Psalm 137 — An Imprecatory Psalm
1 By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!
Introduction
Perhaps the most striking and unsettling feature of Psalm 137 is the last verse. In it we read what appears to be praise and acclamation for the one who will take the children of the psalmists’ enemies and “[dash] them against the rock!” To the modern Christian reader these words seem uncomfortable at best and evil at worst. We might wonder how God’s inerrant, infallible Word could evoke such horrific imagery. And yet, knowing that all of God’s Word is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timoty 3:16), all believers must wrestle with this passage to understand its implications and applications for our lives. Psalm 137 is representative of one of the most difficult genres of the Old Testament poetic literature, that of imprecation[1].
Historical Setting
Although it is difficult to know the exact historical setting of most of the Psalms, Psalm 137 is an exception, as it is clearly a product of the Israelites during their Babylonian captivity. Commentators believe that this psalm was written either during the time of exile or soon after their return.[2] Either way, it is apparent that this community has experienced deep agony and distress because of their time of exile.
Classification
As with all of Scripture, it is imperative that we discern the literary context and genre of a psalm in order to truly grasp the meaning and, therefore, the application to our lives today. While this psalm is generally categorized as an Imprecatory Psalm, the reader doesn’t really take note of the violent cry for revenge until the end of the psalm. The initial writing appears to be an impassioned cry of lament. In fact, many scholars give this psalm the additional classification of a “communal lament.” Willem VanGemeren classifies this psalm with three categories: “communal lament (vv.1–4), a song of Zion (vv.5–6), and a curse (vv.7–9).”[3] For the purposes of this study I will focus on its imprecatory nature, while also giving attention to its qualities of lamentation and ultimate trust in YHWH’s sovereignty and provision.
Structure and Poetic Devices
This Psalm can be organized with the following basic, expository structure:
A. The Lament (vv.1–4)
B. The Confession of Confidence (vv.5–6)
C. Prayer for Divine Intervention (vv.7–9)[4]
The vivid use of imagery in Psalm 137 is palpable. Derek Kidner says, “This psalm needs no title to announce that its provenance was the Babylonian exile. Every line of it is alive with pain, whose intensity grows with each strophe to the appalling climax.”[5] In the first verse we hear the anguish of the people as they remember their loss of God’s promised land — the land “flowing with milk and honey.” So great is their experience of this loss that they are unable to sing or make melody. The joy of their salvation is no longer present. They have “hung up [their] lyres” on the branches of tress because they have no use for them (v.2). If they forget Jerusalem, then their right hand should “forget its skill” (v.5). This is probably an allusion to the skill of playing musical instruments.[6] Likewise, their “tongue[s] stick to the roof of [their] mouth[s]” (v.6), another example of imagery which declares their inability to sing.
As we see the Psalm grow in intensity in its use of language towards the writer’s enemies, we first see that taunting from the Babylonian captors is at least part of the reason for the lack of singing (v. 3), a foreshadowing of the imprecation to follow. The Psalmist reminds the LORD of the Edomites’ desire for the total destruction of Jerusalem in verse 7. In verse 8 the poet uses “daughter of Babylon” as representative for the inhabits of Babylon and pronounces the pending judgment, saying that they are “doomed to be destroyed” and that vengeance is coming. All of this climaxes when we read the most appalling of all the pronouncements, the dashing of the “little ones” against the rock. This indeed is vivid imagery.
Theological Analysis and Implications
With such strong use of language, the Christian must be concerned with the theological implications and how they affect our lives. We can not read a text such as this without being deeply impressed.
First, it is important to note the scene that is set in the opening lines. The land is fertile with many “waters” (this can also be translated as “rivers”) and trees or “willows” (this is probably better translated as “poplars”). “For many Judeans, life in Babylon was good,” says VanGemeren. There was probably an abundance of resources with “regular harvests.”[7] This is significant because it means that even though they could have given themselves over completely to the enjoyment of the pleasures of their new home, they were actually in agony because of their removal from God’s blessings. A parallel can be drawn here for modern Christians as we remember that we are sojourners and exiles in this land and that we will one day live in the promised land of the Messiah, completely uninhibited from enjoying his presence. The hope of our future enjoyment of God far outweighs the temporary pleasures that are immediately available.
Second, it is also no small irony that when we read this psalm, we are reading a text that is meant to be sung, probably in a corporate worship setting, that deals with the worshipers’ inability to sing because of circumstance. Perhaps we learn here of the healing power of singing even when we don’t feel like singing. Singing songs of lament are sometimes exactly what we need to do when we believe that our joy is completely absent. Could this possibly be one of the many reasons why we are commanded to sing so many times throughout God’s Word? Singing is one of the great gifts God has given us to remember “Jerusalem.” In the Christian’s case, “Jerusalem” refers to the New Jerusalem. We must sing and remember that, as one hymn says, “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.”
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we must deal with the issue of imprecation in this psalm — the fact that this psalmist pronounces a serious curse on his enemies. What can be made of this? First, we must realize that we are, indeed, called to love our enemies. Unrighteousness on the part of our enemies is never an occasion or justification for unrighteousness on the part of the believer. We must pray for those who persecute us. Yet, at the same time we should understand that the psalms teach us how to “feel.” Even though God calls us to turn the other cheek and to think of others as more important than ourselves, he does not call us to pretend that our emotions and anger don’t exist. Instead, we should cast all of our anxieties on God, because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Moreover, we must realize, like Paul exhorts us, that we should “never avenge [ourselves], but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). Brueggemann aptly says of these verses in Psalm 137 that “it is an act of profound faith to entrust one’s most precious hatreds to God, knowing they will be taken seriously.”[8]
Additionally, we must again remember the genre of all the psalms, which is poetry. Although, we read of many atrocities that took place in the Old Testament, this is a psalm which uses vivid poetic devices to help the worshiper express their anguish and remember the mercies of God. Allen Ross helpfully aids our understanding: “Hyperbole is a frequent and loved figure of speech in the psalms. In the mentality of the psalmists, especially when suffering, feelings were expressed extravagantly.”[9]
Furthermore, as Christians we live on the other side of the cross of Christ. We know that our (and God’s) ultimate enemy is the Ancient Serpent, not flesh and blood. Ultimately, all vengeance takes place through the death and resurrection of our great Savior!
Application for Corporate Worship
Imprecatory Psalms like this one “help us to pray through our anger, frustrations, and spite ultimately to achieve submission to God’s will.”[10] So many leaders today are concerned with helping people to have an “authentic experience” in worship. Using this Psalm, and others like it, in corporate worship could have great benefits for the worshiping community in helping to form their expressions of anger and feelings of abandonment towards greater dependence on the mercies and kindness of God. Likewise, we may come to our own greater recognition that our sins deserve the punishment of God’s wrath, yet we have been given the ultimate gift of salvation through faith in Christ’s finished work.
[1] Another way of thinking of imprecation in the psalms is as a pronounced curse on the enemies of the psalmist.
[2] John Goldingay, Psalms: Psalms 90–150 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 600–601.
[3] Tremper III Longman and David E. Garland, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary V: Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 949.
[4] Longman and Garland, 949.
[5] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150, Kidner Classic Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 495.
[6] Longman and Garland, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary V: Psalms, 951.
[7] Longman and Garland, 949.
[8] Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, Later Printing Used edition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1985), 77.
[9] Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2011), 116.
[10] Longman and Garland, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary V: Psalms, 955.
