Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 137:5

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 137:5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem — Such conduct would be, in effect, a renunciation of our land a tacit acknowledgment that we were reconciled to our bondage; a concession that we were pleased with our captivity, and could profane holy ordinances by using them as means of sport or pastime to the heathen. No: Jerusalem! we remember thee and thy Divine ordinances: and especially thy King and our God, whose indignation we must bear, because we have sinned against him.

Let my right hand forget — Let me forget the use of my right hand. Let me forget that which is dearest and most profitable to me; and let me lose my skill in the management of my harp, if I ever prostitute it to please the ungodly multitude or the enemies of my Creator!

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 137:0 Against the Babylonians

The Israelites who first sang this song were captives in Babylon, working in a slave camp beside one of Babylon’s rivers. The Babylonian slave-masters tried to create some amusement for themselves (and some torment for their victims) by asking the downcast slaves to sing some of the merry songs of glorious Jerusalem (1-3). The cruel insults of the slave-masters pierce the hearts of the Israelites, because their beloved Jerusalem is in ruins. How can they forget all that Jerusalem means to them by singing songs that would now be a mockery? And all this just to amuse the slave-masters! They would rather be struck dumb than do such a thing (4-6).
At the time of Jerusalem’s destruction, the Edomites had encouraged the Babylonians (7), but the Babylonians were the ones who were mainly responsible for the merciless slaughter of the people of Jerusalem. The psalmist announces a curse on the Babylonians, so that they might be punished by suffering the sort of butchery that they inflicted on others (8-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

CURSES UPON THEMSELVES

Their extremely distasteful assignment of entertaining their captors and amusing them precipitated the bitter thoughts of the next three verses.

"How shall we sing Jehovah's song In a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her skill. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I prefer not Jerusalem Above my chief joy."

There was indeed a remnant of true Israelites, the faithful believers in God, among the multitudes of the Babylonian captives. These were the `righteous remnant' spoken of by Isaiah. They were the ones who clung tenaciously to the blessed memories of Jerusalem and the glory of Israel's past history.

That this segment of the children of the captivity was a definite minority is revealed by the relatively small "handful" of the once mighty nation of Israel who actually returned to Jerusalem when God's servant Cyrus permitted and encouraged it. Josephus gave the total number of the returnees as, "Forty-two thousand four hundred and sixty two; yet did many of them stay at Babylon, as not willing to leave their possessions."Flavius Josephus, Antiquities; p. 322.

"How shall we sing Jehovah's song in a foreign land?" This is not a reference to their inability to sing such songs for their captors. It is an exclamation of their extreme displeasure in being compelled to do so. The following lines became their muttered pledges to themselves, perhaps out of the hearing of their tormentors.

"Let my right hand forget her skill… my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth" These are curses upon themselves, applicable in case of their forgetting Jerusalem, or preferring not Jerusalem above their chief joy.

"If I prefer not Jerusalem" The implication here is that many did indeed learn to prefer Babylon. It appears that the status of the captive Israelites in Babylon was not unbearable. The prophet Ezekiel evidently was permitted to own property, as were many others; and, in time, as the `seventy years' expired, many of the Jews became prosperous and even wealthy. If this situation was common when this song was written, it would explain this line.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem - The meaning here is, that to sing in such circumstances would seem to imply that they had forgotten Jerusalem; that they were unmindful of its sorrows, and cared not that it was desolate. The remembrance of its calamities pressed hard upon them, and they could not do anything which would seem to imply that they had become unmindful of the sufferings that had come upon their nation. One will not make merry when a wife or child lies dying - or on the day of the funeral - or over the grave of a mother. A joyous and brilliant party, accompanied with music, feasting, dancing, when a friend has been just laid in the grave, when the calamities of war are abroad, when the pestilence is raging in a city, we feel to be untimely, unseemly, and incongruous. So these captives said it would be if they should make merry while their temple was in ruins; while their city was desolate; while their people were captives in a foreign land.

Let my right hand forget her cunning - Let my right hand forget its skill in music - all its skill. If I should now play on the harp - as indicative of joy - let the hand which would be employed in sweeping over its strings become paralyzed and powerless. Let the punishment come where it would seem to be deserved - on the hand which could play at such a time. So Cranmer held the hand which had been employed in signing a recantation of his faith in the fire, until it was burned off, and dropped in the flames.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

5.If I shall forget thee, O Jerusalem! This confirms what was said in the former verse, and leaves us in no difficulty to understand what the Psalmist meant by it. For here God’s people declare, and with the solemnity of an oath, that the remembrance of the holy city would be ever engra-yen upon their hearts, and never, under any circumstances, effaced. Having spoken of song, and of the instruments of music, the Psalmist’s appeal is made in terms which corre-spond — that his hand would forager its cunning, and his tongue cleave to his palate, or the roof of his mouth The meaning’ is, that the Lord’s people, while they mourn under personal trials, should be still more deeply affected by public calamities which befall the Church, it being’ reasonable that the zeal of God’s house should have the highest place in our hearts, and rise above all mere private considerations. The second part of the sixth verse some interpret — If this be not my chief joy to see Jerusalem once more in a flourishing condition. Others — Joy will never enter my heart more, till I be gladdened by the Church’s restoration. Both meanings are in my opinion comprehended in the words of the Psalmist. The one cannot be separated from the other; for if we set Jerusalem above our chiefest joy, the height of this joy must arise from the consideration of its prosperity, and, if this be the case, the grief we feel under its calamities will be such as effectually to shut out all worldly joys.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 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 remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For they that carried us away captive required us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. But how shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall be he, that rewards thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones ( Psalms 137:1-9 ).

So the psalm reflecting the Babylonian captivity where the Babylonians required them to, "Sing some of your songs." Now singing is a very important part of Jewish life. One thing I like about the Israelis even today is their music. It has such life to it. And they have big music festivals over there all the time. We always try to purchase the records from these music festivals, even though I don't understand Hebrew; I enjoy listening to the music. There's such life to it. Quite often our bus drivers and guides will get together in the evening and they'll have a time of singing. And it's always exciting, these evenings of song. Their songs are exciting songs. There's just a lot of action, a lot of rhythm, a lot of exuberance in their song. You know, they, "Hava nagila, Hava nagila," you know, and they really get into it. You can feel it, and these guys just really love to sing. It's a beautiful experience.

But as in Ecclesiastes, there's a time to sing. And there are times when you don't feel like singing. And while they were captives in Babylon and they were thinking of the desolation of Jerusalem, it was hard to sing of the joys of the land, of the blessings, of the prosperity, of the goodness of God. And so while in Babylon, the songs were silent. "We hung our harps on the willow trees. We just sat down by the river and wept when we would think of Jerusalem." Their last memories of Jerusalem was the smoldering smoke ascending from a city that had been devastated. Looking back they could see Solomon's once glorious temple flattened. And as they saw the desolation, and it was implanted in their minds, now remembering it, hard to sing.

Now the psalmist, first of all, takes off against the Edomites. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau. They were sort of perennial enemies of the Jews. Many battles against them and they would often join with anybody who would attack Israel. They would attack, too. Anytime Israel would be attacked by any of the aggressors from the north, they'd always attack from the south. And when the Babylonians were attacking, they came from Edom and they were encouraging the Babylonians in the destruction of Jerusalem. "Raze it, raze it to its foundation. Wipe it out!" "And God, you reward them. Take care of them for that." And then, because God's Word had predicted the fall of Babylon, the psalmist, because of all of the injuries suffered by the people at the hands of the Babylonians, the psalmist with glee actually looked forward to the destruction of Babylon, the enemy of God.

Now in the New Testament, we are taught to love our enemies. These expressions of the psalmist really are not expressions of God in the sense that God never delights in judgment. God never delights in bringing His judgment upon a people or upon a nation. And yet, we so often want to see the judgment of God fall upon the head of the wicked. We can hardly wait for the day of God's judgment. But God is not anxious to judge at all. God would much rather show mercy, for His mercy endureth forever. And God delights in mercy.

You remember when God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn that city, the Assyrian capital, of the impending doom, the judgment of God that was coming. Jonah didn't want to go. Why? He was afraid if he went, they might repent and God wouldn't judge them. He wanted to see God's judgment on Assyria. He wanted to see Nineveh wiped out. And so to help ensure God's judgment against them, he tried to take off for England so he could escape the call of God. And later on, when under pressure and duress, he went to Nineveh and they did repent in sackcloth and ashes before the Lord, and God's mercy was extended to them, he got angry with God. Went out and sat under a tree and said, "Okay, God, just wipe me out." And God said, "What's the matter? Is it right for you to be so angry?" "You bet you are. I knew that You were merciful. I knew. I was afraid this was going to happen. They were going to repent and then You weren't going to wipe them out." And he was angry because God's judgment didn't fall. But God isn't anxious to judge.

I think that we oftentimes have a false concept in our mind concerning God, that He is just sort of standing over us with a club, waiting to bash us for the first wrong move. Not so. God is desiring to show His mercy unto you and He's just looking for an excuse. He's just looking for you to give Him an excuse to say, "Well, that's al right. I forgive you." Just looking for you to say, "Oh God, I'm sorry." For His mercy endureth forever.

So the psalmist expresses, actually, a glee in the destruction that is to come upon Babylon, but it is not really the expression of God's heart when the judgment will fall. I'm sure that God always weeps over judgment. We find Jesus looking over the city of Jerusalem and weeping. Why? Because of the judgment that was going to come upon the city. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if you'd only known the things that belong to your peace at least in this thy day. And now they are hid from your eyes, and your little children are going to dashed in the streets" ( Luke 19:42 , Luke 19:44 ). And He's weeping as He speaks of the judgment that is going to. It's not a gleeful thing, "All right, you know, we'll get even with you. You reject Me, you crucify Me. We'll take care of you, you know. We'll put you up on a Roman giblet and see how you like it." Not at all. It's weeping. Weeping because their actions necessitate the judgment of God. But weeping over the judgment. And I'm certain that whenever God is forced to judge that there's always a great sorrow in the heart of God. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 137

The psalmist mourned the plight of the exiled Israelites. He expressed strong love for Zion and strong hatred for Israel’s enemies. This is an imprecatory psalm. [Note: See the appendix in VanGemeren, pp. 830-32, on imprecations in the psalms, and Day, "The Imprecatory . . .," pp. 173-76.]

"This psalm is better known, probably because it is one of the few psalms which contain a certain and explicit historical reference. It invites narrative specificity. It clearly comes out of the exiled community in Babylon after the destruction of 587 B.C.E., the community reflected in the pathos of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It reflects the need of those who have been forcibly removed by the Babylonian imperial policies of relocation and yet who cling to their memory and hope for homecoming with an unshakable passion." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 74.]

"Perhaps this psalm will be understood and valued among us only if we experience some concrete brutalization." [Note: Ibid., p. 77.]

"This psalm needs no title to announce that its provenance was the Babylonian exile. Every line of it is alive with pain, whose intensity grows with each strophe to the appalling climax." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 459.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Love for Jerusalem 137:5-6

The poet promised to remember Jerusalem forever. He called down imprecations on himself if he ever were to forget the city that had been the scene of so much joyful worship in the past. The hand and tongue stand for all action and speech (by synecdoche). One reason the Israelites loved Jerusalem so much, was that it was the site of their annual festivals-that were mainly joyous occasions of praise and fellowship (cf. Lamentations 1-2).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,.... This was said by one or everyone of the Levites; or singers, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or by the congregation of Israel, as Jarchi; by one of them, in the name of the rest; or by the composer of the psalm. The Targum is,

"the voice of the Spirit of God answered and said, "if I forget", c.''

that is, to weep over the calamities of Jerusalem which might be thought, if the songs of Zion were sung; or to pray for the restoration of her prosperity and peace; as the church of Christ may be said to be forgotten, when men forget to mourn over its breaches, and show no concern for the reparation of them; or at the death of principal persons, which they lay not to heart; or at the great decay of religion in those that survive; or at the sins of professors, and their disregard to the word and ordinances: also when they forget to pray for her happiness in general; for the good of her members in particular; and especially for her ministers, that they may have assistance and success; and for a blessing on the word and ordinances, and for the conversion of sinners; and when they forget the worship of the Lord in it, and forsake the assembling of themselves together;

let my right hand forget [her cunning]; her skill in music, particularly in playing on the harp; see 1 Samuel 16:16; the harp was held in the left hand, and struck with the right; and that more softly or hardly, as the note required, in which was the skill or cunning of using it. Or let this befall me, should I so far forget Jerusalem as to strike the harp to one of the songs of Zion in a strange land: or let it forget any of its works; let it be disabled from working at all; let it be dry and withered, which, Aben Ezra says, is the sense of the word according to some; and Schultens d, from the use of it in Arabic, renders it, let it be "disjointed", or the nerve loosened; see

Job 31:22. Or the sense is, let everything that is as dear as my right hand he taken from me: or, as it may be rendered, "my right hand [is] forgotten" e; that is, should I forget Jerusalem, it would; for that is as my right hand; so Arama. Some choose to translate the words thus, "may thou (O God) forget my right hand" f; that is, to be at my right hand; to be a present help to me in time of need; to hold me by it, and to be the shade of it.

d Animadv. Philol. p. 181. e תשכח ימיני "oblita est nostra dextra", Castalio. f "Oblivisceris (O Domine) dexterae meae", Gejerus; so some in Michaelis.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.   2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.   3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.   4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?   5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.   6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

      We have here the daughter of Zion covered with a cloud, and dwelling with the daughter of Babylon; the people of God in tears, but sowing in tears. Observe,

      I. The mournful posture they were in as to their affairs and as to their spirits. 1. They were posted by the rivers of Babylon, in a strange land, a great way from their own country, whence they were brought as prisoners of war. The land of Babylon was now a house of bondage to that people, as Egypt had been in their beginning. Their conquerors quartered them by the rivers, with design to employ them there, and keep them to work in their galleys; or perhaps they chose it as the most melancholy place, and therefore most suitable to their sorrowful spirits. If they must build houses there (Jeremiah 29:5), it shall not be in the cities, the places of concourse, but by the rivers, the places of solitude, where they might mingle their tears with the streams. We find some of them by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1:3), others by the river Ulai,Daniel 8:2. 2. There they sat down to indulge their grief by poring on their miseries. Jeremiah had taught them under this yoke to sit alone, and keep silence, and put their mouths in the dust,Lamentations 3:28; Lamentations 3:29. "We sat down, as those that expected to stay, and were content, since it was the will of God that it must be so." 3. Thoughts of Zion drew tears from their eyes; and it was not a sudden passion of weeping, such as we are sometimes put into by a trouble that surprises us, but they were deliberate tears (we sat down and wept), tears with consideration--we wept when we remembered Zion, the holy hill on which the temple was built. Their affection to God's house swallowed up their concern for their own houses. They remembered Zion's former glory and the satisfaction they had had in Zion's courts, Lamentations 1:7. Jerusalem remembered, in the days of her misery, all her pleasant things which she had in the days of old,Psalms 42:4. They remembered Zion's present desolations, and favoured the dust thereof, which was a good sign that the time for God to favour it was not far off, Psalms 102:13; Psalms 102:14. 4. They laid by their instruments of music (Psalms 137:2; Psalms 137:2): We hung our harps upon the willows. (1.) The harps they used for their own diversion and entertainment. These they laid aside, both because it was their judgment that they ought not to use them now that God called to weeping and mourning (Isaiah 22:12), and their spirits were so sad that they had no hearts to use them; they brought their harps with them, designing perhaps to use them for the alleviating of their grief, but it proved so great that it would not admit the experiment. Music makes some people melancholy. As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that sings songs to a heavy heart. (2.) The harps they used in God's worship, the Levites' harps. These they did not throw away, hoping they might yet again have occasion to use them, but they laid them aside because they had no present use for them; God had cut them out other work by turning their feasting into mourning and their songs into lamentations,Amos 8:10. Every thing is beautiful in its season. They did not hide their harps in the bushes, or the hollows of the rocks; but hung them up in view, that the sight of them might affect them with this deplorable change. Yet perhaps they were faulty in doing this; for praising God is never out of season; it is his will that we should in every thing give thanks,Isaiah 24:15; Isaiah 24:16.

      II. The abuses which their enemies put upon them when they were in this melancholy condition, Psalms 137:3; Psalms 137:3. They had carried them away captive from their own land and then wasted them in the land of their captivity, took what little they had from them. But this was not enough; to complete their woes they insulted over them: They required of us mirth and a song. Now, 1. This was very barbarous and inhuman; even an enemy, in misery, is to be pitied and not trampled upon. It argues a base and sordid spirit to upbraid those that are in distress either with their former joys or with their present griefs, or to challenge those to be merry who, we know, are out of tune for it. This is adding affliction to the afflicted. 2. It was very profane and impious. No songs would serve them but the songs of Zion, with which God had been honoured; so that in this demand they reflected upon God himself as Belshazzar, when he drank wine in temple-bowls. Their enemies mocked at their sabbaths,Lamentations 1:7.

      III. The patience wherewith they bore these abuses, Psalms 137:4; Psalms 137:4. They had laid by their harps, and would not resume them, no, not to ingratiate themselves with those at whose mercy they lay; they would not answer those fools according to their folly. Profane scoffers are not to be humoured, nor pearls cast before swine. David prudently kept silence even from good when the wicked were before him, who, he knew, would ridicule what he said and make a jest of it, Psalms 39:1; Psalms 39:2. The reason they gave is very mild and pious: How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? They do not say, "How shall we sing when we are so much in sorrow?" If that had been all, they might perhaps have put a force upon themselves so far as to oblige their masters with a song; but "It is the Lord's song; it is a sacred thing; it is peculiar to the temple-service, and therefore we dare not sing it in the land of a stranger, among idolaters." We must not serve common mirth, much less profane mirth, with any thing that is appropriated to God, who is sometimes to be honoured by a religious silence as well as by religious speaking.

      IV. The constant affection they retained for Jerusalem, the city of their solemnities, even now that they were in Babylon. Though their enemies banter them for talking so much of Jerusalem, and even doting upon it, their love to it is not in the least abated; it is what they may be jeered for, but will never be jeered out of, Psalms 137:5; Psalms 137:6. Observe,

      1. How these pious captives stood affected to Jerusalem. (1.) Their heads were full of it. It was always in their minds; they remembered it; they did not forget it, though they had been long absent from it; many of them had never seen it, nor knew any thing of it but by report, and by what they had read in the scripture, yet it was graven upon the palms of their hands, and even its ruins were continually before them, which was ann evidence of their faith in the promise of its restoration in due time. In their daily prayers they opened their windows towards Jerusalem; and how then could they forget it? (2.) Their hearts were full of it. They preferred it above their chief joy, and therefore they remembered it and could not forget it. What we love we love to think of. Those that rejoice in God do, for his sake, make Jerusalem their joy, and prefer it before that, whatever it is, which is the head of their joy, which is dearest to them in this world. A godly man will prefer a public good before any private satisfaction or gratification whatsoever.

      2. How stedfastly they resolved to keep up this affection, which they express by a solemn imprecation of mischief to themselves if they should let it fall: "Let me be for ever disabled either to sing or play on the harp if I so far forget the religion of my country as to make use of my songs and harps for the pleasing of Babylon's sons or the praising of Babylon's gods. Let my right hand forget her art" (which the hand of an expert musician never can, unless it be withered), "nay, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I have not a good word to say for Jerusalem wherever I am." Though they dare not sing Zion's songs among the Babylonians, yet they cannot forget them, but, as soon as ever the present restraint is taken off, they will sing them as readily as ever, notwithstanding the long disuse.