Psalms

Introduction to the chapter

PSALM CXXXVI. (SUPER FLUMINA.)

The lamentation of the people of God, in their captivity, in Babylon.

Psalms 136:1

Ver. 1. For Jeremias. For the time of Jeremias, and the captivity of Babylon. Ch.

--- Or "of"

( Jeremiæ. H.) Jeremias; on which subject he composed his Lamentations, as the Sept. thus insinuate. W. --- The title may be a later insertion, and is not the same in all the Greek or Latin copies. It is wholly omitted in Heb. &c. Theodoret blames those who have written the name of Jeremias, as he was never at Babylon. C. --- He might send the psalm to the captives, (Grot.) though it were written by David, (Gerer.) who was a prophet. See Ps. lxxviii. Bert. --- The captives express their sentiments at Babylon, (Bossuet) or at their return; (C.) and thus, under the figure of the earthly Jerusalem, (Bert.) aspire to heaven. S.

Aug. --- Rivers. Euphrates, &c. The Jews retired to such places to pray. Philo, con. Flac. Acts xvi. 13. H. --- Sion, and all the ceremonies of religion. W.

Psalms 136:2

This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.

Ver. 2. Willow. With which the Euphrates was lined. Is. xv. 7. It passed through the city, which was adored with trees, and contained extensive tracts of land for cultivation. C. --- Babylon may also include all the territory. Bert. ---

Instruments. Heb. Kinnor means properly the ancient lyre, but here it is put for all instruments of music. C. --- In grief, music was laid aside. Is. xxiv. 8.

Ezec. xxvi. 13. Apoc. xviii. 21. Yet Christians may unite spiritual canticles with holy compunction. Col. iii. 16. We must not expose the word of truth to the ridicule of infidels. Bert.

Psalms 136:3

Ver. 3. Sion. The Levites were trained to singing from their infancy, at the expense of the nation.

Under David, there were 288 masters, and 8,000 Levites who played on music.

1 Par. xv. The Babylonians wished to hear them, (C.) or (W.) spoke insultingly, (Theod.) as the pagans asked what good Christ had done? S. Aug.

Psalms 136:4

Ver. 4. Land. they were oppressed with grief, (Eccli. xxii. 6.) and unwilling to expose sacred things to profanation, though there was no prohibition for them to sing out of Judea, for their mutual comfort. C. --- They excuse themselves on both accounts.

Psalms 136:5

Ver. 5. Forgotten. May all that is most dear to us perish, if we do not serve God, (W.) and seek to procure the welfare of Jerusalem. H. --- Yet they knew that the joy of their earthly abode in that city could not satisfy their desires. They allude, therefore, ultimately to heaven. Bert.

Psalms 136:7

Ver. 7. Day. When Jerusalem was taken, or when it shall be re-established. H.

--- The Idumeans incited the Babylonians to destroy it entirely, and even cut in pieces such as had escaped. Abdias.

v. 11. Jer. xii. 6. --- But Nabuchodonosor punished them five years afterwards, and Hircanus forced them to receive circumcision. Joseph. x. 11. and xiii. 18.

C. --- Isaias (xxi. 11.) denounced their ruin, as the psalmist does here. W. --- S.

Chrysostom thinks that the latter expresses the vindictive sentiments of the Jews: but he rather desires that God's cause should be maintained in the manner in which He should judge best. The illusions of our own imagination and vanity are most dangerous and domestic enemies, as the Edomites sprung from the same stock as Israel. Bert.

Psalms 136:8

Ver. 8. Daughter. Citizens. --- Miserable "plunderer," (Sym.) or "ruined," (Aquila) or "which shalt be given up to plunder." Theod. --- Cyrus reduced the city to a state of abjection, and it has since experienced other miseries, (C.) so that its situation is now unknown. H. --- Isaias (xiii.) foretold this destruction. W.

Psalms 136:9

Ver. 9. Dash thy little ones, &c. In the spiritual sense, we dash the littel ones of Babylon against the rock, when we mortify our passions, and stifle the first motions of them, by a speedy recourse to the rock, which is Christ. Ch. S. Aug.

S. Greg. Ps. l. W. --- We do not read that Cyrus treated Babylon with this rigour; but such practices were then customary, (Ose. xiv. 1. Iliad xxii.) and Darius cruelly punished the revolted city. Herod. iii. 159. C. --- God will reward those who execute his decrees (H.) against Babylon. W. --- The psalmist contrasts the felicity of the conqueror, with the misery of the citizens, without approving of his conduct. Bert.