Psalm 137:8-9 "O daughter Babylon, you devastor! Happy shall they be who pay you back..."

 "O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" (Psalm 137:8-9).

Question:

Hi, Rev. Ed. I'm in school at Unity, from Chicago. I used to enjoy your sermons. I'd love to hear your interpretation of this, one of the "ugliest" passages in the Bible. Thanks for your postings. I enjoy them.

Comment:

I don't think we can make this passage into anything but what, in fact, it is: a raging, fear-based cry for revenge against an unkind fate. Psalm 137 is a lamentation for Jerusalem, written in Babylonian exile. "By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion" (Psalm 137:1). From a human perspective, it's understandable to blame the Babylonians. In spiritual truth, however, the conquest of the Southern Kingdom and the Israelites' forced exile to Babylon were consequences of choices the collective consciousness of Israel had been making for many years—despite the fervent warnings of prophets such as Isaiah (First Isaiah) and Jeremiah. They had lost their spiritual commitment; they placed their trust in armies, treaties and international politics instead of maintaining their trust in the Lord. This passage -- which is indeed one of the ugliest in the Bible—is not to be understood as the “word of God” justifying the destruction of innocent children, but as the very human attempt to make someone else responsible for the consequences of our own negative choices. In Twelve Step terms, I think what we have here is the hitting of a spiritual “bottom.” Over a generation in exile, the Israelites will be invited to make a different choice—to accept responsibility for their own fates and to begin the process of making new choices that will allow them to move forward on their collective and individual spiritual paths.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed