We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
Ver. 2. We hanged our harps] Harps we had, and knew how to handle them (the Jews were famous artists, noted for their skill, specially in poetry, music, and mathematics), but we had little mind to it as now the case stood with us; our country lying desolate, ourselves could not be but disconsolate. Barbiton hic paries habebit (Horat. lib. 3, Od. 26).
Verse Psalms 137:2. _WE HANGED OUR HARPS UPON THE WILLOWS_] The ערבים _arabim_ or _willows_ were very plentiful in Babylon. The great quantity of them that were on the banks of the _Euphrates_ caused...
WE HANGED OUR HARPS UPON THE WILLOWS - The harps once used to accompany the songs of praise and the service of God in the temple; the harps with which they had sought to beguile their weary hours, and...
Psalms 137 Remembering the Exile This Psalm is in remembrance of the Babylonian captivity written by an unknown person. Some have named Jeremiah, but he was not in Babylon. The Psalm expresseth the...
CXXXVII. THE BITTER MEMORY OF BABYLON. The vivid picture of the exiles in their home-sickness, the mockery of their foreign masters, their love for Zion, the mention of Edom, and the savage thirst for...
The silence of sacred song in the sorrow of exile....
Upon the willows in the midst thereof, We hung out harps. _the willows_ Cp. Isaiah 44:4. The tree meant, however, was probably not the weeping willow, but the _populus Euphratica_....
PSALMS 137 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE A Returned Levite's Memories of Babylon, Apostrophe to Jerusalem, and Imprecations on Edom and on Babylon. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 137:1-3, A Returned Captive's Reco...
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. WE HANGED OUR HARPS UPON THE WILLOWS IN THE MIDST THEREOF - in the midst of the land of Babylon. We no longer could use our harps, which a...
A lifelike memorial of the bitter experiences of exile concluding with (_a_) a strong expression of patriotism, and (_b_) an outburst of hatred against the enemies of Jerusalem. Probably written soon...
HARPS] the _Kinnor_ was the most ancient kind of harp, properly a lyre....
Psalms 107:150 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ BY THE RIVERS IN BABYLON PSALMS 137 Jesus said, "You have heard that people used to say, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Do not fig...
WILLOWS. — It is perhaps not necessary to attempt to identify the trees mentioned in this verse, since the touching picture may only be a poetical way of expressing the silence during the exile of all...
עַֽל ־עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּ תֹוכָ֑הּ תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרֹותֵֽינוּ׃...
Psalms 137:1 THE captivity is past, as the tenses in Psalms 137:1 show, and as is manifest from the very fact that its miseries have become themes for a psalm. Grief must be somewhat removed before it...
LOYALTY IN ADVERSITY Psalms 137:1-9 It seems as if the exiles had withdrawn from the city, with its distractions, to some natural retreat beside the Euphrates. They had brought their harps with t...
This is a song of memory. From the midst of the circumstances of restoration the singer looks back to days of captivity and sorrow. The picture is graphic. Babylon was far from their own land, and far...
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst (b) thereof. (b) That is, of that country....
Towards. Thus the Jews acted, when they were at a distance from the temple, and in captivity. (Worthington) --- Truth. Which thou hast displayed in my regard. --- Holy. Septuagint may have perhaps wri...
We may form some idea of a poor captive minstrel, hanging up his harp as useless, by the representation of the far more deplorable state of an enslaved soul, led away captive by the enemy, or fallen i...
2._We hanged our harps upon the willows _(180) He deplores the suspension of the songs of praise, which God had enjoined in his Temple. The Levites were set over the department of singing, and led the...
Psalms 137 refers, and alone does to give the full history of Israel's sorrows to Babylon, which has only a mystic fulfillment in the latter days, but has its importance, because at that time was the...
WE HANGED OUR HARPS UPON THE WILLOWS IN THE MIDST THEREOF. These were musical instruments, used in the temple service by the Levites, who seem to be the persons here speaking; who took care of them, a...
_We hanged our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof._ These are, not without great probability, supposed to be the words of some holy Levites, who had been accustomed to music, both vocal and...
SONG OF GRIEF OF THE CAPTIVE JEWS. The unknown poet here records the deep grief and mourning of the Jews during the Babylonian captivity and includes a prayer for the destruction of their enemies, si...
We hanged our harps, otherwise used to accompany joyous and festal songs, UPON THE WILLOWS IN THE MIDST THEREOF, to indicate that all their joyful hymns were hushed. The silent and pensive sitting amo...
1-4 Their enemies had carried the Jews captive from their own land. To complete their woes, they insulted over them; they required of them mirth and a song. This was very barbarous; also profane, for...
These are, not without great probability, supposed to be the words of some holy Levites, who had been accustomed to music, both vocal and instrumental, in the service of the temple. _Harps_ are here p...
Psalms 137:2 hung H8518 (H8804) harps H3658 willows H6155 midst H8432 we hanged - Psalms 33:2,...
Psalms 137:1. _By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof._ Babylon was full of canals and rivers; t...
CONTENTS: Lamentation over the sad condition of God's people in captivity. CHARACTERS: God. CONCLUSION: Those who are glad at the calamities that sometimes in God's providence come to His people, sh...
This psalm has no title, but it was evidently composed in Babylon; and it would seem from the latter part, only a little while before Cyrus took the city. It was probably composed by the prophet Hagga...
_We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof._ HARPS ON THE WILLOWS I. Every man has a harp. The harp was the well-known instrument for the accompaniment of song. Its music was sweet a...
_By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea,_ we wept. THE TEARS OF MEMORY AND THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE I. The tears of memory (Psalms 137:1). 1. Their sorrow had reference to the loss of the hi...
PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 137:1. This community lament remembers the Babylonian captivity. It provides words by which the returned exiles can express their loyalty to Jerusalem and pray that God woul...
INTRODUCTION “There can be no doubt whatever,” says Perowne, “as to the time when this Psalm was written. It expresses the feeling of an exile who has but just returned from the land of his captivity....
EXPOSITION "THE most direct and striking reminiscence of the Babylonish exile in the whole Psalter" (Professor Alexander). The psalm divides into two parts. First, we are given a picture of the unhapp...
Psa 137:1-9 is a psalm of captivity written many years after David's time, written by one of those who were captive in Babylon. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yes, we wept, when we remem...
Amos 8:10; Ezekiel 26:13; Isaiah 24:8; Psalms 33:2; Psalms 81:2;...
Harps — Harps are here put for all instruments of musick....