This is a very well known Psalm, courtesy of Boney M. Click the link if you want to be reminded why! However, I guess most people do not know that the song comes from the Psalms (thisr, of course, will not apply to readers of this blog).
Its setting is the exile in Babylon. The people were in exile, put there by God because of their sin and repeated rebellion. They remembered Zion, the place where they were meant to live.
The exiles captors mocked them, making them sing songs of joy. The devil sometimes does this with us, taunting us to sing songs of praise when we feel utterly miserable.
The exiles wonder how can they possibly sing songs to the Lord in this foreign land. They are not where they are meant to be. There is also a reluctance to make Babylon their home. They refuse to forget Jerusalem, for that is where they are meant to be. In times when we seem to be far from the place we should be, far from knwoing the close relationship to God we are meant to enjoy, we should refuse to forget. Being with the Lord is our highest joy.
The Psalm closes (and these words were not included in Boney M's rendition) with invocation of revenge against their captors and tormentors, culminating in v9 "Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks". So what are we to make of this? Well to put it in context can help a little. The Baylonian armies had been utterly ruthless in their destruction of many nations, and this had included terrible violence against women and children. So partly this is a call for God's judgement upon Babylon. Babylon was proud, but her downfall would come, and it would be terrible.
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