Psalm 137 (NRSV)
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
Happy shall they be who pay you back
what you have done to us!
9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!
Deliverance for the captive sounds like curses to the captors.
Here are some questions for discussion:
1. How would you define the term “imprecatory,” and how might we benefit from having more “imprecatory” language in our church communities?
2. Pain and suffering have a tremendous impact on our lives. Can you think of a time when you (or a loved one) expressed your grief in such a manner that it resembled anger? Can you describe what that transition felt like and what led to it?
3. What does deliverance look like for the followers of Jesus? How might we embody and bring such deliverance into our neighborhoods?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. In Psalm 137:4 it says, “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” As followers of Jesus, how might we sing the Lord’s song in the foreign lands where we live and serve?
2. Psalm 137 expresses the writer’s despair in a very real and even troubling way. How are you feeling despair with what’s going on in the world around us, and what do you do with that despair?
3. How does Jesus approach vengeance? What might a Jesus-like approach to vengeance look like for us?
4. Pastor Trey reminds us that deliverance came from Jesus—who took on the spot of the captive and not the captor, and who took up residence amongst the oppressed and not the oppressor. In what ways can we follow Jesus in solidarity with the captives and the oppressed in our everyday lives throughout the week?
5. What is your approach to passages like this one that might make us “peace-loving Jesus followers a little uncomfortable?”
6. Given our sinful and flawed nature, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a time where some of us may have been the subject (justified or not) of another’s imprecatory prayers. How much poetic language would it take to make you rethink your words or actions? What can another person say that would make you seek transformation and redemption with humility? Some? None? or, There aren’t enough words for that?
7. When our anguish leads us to imprecatory prayers, does that impact our ability to forgive?
For further contemplation, consider these quotes & prompts:
1. “Because of Jesus, we can see a path toward committing to the wholeness of the captors.” What might this path look like for you?
2. What does it mean to you, to know “the sorrow and the humiliation of exile?”
3. What does it mean to you to “see that the captors have gained the world and lost their souls?”