During 2025, Peachtree Church is focusing on the Book of Psalms with a series called Dwell, through which we seek to deepen our conversation with God and open ourselves to hearing his response. The practice of praying three times each day will unite the voices of our hearts and souls as we seek the day when we will see the full realization of the Kingdom of God, promised in Revelation 21:3: “…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
We will email devotionals twice weekly with Monday’s providing an overview of the Psalm as a whole, and Wednesday’s focused on that week’s Daily Dwell.
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
Psalm 137
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
Charles Dickens wrote a novel called A Tale of Two Cities, about London and Paris in a time of war. Psalm 137 is about two cities as well, Babylon and Jerusalem, but the war is over. Babylon ruined Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple at its heart, and dragged the people of Israel into exile. At the beginning of the Psalm, the Psalmist is remembering (perhaps from personal experience) what it was like to be taunted by the enemy, goaded to sing a song from Zion (Jerusalem) to their captors. The bitterness of being pressed to sing about home in this land of enemies was caustic. It reminded them of all they had lost.
The Psalmist, as a musician, mutters his private thoughts to God about how wrong it is to sing about Jerusalem in Babylon, how he wishes his harping hands would forget how to play and his singing voice dry up if he should ever forget Jerusalem. It was the center of their worship, their joy and glory, and to remember it, as it used to be, is anguish.
So far this is definitely a Psalm of Lament, meant to pour out to God the deepest hurt in all honesty and despair. As Protestants we have largely lost the art of lament, which our Jewish friends still practice. The Psalmist knows that if you vent your pain in a lament, it eases the pain, and God has heard it all. Better out than in! And after lament, normally comes sweet consolation.
But after this lament, something very unusual comes. So full of rage over the loss of Jerusalem is the Psalmist that he employs what is usually a blessing format, used in the Beatitudes and in Psalm 1: “Happy is the one who…;” “Blessed are those who….” Usually after those words, there is a description of the joy of the good life in God.
But here, the Psalmist calls down a hope for vengeance against the enemies of Jerusalem—the Babylonians and their allies, the Edomites. He ends his hope of vengeance with one of the ugliest verses in Scripture: “Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them on the rocks.”
What are we supposed to do with this? The Psalms contains a full range of human emotion, including this revolting wish for the death of “enemy” children. This was a practice of total warfare in his day, meant to eradicate future enemies, but it is horrifying. What we should do is hold this verse up against others we know in Scripture. We should be able to find its parallel elsewhere in the Word. But we do not find it. Paul quotes a verse from Deuteronomy when he says in Romans 12:17-19, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’” says the Lord.”
Jesus himself says to let the little children come to him, and that if anyone harms one of these little ones, it would be better for him to have a millstone put around his neck and be thrown into the sea. Jesus had only love for children and recommended that we turn the other cheek to enemies. He recommended forgiving 70 times 7 times. In the light of Jesus, we see how evil the murder of “enemy children” is. It is an honest expression of rage, but it is not something that God wants to find in us. If you bring Jesus alongside this verse, to keep hold of Him you must let the ugliness go.
The Psalmist shows how easy it can be for lament to sour into a hunger for vengeance. And yet, we worship a God who sees all the wrong there is, and who may be trusted to set it right. We can leave it with God. God will make all things right.
For Reflection
- Is it a part of your faith practice to offer your laments to God?
- Does it feel wrong to do that?
- What happens after you give God your laments? Does anything change for you?
Prayer
Dear Lord, I have had to live with heart-burning sorrow and anger. I have enemies who have deeply wounded me. I want something big to happen to them; I want to punish them. Those feelings are honest. But when I dwell on them, I become sick inside. I lose the pleasure and joy of life. I live bathed in anger like acid. I wish for evil things. Help me, Lord, to leave punishment in your hands. I trust you to do what is right. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
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