Israel's minstrels were silent in the land of exile, when they were tauntingly bidden to display their skill for the amusement of their captors (Psalms 137:1-3). How could they sing Jehovah's songs in a heathen land? how forget Jerusalem (Psalms 137:4-6)? Perish the enemies that had wrought her ruin... [ Continue Reading ]
_the rivers of Babylon_ Not only the Euphrates and its tributaries, such as the Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1; Ezekiel 3:15), but the numerous canals with which the country was intersected. Babylonia was characteristically a land of streams, as Palestine was a land of hills; it was the feature of the country... [ Continue Reading ]
The silence of sacred song in the sorrow of exile.... [ Continue Reading ]
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_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For there_&c. The reason why their harps were silent. It might have been expected that they would soothe their sorrow with plaintive music; but the heartless demand of their captors made it impossible. asked _of us_songs] Lit. _words of song_. _they that wasted us_ The exact meaning is doubtful.... [ Continue Reading ]
The exiles indignantly repudiate the idea of doing what would be treason to the memories of Zion. The protest is dramatically expressed in the words which they would have used at the time.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I forget thee, O Jerusalem_ To have consented would have seemed an act of unfaithfulness to Zion. Some of the exiles did forget the "holy mountain" (Isaiah 65:11). For the imprecation as a solemn asseveration cp. Job 31:21-22. _forget_her cunning] So the aposiopesis is admirably completed in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not (R.V.). Let all power of speech and song desert me. Cp. Job 29:10. _if I prefer not_&c. Lit. _if I exalt not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy_: i.e. if I do not regard J. as dearer to me than aught else.... [ Continue Reading ]
Remember, Jehovah, against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem] Remember and punish the conduct of the Edomites in the fatal day of Jerusalem's fall. For this sense of -remember" cp. Nehemiah 6:14; Nehemiah 13:29; and for -day" cp. Obadiah 1:12; Psalms 37:13. The hostility of the Edomites to I... [ Continue Reading ]
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 destruction... [ Continue Reading ]
_O daughter of Babylon_ The city of Babylon personified. _who art to be destroyed_ The most obvious translation is that of R.V. marg., that art laid waste. So Aq. and Jerome, _vastata_. But the following clauses apparently imply that Babylon has not been destroyed, and the participle may be -prophe... [ Continue Reading ]
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; 2 Kings 8:12; Hom. _Il._xxii. 63. The stern law of retaliation demanded that Babylon should be treated as she had treated Jerusalem. Cp. Isai... [ Continue Reading ]