Depressing and disturbing. And gratifying. After prayer and reflection, the 137th Psalm appears to be all of those to me.
It’s set in a horrific time in the history of God’s chosen people. The last kingdom of the Israelites, Judah, has completely fallen to a ruthless enemy. Like their co-descendants of Jacob in the northern kingdom of Israel, the inhabitants of Judah – Jerusalem in particular – have been utterly defeated, and the best and brightest of the survivors are being hauled off to a foreign country as captives. It’s probably one of those captives – possibly while on their forced march to Babylon – that authors the Psalm.
The depressing part of the Psalm is found in verses 1 thru 6. The anonymous Psalmist voices his hopelessness and a point at which he and his fellow musicians literally “hung it up” in the face of defeat, ridicule, and torment. He couldn’t even imagine the circumstances under which he could be happy again as long as his situation and that of Jerusalem went unchanged.
The disturbing part is found in the last three verses. His grief turns into what reads like a vengeful rage when he calls upon God to remember the treachery of the descendants of Esau, the fraternal twin brother of Jacob. It gets uglier when he curses the Babylonians by wishing someone would one day do to them what they had done to his people: seizing their infants and dashing them against the rocks.
So, how can I be gratified in any of this? It reminds me that I’m human and that emotions like those voiced in the 137th Psalm are real and can happen to us as long as we live in human flesh. More importantly, It reminds me of another Psalm just one page away – the 139th – where in the first verse, David writes, “O Lord,… you know me.” It reminds me of Hebrews 4:15 where we’re reminded that our High Priest, Jesus Christ is able to sympathize with us humans.
The 137th Psalm leads me to pray, “Father – thank you for knowing my humanity; for sympathizing with me; for reminding me that even when I feel hopeless or enraged, you are still my God, Rock, and Redeemer. If it be your will, keep me from circumstances that are as hopeless or enraging as those the writer of your Psalm faced. And if it be your will that I do face such circumstances, uphold me with your Holy Spirit that I might bring honor and glory to your name.”
- Lynn P.