Psalm 137 is often praised as a righteous response to persecution. How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? (verse 4). But it has a deadly sting.

Israel had been exiled because of apostasy, idolatry, and rampant ungodliness. They’d forgotten the Lord. So they arrive in Babylon and settle by the verdant Kebar River (see Ezekiel 1:1), set about with poplar trees. And their captors demand songs. They refuse. Why?

Their highest joy

Look at what happens next (Psalm 137:5-6): If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill]. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

Did they sing, ‘If I forget the Lord?’ No. They’d already forgotten him, if not his songs. Jerusalem was now their highest joy! Their allegiance had swung from the Lord to a location. From the Creator to his creation. From heaven to earth. Their nation was more important than their Lord.

Wasn’t the Lord there in the foreign land too? As soon as we think otherwise, we descend into nationalism. Why is this so serious?

Vengeance

Look at the disgusting end of the psalm: O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us—he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks (Psalm 137:8-9). Happy…??? There is no forgiveness here. No mercy. This is a scream for vengeance!

Paul reminds us: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord (Romans 12:19). If we take revenge ourselves, God can’t act.

Nationalism will justify revenge and its own solutions.

Psalm 137 is a prophetic warning of turning our eyes from the King. The way of the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Forgiveness. Sacrifice. Love your enemies. And trust justice to the Lord.