Little ones. — Literally, sucklings.
Stones. — Better, cliff or rock.
For this feature of barbarous cruelty with which ancient war was cursed see 2 Kings 8:12; Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 10:14, &c; and comp. Homer, Iliad, xxii. 63: “My bleeding infants dashed against the floor.”
Verse Psalms 137:9. _HAPPY - THAT TAKETH AND DASHETH THY LITTLE ONES_] That is, So oppressive hast thou been to all under thy domination, as to become universally hated and detested; so that those wh...
HAPPY SHALL HE BE THAT TAKETH ... - Margin, as in Hebrew, rock. This refers to what was not uncommon in ancient warfare, as it is now among savage tribes - the indiscriminate slaughter of those of all...
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...
LITTLE ONES. The reference is to Isaiah 13:16, which belongs to. Dispensation of Law and Judgment, and is not to be interpreted of the present Dispensation of Grace....
The Psalmist's love for Jerusalem leads him to invoke vengeance on her enemies: upon Edom for the unbrotherly spite which rejoiced at her destruction; upon Babylon, for having accomplished that destru...
The barbarous customs of Oriental warfare spared neither women nor children in a war of extermination. Cp. Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 10:14; Hosea 13:16; Nahum 3:10;...
O DAUGHTER OF BABYLON, &C.— _O daughter of Babylon, the destroyed;_ [not _Babylon the proud,_ as she now is; but Babylon the destroyed, for so she certainly shall be, when it comes to her turn;] _How...
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...
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. HAPPY SHALL HE BE THAT TAKETH AND DASHETH THY LITTLE ONES AGAINST THE STONES - (; Kin. 8:12.) Prideaux, 'Connection' B...
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...
STONES] RV 'rocks.' We cannot defend this terrible curse, but the cruelties of these Eastern oppressors were a provocation which fortunately we cannot now realise....
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...
אַשְׁרֵ֤י ׀ שֶׁ יֹּאחֵ֓ז וְ נִפֵּ֬ץ אֶֽת ־עֹ֝
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...
(h) Happy [shall he be], that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. (h) He alludes to Isaiah's prophecy in (Isaiah 13:16) promising good success to Cyrus and Darius, whom ambition mo...
PSALM CXXXVII. (CONFITEBOR TIBI.) Thanksgiving to God, for his benefits....
REFLECTIONS MY soul! canst thou behold the sorrows and miseries of Israel in their captivity, and not call to mind that more horrible vassalage and slavery in which sin and Satan bound thee for many a...
These words are both a prayer and a prophecy. Edom is the seed of Esau, and as such there was, and is, and ever will be, the same hatred subsisting. But the Church looketh forward to the hour, when Ed...
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...
HAPPY [SHALL HE BE] THAT TAKETH AND DASHETH THY LITTLE ONES AGAINST THE STONES. That takes the infants from their mothers' breasts, or out of their arms, and dashes out their brains against a "rock",...
Happy [shall he be], that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Ver. 9. _That taketh and dasheth thy little ones_] So at the destruction of Troy (Horat. l. iv. Obadiah 1:6). _ Sed p...
_O daughter of Babylon_ By which he understands the city and empire of Babylon, and the people thereof, _who art to be destroyed_ Who by God's righteous and irrevocable sentence, art devoted to certai...
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...
THE STONES: _ Heb._ the rock...
5-9 What we love, we love to think of. Those that rejoice in God, for his sake make Jerusalem their joy. They stedfastly resolved to keep up this affection. When suffering, we should recollect with g...
As thou didst use our little ones. So this was but a just retaliation foretold here, as also ISAIAH 13:6....
Psalms 137:9 Happy H835 takes H270 (H8799) dashes H5310 (H8765) ones H5768 rock H5553 and dasheth -...
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...
_Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem._ IMPRECATION AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH 1. False brethren are the chief instruments of persecution of the true members of the...
_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...
PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 137:7 The recollection of these hurtful taunts leads to a prayer that God will REMEMBER the deeds of his people’s enemies. These are represented here by the EDOMITES and the...
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...
Hosea 10:14; Hosea 13:16; Isaiah 13:16...
How could the Psalmist rejoice at the thought of little ones being dashed against rocks? PROBLEM: When the psalmist considers the ultimate judgment that will be brought against Babylon, he appears to...