PSALM CXXXVIL riance along the courses of all the stream& (Herod., i. 193 ; Amm. Man., xxiv. 3; "'THE most direct and striking rem1ms- Zosim., iii. pp. 173-179). To.ma.risks, cence of tho Bo.bylonish exile in the whole poplars, and e.cacie.s were also common, but Psalter" (Professor Alexander). The psalm true "willows" hardly e.ppeo.r to have ever divides into two parts. First, we are given been a pro<luct of the country. The 'artibah of our author was probably either a poplo.r a picture of the unhappy condition of the or e. tame.risk. exiles, drawn so evidently from the life, Ver. 3.-For there they that oo.rried us that almost every commentator he.s felt it a.way captive required of us a song; lite- must have been painted by one of those rally, words of song. The oppressors break who had experienced the reality (vers. 1- into the retired gathering of their captives, and "require of them a song "-demo.nd 4). Then the writer lays bare to us the roughly and rudely to be entertained with predominant feelings of his own heart. the foreign music, which is perhaps sweeter These are two-intense love for Jerusalem than their own, or at any ro.te more of a. (vers. 5, 6); and intense hatred of Israel's novelty. And they that wasted ns required and Jehovah'a principal foes, Edom and of us mirth. Not only was "a song" wanted, but a joyous song-one that would Babylon (vers. 7-9). The two parts are wake feelings of mirth and gladnesd in those strongly contrasted. "The plaintive sweet- who heard it. Saying, Sing us one of the ness, which (in the first) melted us into songs of Zion; literally, sing UB from a song tea.re, is overpowered (in the second) by a of Zion. The captives had, no doubt, spoken crash of discords" (Cheyne). of the joyous strains which they bad been wont to pour forth in their own oity upon Ver. 1.-By the rivers of Babylon. The festive occo.siona. Their conquerors demand Euphrates and the canals derived from it, a specimen, but are repulaed with the words which were many, and filled with running, of the next verse. not stagnant, water. These would present Ver. 4.-How shall we sing the Lord's themselves to the exiles as "ri vera." There song in a strange lo.nd 1 The "songs of we sat down, yea, we wept, when we Zion" a.re Jel10vo.h'a songs, used in his remembered Zion. The exiles ha,! their worship, suited only for religious ocoo.aions. leisure hours-they were not kept by their It would be desecration to sing them "in a masters at hard work continue.Hy. During strange land," o.mong strange people, not these lei.sure hours tlley naturally "sat to call forth devotional sentiment, but to down" by the rivers of Babylon, as the gratify curiosity. most pleasant and attractive places. 'fhey Ver. 5.-If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let brought their harps with them (ver. 2), my right ho.nd forget her cunning; litero.lly, with some idea, perlle.ps, of indulging iu let my right hand for get; but the words mournful strains. Grief, however, over- supplied in the Authorized Version a.re powered them-Zion came to their recol- necessary to bring out the sense, wllich is, lection-and they could do nothing but " If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, so far as to weep. desecrate thy sacred songs by ruo.king tllem Ver. 2.-We hanged our harps upon the an entertainment for the heathen, may I willows in the mi4Bt thereof. 'l'he super- never have power to strike e. note ago.in I " 11.uoue "harps" were "hung" up upon the Ver. 6.-If I do not remember thee, let treed that grew by the watercourses. These my tongue oleo.ve to the roof of my mouth. a.re co.lied "willows,'' or, according to some, Let me be deprived of the power of song. "poplars," but were probably of a different Wllat was wialled in the proceding verse species from any of the trees that grew in with respect to tile power of instrumental Palc,stine. Tl,e chief Babylonian tree we.a performance is here wished with respect to t' :c- l aim, which grew in the greatest luxu- the vocal organs. If I prefer not J' eruso.lem PB. CXXXVII, 1-9.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 297
above my ohief joy. This seems to be the nation of the Be.bylonie.ns (comp. Isa. xlvii. true sense, and is equivalent to "If I prefer 1, 5; Ps. ix. 14, etc.). Who art to be de- not Jerusalem above aught else." 1troyed; literally, t1wv. desolated one. The Ver. 7.-Bemember, O Lord, the children desolation of Babylon began with its c:i.p- of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; rather, ture by Cyrus, but was not completed for remember, 0 Lord, to the children of Edam many centuries. In the Archaimenian the day of Jerusalem. "The day of Jeru- period it was one of the chief cities of the salem" is the day of her fall, when Edom empire. Even under the Parthians it was took part with her enemies, and rejoiced at still a flourishing town. But from the time her destruction (aee Lam. iv. 21, 22; Ezek. of Isaiah's prophecy (Isa. xiii. 1-22) it xxv. 12; xxxv. 5; Obad. 10-14). The was e. doomed city, and in the eyes of e. psalmist prays God to "remember" this to devout Jew already "desolate." Happy Edom, and requite it upon her (comp. Ps. shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou cxxxii. 1, where the same expression is used hast served us ; i.e. happy shall he be that in a good sense). Who said, Base it, rase completes thy destruction, and the destruc- it, even to the fonnde.tion thereof; i.e. " de- tion of thy people. He will be the instru- stroy the city utterly-lee.ve not one stone ment for carrying out God's vengeance. upon another." The enmity between Edom Ver. 9.-He.ppy shall he be, that taketh and Israel was of the intensest ohe.racter and de.sheth thy little ones against the (see 1 Kings xi. 15, 16; 1 Chron. xviii. 12; stones; i.e. that brings on thee the worst Jer. xlix. 7-22; Amos i. 11, 12; Me.I. i. oe.lamities of war (see 2 Kings viii. 12; Isa. S-5). xii. 16-18; Hos. L 14; xiii. 16; Na.h. iii. Ver. 8.-0 daughter of Babylon; i.e. 0 10).