Psalm 137 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study
Psalm 137 Short Summary:
Psalm 137 was written during or after Judah’s exile in Babylon. The writer recalls his sadness at having to sing songs about Jerusalem while a captive in a foreign land. He encourages his heart not to forget about the Promised Land and God’s covenant with Judah. The last 3 verses contain a curse, which the author speaks over Edom for helping the Babylonians conquer Jerusalem.
Psalm 137 Summary
AUTHOR:
The authorship of Psalm 137 is unknown.
NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:
No known New Testament References.
THEMES:
The sadness associated with Judah’s exile in Babylon.
A curse on the people of Edom.
DEFINITIONS:
Lyre (137:2) – A small hand-held stringed instrument with a U-shape. It is similar to the harp in that the musician plucks the strings to create the music.
OUTLINE:
*Psalm 137 recalls the time when the people of Judah were captives in Babylon. God allowed the Babylonians to capture them and exile them from the Promised Land to Babylon because of their disobedience. They were captives for 70 years before being allowed to return to Jerusalem.
SINGING THE SONGS OF THE LORD IN A FOREIGN LAND (137:1-6):
The author of Psalm 137 wrote about Judah’s Babylonian captivity and the hearts of God’s people during those days.
The people were sad. They had little in life to celebrate and no joy to stimulate music making.
They hung their instruments on the willow trees of Babylon, not for personal use, but because their captors (the Babylonians) would make them play music for their entertainment.
They would say, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” (137:3).
The psalmist remarked on how painful it was for them to have to sing the Lord’s songs in a foreign land. That pain was probably compounded by the fact that it was their sins against the Lord that had landed them in Babylon.
With what seems a penitent heart, the psalmist prayed that he would lose his ability to sing and play his instrument if his heart ever forgot Jerusalem. Although exiled from Jerusalem, he did not want to forget what the city represented, as the place of God’s presence, His laws, and His covenant with the people of Judah.
He was physically exiled from the Promised Land, but he wasn’t going to allow his foreign surroundings to cause him to forget the God of the Promised Land.
A PRAYER FOR VENGEANCE ON EDOM (137:7-9):
The Edomites were relatives of the people of Judah who lived to the south of the Promised Land.
To some degree, they had been complicit with the Babylonians destroying Jerusalem and taking all the people away as captives.
The psalmist knew of Edom’s betrayal, and he cursed them for it.
He wrote of the Edomites, “O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!”
A serious curse indeed!
APPLICATION:
Babylon was a very impressive city during its prime. It was probably one of the world’s most beautiful and advanced cities.
Babylon was filled with distractions that probably tempted the people of Judah to forget about Jerusalem and to embrace Babylon as their new home.
This psalm describes one man’s fight to hold on to Jerusalem and to fight for the God of Jerusalem to remain his “highest joy” (137:6).
We should all be fighting a similar battle.
This world is full of curious, enticing, comfortable, enjoyable, and fascinating things,
It’s easy to embrace the world and what it offers and treat it like we are going to be here forever, but God tells us this is not our home.
We have to constantly fight to keep our “highest joy” in God and in our Promised Land (Heaven).
