Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 137:9

Clarke's Commentary

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 who may have the last hand in thy destruction, and the total extermination of thy inhabitants, shall be reputed happy - shall be celebrated and extolled as those who have rid the world of a curse so grievous. These prophetic declarations contain no excitement to any person or persons to commit acts of cruelty and barbarity; but are simply declarative of what would take place in the order of the retributive providence and justice of God, and the general opinion that should in consequence be expressed on the subject; therefore praying for the destruction of our enemies is totally out of the question. It should not be omitted that the Chaldee considers this Psalm a dialogue, which it thus divides: - The three first verses are supposed to have been spoken by the psalmist, By the rivers, c. The Levites answer from the porch of the temple, in Psalms 137:4, How shall we sing, c. The voice of the Holy Spirit responds in Psalms 137:5-6, If I forget thee, c. Michael, the prince of Jerusalem, answers in Psalms 137:7, Remember, O Lord, &c. Gabriel, the prince of Zion, then addresses the destroyer of the Babylonish nation, in Psalms 137:8-9, Happy shall be he that rewardeth thee, c. To slay all when a city was sacked, both male and female, old and young, was a common practice in ancient times. Homer describes this in words almost similar to those of the psalmist: -

Υἱας τ' ολλυμενους, ἑλκυσθεισας τε θυγατρας,

Και θαλαμους κεραΐζομενους, και νηπια τεκνα

Βαλλομενα προτι γαιῃ εν αινῃ δηΐοτητι,

Ἑλκομενας τε νυους ολοης ὑπο χερσιν Αχαιων.

Il. lib. xxii., ver. 62.

My heroes slain, my bridal bed o'erturned

My daughters ravished, and my city burned:

My bleeding infants dashed against the floor

These I have yet to see; perhaps yet more.

POPE.

These excesses were common in all barbarous nations, and are only prophetically declared here. He shall be reputed happy, prosperous, and highly commendable, who shall destroy Babylon.

ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH PSALM

When this Psalm was composed, the Jews were in captivity in Babylon, far from their own country, the temple, and the public exercises of religion; and the scoff and scorn of their enemies; and they contrast what they were with what they are. This Psalm has two parts: -

I. The complaint of Israel. Because of the insults of the Babylonians, they deplore their sad condition, long for the temple, and their return to Jerusalem, Psalms 137:1-7.

II. An imprecation or prayer for vengeance, on their persecutors, Psalms 137:7-9.

I. Their complaint arises from their captivity, and it is aggravated. -

1. From the place, Babylon: "By the rivers of Babylon." A place far from their country; who were aliens from the covenant made by God with Abraham, scorners of their religion, had laid waste their city and forced them to base and servile labour.

2. From the continuance of their captivity and misery: "There we sat down," c. Took up the seats allotted to us, and that for seventy years.

3. From the effects it produced: "Yea, we wept," &c.

4. From the cause which drew these tears. The remembrance of what they had enjoyed, (now lost,) the services of religion: "We wept when we remembered Zion," &c.

5. From the intenseness of their grief, which was so great that they could not even tune their harps: "We hung our harps," &c.

That which increased their grief was the joy their enemies manifested at it.

1. THERE, in a strange land, the place of our captivity.

2. "THEY that carried us away captive."

3. "They required of us a song." They quired of us mirth, saying,

4. O thou Jew or captive, come now, "sing us one of the songs of Zion."

To this sarcasm the captive Jews return a double answer.

"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" You are aliens, and this is a strange land we cannot sing God's service there, which is destined to his honour, to you, or in this place without offending our God.

They reply by a protestation of their hope and constancy in religion, and accurse themselves if they do not continue in it.

1. "If I forget thee," c. Forget the worship and feasts I kept there.

2. "If I do not remember thee," &c. If I do not prefer and make mention of Jerusalem, then "let my tongue cleave," &c. Let me no more have the use of that excellent organ of God's glory. It would be unworthy of my religion, and a dishonour to my God to sing the songs of Zion thus circumstanced, and to scoffers and aliens.

II. This seems to be the sense of the first part of the Psalm. The second part has reference to the imprecations poured out against Edom and Babylon, both persecutors of God's people. The Babylonians carried them away captive, and the Edomites persecuted their brethren with the sword, Amos 1:12.

1. Against Edom.

(1) "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom,'' &c. How they carried themselves towards thy people on that day when thy anger smote against them, and the Babylonians carried us away.

(2) Remember how they added to our affliction, saying, "Rase it," &c.

2. Against Babylon. To her he turns his speech by an apostrophe but at the same time foretells her ruin: "O daughter of Babylon," c. Thou seemest to thyself to be most happy but thy ruin approaches. Shortly after, the Medes, led by Cyrus destroyed them.

(1) "Happy shall he be that rewardeth," &c. [See the notes.]

(2) "Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones," &c. [See the notes.]

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

IMPRECATIONS AGAINST ENEMIES

The bitterness of Israel against their enemies who had vented their sadistic cruelties upon them is understandable enough, however foreign to the spirit of Christianity they must appear to us who follow Christ.

"Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, thou art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock."

"Remember… against the children of Edom" The bitter mutual hatred of the two branches of Isaac's family, the Edomites and the Israelites, continued without abatement throughout their history. As Amos said of Edom, "His anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever" (Ps. 1:11). The Edomites seem to have been almost totally a wicked people. Their terminal representatives are featured in the New Testament in the evil dynasty of the Herods.

In the words here, the Israelites, even in the circumstances of their captivity, still cherished their hatred of the Edomites, calling for God's judgment against them, even along with his judgment of the Babylonians. The basis of that undying hatred is stated in the book of Obadiah. "In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them" (Obadiah 1:11).

The historical occasion for that behavior of Edom was apparently the capture of Jerusalem by the Philistines and the Arabians a couple of centuries before the fall of the city to Babylon. (See a full discussion of this in Vol. 2 of my commentaries on the minor prophets, pp. 241-244.)

Jerusalem was not totally destroyed on that occasion, despite the plea of the Edomites that it be "rased."

"Babylon… thou art to be destroyed" The psalmist here had evidently read and believed the prophecy of Jeremiah in that tremendous fiftieth chapter describing the utter destruction of Babylon.

"Happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us" See my full comment on the prophecy of Babylon's destruction in the fourth year of Zedekiah, at the very climax of Babylonian authority and power in the whole world of that era. (See Vol. 2, of my commentary on the major prophets (Jeremiah), pp. 525-550.)

"Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock" An imprecation of this type invoked against innocent and helpless little children is contrary to the word of Christ and the holy apostles; yet this is an accurate statement of the attitude that was common among the warring peoples of antiquity. That such shameful cruelty and brutality against tiny children was actually executed upon the victims of conquest is a matter of Biblical record (Nahum 3:10). Christ prophesied that the same atrocities would be executed upon Israel herself in the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19:44). There is this factor that entered into the destruction of the children, namely, that with the defeat and death of their parents, the fate of the children was sealed; and in the views of ancient conquerors it was, in a sense, merciful to destroy the children instead of abandoning them to a fate of starvation or something worse. Ancient armies had no medical corps, or battalion of nurses, to take care of the infant children of their slaughtered enemies!

It was indeed a long and terrible trail of blood and suffering that was initiated by our ancestors in Eden who failed to honor God's Word regarding the "forbidden fruit"

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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 ages, and of both sexes, in war. It was expressly foretold of Babylon that this would occur (see Isaiah 13:16, and the notes at that place), and there may be a reference here to that prediction, and the psalmist may mean to say that the man would be accounted happy, or would be happy, who wreaked vengeance on Babylon in carrying out that prophecy. The idea is, “This will certainly occur, for it is foretold, and happy or fortunate will he be who is the instrument in fulfilling it.” Compare 2 Kings 8:12; Nahum 3:10; Hosea 13:16. See also Homer, II xxii. 63,373, following It is impossible to reconcile such barbarous customs with the idex of “honorable war,” or with the principles of war as carried on among “civilized” nations now.

It should be added, however, that there is much - very much - that is practiced in war by “civilized” nations still, which it is equally impossible to reconcile with any just notions of morality or humanity, and which in coming ages, and when people shall come to view things aright, will seem to the people of those times to be not less monstrous, strange, and barbarous. In regard to this passage, we are not necessarily to suppose that the author of the psalm approved of this, or desired it, or prayed for it. He looked forward to the fulfillment of a prediction; he saw that a just and terrible judgment would certainly come upon Babylon; he expressed that in the common language of the times, and states the manner in which it would occur; he described the feelings - the gratification - of those who would execute the divine purpose in the overthrow of Babylon; he referred to the estimate in which the conqueror would be held by people, and the glory of the achievement as giving him fame among people.

It must be admitted that the feelings of the author of the psalm appear to accord with this; that he considers it proper that the city should be destroyed; and that he regards its overthrow as a righteous judgment, and as a thing to be desired in the divine administration. It is true that he might approve of such an overthrow, and see it to be right - he might describe the feelings of those by whom it would be done, their joy, their exultation, and even their barbarity, without himself approving of their barbarity, or sympathizing with their feelings, or partaking of their spirit; but still it cannot in fairness be denied that there is an apparent approval of the act here referred to, which savors more of imprecation than forgiveness, and which is apparently prompted more by the spirit of revenge than by a desire of just punishment. On this subject, however, see the General Introduction, Section 6 (4); and the notes at Psalms 109:10. A correct record may be made, whether of facts or of feelings, without any design of expressing either approbation or disapprobation on the part of the historian, the prophet, or the poet.

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

3. Hatred for enemies 137:7-9

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

He also prayed that the Babylonians would experience destruction similar to the one they had inflicted on the Israelites (cf. Isaiah 13:16). Evidently during the destruction of Jerusalem, the Babylonian soldiers mercilessly killed young Jewish children. Psalms 137:8 a should read, "O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction" (NIV). God had promised to curse those who cursed Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:3). From the viewpoint of the victors over Babylon, the Persians, the fall of Babylon would be a blessing.

"It is an act of profound faith to entrust one’s most precious hatreds to God, knowing they will be taken seriously." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 77.]

Believers who experience God’s discipline for their sins may feel great sorrow. Sometimes discipline cuts us off from the blessings of corporate worship and the joy it brings. It is always appropriate to ask God to remain faithful to His promises.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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", as the word k signifies; which, though it may seem a piece of cruelty, was but a just retaliation; the Babylonians having done the same to the Jewish children, and is foretold elsewhere should be done to theirs, Isaiah 13:16. Nor is this desired from a spirit of revenge, but for the glory of divine justice, and that such a generation of cruel creatures might be rooted out of the earth; see Revelation 2:2. Some allegorically understand this of crushing and mortifying the first motions of sin in the heart; but such a sense seems to have no place here.

k אל סלע "ad petram", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c. "ad repem", Cocceius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.   8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.   9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

      The pious Jews in Babylon, having afflicted themselves with the thoughts of the ruins of Jerusalem, here please themselves with the prospect of the ruin of her impenitent implacable enemies; but this not from a spirit of revenge, but from a holy zeal for the glory of God and the honour of his kingdom.

      I. The Edomites will certainly be reckoned with, and all others that were accessaries to the destruction of Jerusalem, that were aiding and abetting, that helped forward the affliction (Zechariah 1:15) and triumphed in it, that said, in the day of Jerusalem, the day of her judgment, "Rase it, rase it to the foundations; down with it, down with it; do not leave one stone upon another." Thus they made the Chaldean army more furious, who were already so enraged that they needed no spur. Thus they put shame upon Israel, who would be looked upon as a people worthy to be cut off when their next neighbours had such an ill-will to them. And all this was a fruit of the old enmity of Esau against Jacob, because he got the birthright and the blessing, and a branch of that more ancient enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent: Lord, remember them, says the psalmist, which is an appeal to his justice against them. Far be it from us to avenge ourselves, if ever it should be in our power, but we will leave it to him who has said, Vengeance is mine. Note, Those that are glad at calamities, especially the calamities of Jerusalem, shall not go unpunished. Those that are confederate with the persecutors of good people, and stir them up, and set them on, and are pleased with what they do, shall certainly be called to an account for it against another day, and God will remember it against them.

      II. Babylon is the principal, and it will come to her turn too to drink of the cup of tremblings, the very dregs of it (Psalms 137:8; Psalms 137:9): O daughter of Babylon! proud and secure as thou art, we know well, by the scriptures of truth, thou art to be destroyed, or (as Dr. Hammond reads it) who art the destroyer. The destroyers shall be destroyed, Revelation 13:10. And perhaps it is with reference to this that the man of sin, the head of the New-Testament Babylon, is called a son of perdition,2 Thessalonians 2:3. The destruction of Babylon being foreseen as a sure destruction (thou art to be destroyed), it is spoken of, 1. As a just destruction. She shall be paid in her own coin: "Thou shalt be served as thou hast served us, as barbarously used by the destroyers as we have been by thee," See Revelation 18:6. Let not those expect to find mercy who, when they had power, did not show mercy. 2. As an utter destruction. The very little ones of Babylon, when it is taken by storm, and all in it are put to the sword, shall be dashed to pieces by the enraged and merciless conqueror. None escape if these little ones perish. Those are the seed of another generation; so that, if they be cut off, the ruin will be not only total, as Jerusalem's was, but final. It is sunk like a millstone into the sea, never to rise. 3. As a destruction which should reflect honour upon the instruments of it. Happy shall those be that do it; for they are fulfilling God's counsels; and therefore he calls Cyrus, who did it, his servant, his shepherd, his anointed (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1), and the soldiers that were employed in it his sanctified ones,Isaiah 13:3. They are making way for the enlargement of God's Israel, and happy are those who are in any way serviceable to that. The fall of the New-Testament Babylon will be the triumph of all the saints, Revelation 19:1.