August 11 – Hanging up the harps?

Psalm 137:2-4, 6: “There on the poplars, we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs....How can we sing the songs of Yahweh while in a foreign land?....May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth....if I don't consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”

        This Psalm was definitely written or edited after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC and after some of the people were taken captive to Babylon. To them it must have felt like a death sentence, to be ripped out of one's homeland by force and taken far away to live the rest of one's life. We don't know if this writer was one of the “righteous” ones living in Judah, or whether he was one of the wicked ones. Nonetheless, we can learn a few things from this Psalm as they pertain to the body of Christ.

        How can we sing the songs of Yahweh while in a foreign land? All of us believers are in a foreign land. 1 Peter 2:11 and Hebrews 11:13 mention believers and the ancients as spiritually being aliens and strangers. Jesus even mentions in John 18:36 that his kingdom is not of this world. Our citizenship is a heavenly one (Philippians 3:20). When our earthly kingdoms and comforts are crushed, how can we sing praises to our God? Hebrews 13:14, 15 has the answer, even as it continues this theme. “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.” It takes discipline to sing praises during times of difficulty. However, this can be made a little easier by obeying Ephesians 5:19, 20 as we do these things with other believers: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to Yahweh, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our master Jesus Christ.”

        And speaking of psalms, it is interesting to note that the compiling and unofficial numbering of the Psalms has put 136 right before the woes of the captives in 137. Psalm 136 is a retelling of the wonders God did when he brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, with each line of description ending in “His kindness endures forever” – 26 times total. If we can keep our eyes on that fact, that God's kindness endures toward his children, then we can certainly put our trust in that kindness, no matter in what circumstance we find ourselves.

       As a further note, I have a question about Psalm 137:6. Can I infer that the city of Jerusalem was the captives' highest joy (as stated), instead of God himself? Could this have been part of the downfall of the inhabitants of Judah, turning God's residence and regulations into idols themselves, instead of worshiping in spirit the One who gave these objects to his chosen people? That concept sounds very eerily like the environment of Israel when Jesus was revealed. Caiaphas, the high priest at that time, predicted that one person should die in order to preserve the physical nation – which is exactly what happened when Jesus was killed...except that forty years later, the 2^nd temple was ruined again, and the occupied Jews were once again scattered away from the city of Jerusalem (deja vu).

        Let's remember that we as believers have come to a new Jerusalem, the city of the living God. We have joined the body of Christ, where God now dwells (Hebrews 12:22-24). Let's rejoice, because in that city, we are not aliens, but supernatural-born citizens.