In the Consummation, all anguish, bitterness, and sorrow will be swallowed up in victory.  ΙΣ ΧΣ ΝΙΚΑ!

[2] Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45; 5:25, 30; 7:4, 11, 18, 22, 26-27

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