The Song: By The Rivers of Babylon

Back in the 70s when I grew up as a teenager, I remember hearing this song made popular by Boney M.

Mmmmm.... Mmmmmm.....   Mm......

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down 
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion. 
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down 
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion. 
When the wicked 
Carried us away in captivity 
Required from us a song 
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land 
When the wicked 
Carried us away in captivity 
Requiring of us a song 
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ?

:)

We Hung Up Our Lyres

Psalm 137:1-2

By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
    we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

Many singers and musicians from the desdendants of Asaph were carried off as captives to Babylon.  Ezra 2 records for us the list of men who returned to Jerusalem from the exile.  The list of men of Israel included the musicians, the descendants of Asaph.  (Ezra 2:41) 

Lyres were musical instruments that Levites used in the temple service to worship God.

Notice, they did not hide their lyres and harps.
They did not put away their lyres and harps under their beds.

They hung them up on the willows.
There was no song to sing.

My Beloved, can you feel their heart beat?

They were so broken hearted when they remembered Zion!
No song to sing.

We Sat Down and Wept

Psalm 137:1

By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.

Often time when we read the book of Daniel, we fail to put ourselves into the grievous situations  Daniel and the Jews were in.  If only we could put ourselves into their shoes, we would have fresh insights and new understanding of the book of Daniel.

Daniel, his 3 friends and the Jews often sat by the rivers of Babylon weeping.

They were not weeping because of the oppression and cruelties of Babylon.  They were not weeping for themselves.  They wept when they remembered Zion. 

They wept...

... the house of God was no more
... the temple of Jerusalem was burned
... the walls of Jerusalem were broken down

Zion is the place where God makes Himself known.
Yahweh God dwells in Zion.

They remembered Zion's former glory.
Their minds and thoughts were on Zion's desolations.

Can you capture their grief and sadness in their hearts?

Do we weep today?
What do we weep for?
For ourselves?
Or for Zion?
For the church?

:) 

By the Waters of Babylon

Psalm 137:1

By the waters of Babylon,
There we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion
    

Here is a picture of the ancient River of Babylon:

Babylon is a fertile alluvial plain between the Euphrates and Tigris.

This was the heartland of the Babylonian Empire, which dominated the ancient Near East between the fall of the Assyrian empire (612 BCE) and the rise of the Achaemenid Empire (after 539).

This was a often a place for the Jews to gather together to pray for Jerusalem during their Babylonian exile in the 6th Century B.C.


What is it like by the rivers of Babylon?
Psalm 137 is the cry in their hearts.


Psalm 137  takes us back to the captivity days in Babylon where Daniels and the God's people could not sing songs about Yahweh to entertain the crowd.


Spend some time to meditate on Psalm 137 and share with me your thoughts here.  I love to hear from you.

:)