5 If I keep not your memory, O Jerusalem, let not my right hand keep the memory of its art.
That Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah; and in answer to my request for news of the Jews who had been prisoners and had got away, and of Jerusalem, They said to me, The small band of Jews now living there in the land are in great trouble and shame: the wall of Jerusalem has been broken down, and its doorways burned with fire. Then, after hearing these words, for some days I gave myself up to weeping and sorrow, seated on the earth; and taking no food I made prayer to the God of heaven,
And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not ill? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was full of fear; And said to the king, May the king be living for ever: is it not natural for my face to be sad, when the town, the place where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, has been made waste and its doorways burned with fire?
For a day in your house is better than a thousand. It is better to be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to be living in the tents of sin.
You will again get up and have mercy on Zion: for the time has come for her to be comforted. For your servants take pleasure in her stones, looking with love on her dust.
For there seats for the judges were placed, even the rulers' seats of the line of David. O make prayers for the peace of Jerusalem; may they whose love is given to you do well. May peace be inside your walls, and wealth in your noble houses. Because of my brothers and friends, I will now say, Let peace be with you. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will be working for your good.
Because of Zion I will not keep quiet, and because of Jerusalem I will take no rest, till her righteousness goes out like the shining of the sun, and her salvation like a burning light.
I have put watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will not keep quiet day or night: you who are the Lord's recorders, take no rest, And give him no rest, till he puts Jerusalem in her place to be praised in the earth.
For this reason King Darius put his name on the writing and the order. And Daniel, on hearing that the writing had been signed, went into his house; (now he had windows in his room on the roof opening in the direction of Jerusalem;) and three times a day he went down on his knees in prayer and praise before his God, as he had done before.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 137
Commentary on Psalms 137 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 137
Ps 137:1-9. This Psalm records the mourning of the captive Israelites, and a prayer and prediction respecting the destruction of their enemies.
1. rivers of Babylon—the name of the city used for the whole country.
remembered Zion—or, Jerusalem, as in Ps 132:13.
2. upon the willows—which may have grown there then, if not now; as the palm, which was once common, is now rare in Palestine.
3, 4. Whether the request was in curiosity or derision, the answer intimates that a compliance was incongruous with their mournful feelings (Pr 25:20).
5, 6. For joyful songs would imply forgetfulness of their desolated homes and fallen Church. The solemn imprecations on the hand and tongue, if thus forgetful, relate to the cunning or skill in playing, and the power of singing.
7-9. Remember … the children of Edom—(Compare Ps 132:1), that is, to punish.
the day of Jerusalem—its downfall (La 4:21, 22; Ob 11-13).
8. daughter of Babylon—the people (Ps 9:13). Their destruction had been abundantly foretold (Isa 13:14; Jer 51:23). For the terribleness of that destruction, God's righteous judgment, and not the passions of the chafed Israelites, was responsible.