Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 137
The Hundred and Thirty Seventh PSALM.
The hundred thirty ſeventh is a deſcription of the ſadneſs of the Babyloniſh captivity, and the peoples vehement deſire and hopes to return to Canaan; and ſeems to have been compoſed preſently after the return from the Captivity, or when they ſaw the taking and waſting of Babylon to approach.
1. BY the waters of Babylon there we ſat down, yea we wept, when we remembred Zion.
Paraphrase. 1. In the time of our deportation and captivity, being carried ſo far, and deteined ſo long from the comforts of our own countrey, we had no divertiſement but that of repoſing our ſelves on the banks of Euphrates and Tigris, &c. and bewailing our loſſes, and recounting the felicities we once enjoyed, when we were allowed the ſolemn publick meeting for the ſervice of God at the Temple.
2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midſt thereof.
Paraphrase. 2. As for the inſtruments of our Muſick, which were wont to aſſiſt in the quire, and help to commemorate the mercies of God moſt chearfully, we could not think it a ſeaſon to make uſe of them, and therefore hanged them on the trees in a neglected forlorn manner.
3. For there they that ‖took u… captive, foreigncarried us away captive required of us a ſong, and they that †carried us up,waſted us required of us mirth, ſaying, Sing us one of the ſongs of Zion.
Paraphrase. 3. Then they that had carried us up their captive ſlaves, would needs have us reci… ſome of thoſe joyous hymns which we were wont to ſing in our ſolemn feſtivals at the Temple.
4. How ſhall we ſing the Lords ſong in a ſtrange land?
Paraphrase. 4. But our Levites gave anſwer preſently that it was not fit for them …o ſing thoſe feſtival hymns that belonged to the praiſes of the God of Iſrael at a time of publick mourning, and withall in a …and and among a people that acknowledged him not for God, or indeed any where but in the Temple, the place of his ſolemn feſtival worſhip.
5. If I forget thee, O Jeruſalem, let my right hand ‖forget.forget her cunning.
Paraphrase. 5. 'Tis not poſſible for us ſo to put off the memory of our ſufferings, ſo to deveſt our ſelves of our great concernments and intereſts in the welfare of Jeruſalem, which now is deſpoiled of her inhabitants, or to put off the ſorrow conceived for the loſs of thoſe joyfull advantages of God's publick worſhip which there we injoyed: ſhould we convert ſuch days of mourning as theſe into ſeaſons of joy, 'twere not fit we ſhould ever more uſe thoſe ſacred inſtruments, ſet apart for the praiſing and glorifying of God;
6. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I †or, advance not Jeruſalem in the beginning of my joy, or mirth.prefer not Jeruſalem above my chief joy.
Paraphrase. 6. Not fit we ſhould ever be permitted to ſing any joyfull hymn again, if we can think fit to apply it to ſuch purpoſes as theſe, of pleaſing or gratifying our oppreſſours, or indeed ever ſing again, till we can celebrate our return to our countrey and temple by our ſinging.
7. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jeruſalem, who ſaid, Raſe it, raſe it even to the foundation thereof.
Paraphrase. 7. It is more ſeaſonable for us to recount that ſad time when our captivation befell us, when our unkind neighbours the Edumaeans were ſo forward to joyn their hands with our enemies to demoliſh our city and temple utterly; ſee Ezec. 25.12. But for this their malice, the time will come when they ſhall pay full dear; ſee Jer. 49.8.
8. O daughter of Babylon, *the deſtroyer,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.
Paraphrase. 8, 9. But alas, this is not like to be their lot alone, but in the firſt place the Babylonians themſelves, they which had laid our city waſte, are ſure to be ſadly repayed: All their injuries and cruelties to us will be viſited on the univerſality of them, even to their infant children; the youngeſt of them ſhall be daſht to the ground, and all their people within a while ſignally deſtroyed.
Annotations on Pſal. CXXXVII.
foreignV. 3. Waſted us] The Hebrew foreign is from foreign to take, or lift, or carry up, and from thence the noun foreign is an heap, from that notion of elevating or raiſing; and from thence it is conceived by ſome learned men, that the verb here ſignifies laying waſte, demoliſhing, and ſo turning cities into heaps, but without any example of ſuch ſignification. Others would have it a participle, and ſo to ſignifie their harps lifted, or hanged up, v. 2. But the ancient Interpreters all accord in a facile interpretation, and that which agrees with the ordinary uſe of the word, for taking, or carrying up, as that is appliable to deportation or carrying up of captives from their own to another countrey. The Chaldee reads it foreign they that carried us away, from foreign to ſpoil, or prey on, and carry away (ſo that word is uſed Ezec. 26.12. foreign, we reade, they ſhall make a prey of, but the Chaldee there foreign, and they ſhall carry them away:) but the LXXII. more expreſly, foreign, they that led or carried us away, and the Syriack foreign and they that ſubdued us, (ſo foreign is rendred by the LXXII. foreign ſubdued, Pſal. 47.3.) or, as the Syriack uſe is, carried us away. And ſo the Latin, qui abduxerunt nos, they that carried us away, and the Arabick, they that ſnatched us, or forcibly carried us thither. And thus it agrees well with foreign they that took us captive, foreign, they that captivated us (ſo foreign ſignifies) in the beginning of the verſe. The Jewiſh Arab read foreign they that hanged us up, as Buxtorf in his Hebrew Concordance, Suſpenſores noſtri. Abu Walid miſlikes that it ſhould be from foreign an heap, and would have foreign not to be radical, but the Root to be foreign, and ſo the meaning to be, and, or when, or ſeeing our mournfull cry is to them joy, or rejoycing. Aben Ezra ſeems to diſlike this (cited from Moſes Hace.) and propoſes two other conjectures: as 1. that foreign might in Hebrew ſignifie to deſtroy, or pull down; 2. (which he ſaith is the opinion of ſome) that foreign ſhould be all one with foreign, by change of letters, they that ſpoiled us.
V. 5. Forget her cunning] In the Hebrew there is no more but foreign let my right hand forget, foreignwhich the Chaldee render foreign let me forget my right hand, and the Syriack foreign &c. let my right hand forget me, but the LXXII. foreign let my right hand be forgotten. And thus it may well be, to expreſs the great and freſh memory and care he hath of Jeruſalem, that that ſhall certainly be the laſt thing which the Pſalmiſt, or the Levites in the Pſalm, will forget. But the conjunction here between the right hand and the tongue, v. 6. as the two inſtruments of Muſick, the one to play, as the other to ſing, do rather incline it to be interpreted by ſupply of an Ellipſis, let my right hand forget, i. e. forget to play, as my tongue to ſing, v. 6.
V. 6. foreignAbove my chief joy] The Hebrew foreign head is frequently uſed for the beginning of any thing, and not onelyonly for the principal part of it. Gen. 2.10. four foreign heads are four beginnings, foreign ſay the LXXII. of rivers. So here the Chaldee foreign the beginning, and ſo the LXXII. foreign in the beginning of my mirth. And foreign I will lift up, or advance, Jeruſalem in the beginning of my mirth, is to make that the prime or chief ingredient in their rejoycing, the principal ſubject of their hymns.
V. 8. foreignArt to be deſtroyed] foreign from foreign to lay waſte, or deſtroy (in Paül inſtead of Poel, which is frequent) may be rendred vaſtatrix, deſtroyer. So the Chaldee, foreign the waſter, or ſpoiler; and ſo the Syriack in the ſame word. OnelyOnly the LXXII. reads foreign, which as it ſignifies miſerable, ſo it ſignifies vile and wicked alſo: and ſo even the Hebrew, if taken in the paſſive, will be but anſwerable to foreign, perditus, wretched, wicked, and ſo fit to be deſtroyed. The Jewiſh Arab reads, O thou ſpoiled; and ſo 'tis agreeable to the cuſtom of the Eaſtern people, by way of omen or preſage, to put with the name of a city an Epithet of Preſerved, or guarded, if they wiſh well to it: and ſo 'tis proportionable it ſhould be in the contrary ſignification, if they wiſh ill to it, to ſpeak of that as done, which they wiſh to be done.