◄ Psalm 137:9 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
A Horrible Kind Of Happiness
Psalm 137:9
S. Conway
Can the sentiments of our text, and of these verses, and the many like them in these psalms, be justified? Are they not wicked, cruel, unchristian, and so to be utterly condemned by all good men? Such questions are continually asked. But let it be remembered -

I. OPPRESSION DRIVES EVEN WISE MEN MAD. These terrible utterances are the product of a cruelly oppressed and suffering people. Let us put ourselves in their place.

II. THAT IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, NOT OF THE NEW. Now, the Old Testament taught:

1. That God's retributions, both to the good and evil, were given here and now, in temporal blessing or the reverse. They had no clear knowledge of a future life, still less of any judgment to come.

2. That the Divine character was to be known by these retributions, and God's honor maintained, and the true religion upheld by them.

3. Hence they were told to invoke curses on the wicked, and they would feel it wrong not to do so. How else could God be glorified?

4. The prosperity of the wicked was a great trial to them. It seemed so to dishonor God and to imperil his truth in the world. Hence:

5. We are net justified in attributing these utterances to mere personal spite and revenge. Their motive was far other and higher.

III. THAT ALL WAR IS THE PRACTICAL CARRYING OUT OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Even with all the alleviations and mitigations of modern and more Christian days, war does the very things which in these psalms many think so wrong.

IV. THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO DO DREADFUL THINGS WITHOUT BEING POSSESSED OF A DREADFUL SPIRIT. Many men deem war to be at times necessary and just; and surely it can be so, and often has been; and they have urged such war as in the sight and under the fear of God. The magistrate is not to bear the sword in vain, but to remember that he is the minister of God.

V. RECOGNIZE OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. And rejoice in it and spread it far and wide. For this gospel not only takes away all excuse for the vindictive spirit, but ever tends to lessen the occasions which provoke it. Let it but spread, and there shall be no more such horrible happiness as that which our text seems to contemplate and approve. - S.C.

Biblical Illustrator
Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem.
Psalm 137:7-9
Imprecation against the enemies of the Church
D. Dickson.
1. False brethren are the chief instruments of persecution of the true members of the Church whensoever they find occasion.

2. Whosoever do delight in the Church's calamity, and do endeavour the Church's ruin by word or deed; by their stirring up of others to afflict them; or by any oppression which may tend to the Church's prejudice, when the Lord is visiting her, their sin shall not be forgotten of God in the day when the Lord judgeth His people, but shall be severely punished.

3. No less will suffice the adversaries of the Church than the utter ruin and razing of it to the ground.

4. The estate of the Church at the worst is better than the estate of Babylon, or any estate of her adversaries, how prosperous soever at the best; for albeit the Church be in captivity and oppressed, yet she shall not be destroyed, but it is not so with her adversaries.

5. Faith is neither blinded by the prosperity of the wicked, nor by the adversity of the Church, but doth see through the prospect of the Lord's Word, both her approaching delivery of the Church and the ruin of her enemies.

6. As the enemies of God's Church have measured out unto the Lord's people, so it shall be measured back again and more, for a reward unto her adversaries.

7. There is a happiness, wherein blessedness doth not consist, which neither is a part or branch of blessedness, nor a proper mark of blessedness, but only signifieth some happiness in the consequence of a man's work, tending to the glory of God and good of His Church; and such is the happiness of the Modes and Persians here spoken of, who, whatsoever were their corrupt intentions in their war, did work, albeit not as religious servants, yet as God's instruments, a good work of justice upon the oppressors of God's people, and a good work of delivery of the Lord's people.

8. Albeit it be a sinful thing to satisfy our carnal affection in the misery of any man; yet it is lawful in God's cause to wish that God be glorified, albeit in the confusion of His enemies; and here great need is to have the heart well guarded with the fear of God, for wherewise to allow the dashing of little ones against the stones might make a man guilty of savage cruelty.

(D. Dickson.).

I will praise Thee with my whole heart.
Psalm 138
Moral features of a good man's life
Homilist.
I. The GRAND RESOLVE of a good man — to serve God (vers. 1, 2).

1. Entirely. "I will praise Thee with my whole heart." Unless the Almighty is thus served He is never served at all.

2. Courageously. "Before the gods," etc. No shame, no timidity, but exulting courage.

3. Intelligently. He is infinitely good and true.

II. The NOBLE TESTIMONY of a good man (ver. 3). What good man who has ever prayed could not furnish similar testimony?

III. The SANGUINE HOPE of a good man (vers. 4, 5).

1. This hope implies a very desirable object. To have all the kings of the earth praising God, what patriotic, philanthropic, and religious ends could be more desirable?

2. This hope implies a reasonable expectation. Would it not be natural to expect that when kings heard of God, the words of His mouth, they would worship and serve Him? We have here —

IV. The THEOLOGICAL BELIEF of a good man (ver. 6).

1. No creature is too humble for the Divine regard. He is not so taken up with the vast as to ignore the minute, so sublimely exalted as not to condescend to the meanest.

2. No creature is too vile to escape His notice. "The proud He knoweth afar off."

V. The SUBLIME CONFIDENCE of a good man (ver. 7).

1. The universal law of human life. What is that? Progress, walking. Implying —(1) A constant change of position.(2) A constant approximation to destiny, every step leading nearer to the end. Life is a constant walk. No pause. A rapid walk. "Swifter than a post." An irretraceable walk.

2. The saddening probabilities of human life. "In the midst of trouble." The path is not through flowery meads and under azure skies, but rugged, tempestuous, perilous.

3. The grand support of human life. "Thou wilt revive me." The support is all-sufficient, the only effective and ever available.

(Homilist.)

Open praise and public confession
David was vexed with rival gods, as we are with rival gospels. Nothing is more trying to the soul of a true man than to be surrounded with vile counterfeits, and to hear these cried up, and the truth treated with contempt. How will David act under the trial? For so should we act. He will —

I. SING WITH WHOLE-HEARTED PRAISE (ver. 1).

1. His song would openly show his contempt of the false gods: he would sing whether they were there or no. They were such nothings that he would not change his note for them.

2. It would evince his strong faith in the true God. In the teeth of the adversary he glorified Jehovah. His enthusiastic whole-hearted song was better than denunciation or argument.

3. It would declare his joyful zeal for God: he sang to show the strong emotion of his soul. Others might be pleased in Baal, he greatly rejoiced in Jehovah.

4. It would shield him from evil from those about him; for holy song keeps off the enemy. Praise is a potent disinfectant. If called to behold evil let us purify the air with the incense of praise.

II. WORSHIP BY THE DESPISED RULE. "I will worship toward Thy holy temple."

1. Quietly ignoring all will-worship, he would follow the rule of the Lord, and the custom of the saints.

2. Looking to the Person of Christ, which was typified by the temple. There is no sinning like that which is directed towards the Lord Jesus, as now living to present it to the Father.

3. Trusting in the one finished Sacrifice, looking to the one great Expiation, we shall praise aright.

4. Realizing God Himself.

III. PRAISE THE QUESTIONED ATTRIBUTES.

1. Loving-kindness in its universality. Lovingkindness in its speciality. Grace in everything. Grace to me. Grace so much despised of Pharisees and Sadducees, but so precious to true penitents. Concerning the grace of God, let us cling close to the doctrine and spirit of the Gospel all the more because the spirit of the age is opposed to them.

2. Truth. Historic accuracy of Scripture. Absolute certainty of the Gospel. Assured truthfulness of the promises. Complete accuracy of prophecy.

IV. REVERENCE THE HONOURED WORD. "Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name." God has magnified His sure word of testimony beyond all such revelations as we receive through creation and providence, though these declare God's Name. The Gospel word is —

1. More clear. Words are better understood than nature's hieroglyphs.

2. More sure. The Spirit Himself sealing it.

3. More sovereign. Effectually blessing believers.

4. More complete. The whole of God is seen in Christ.

5. More lasting. Creation must pass away, the Word endures for ever.

6. More glorifying to God. Specially in the great Atonement.

V. PROVE IT BY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. "In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me," etc. He had used his knowledge of God derived from the Word.

1. By offering prayer. "I cried." What do men know of the truth and grace of God and the virtue of His Word if they have never prayed?

2. By narrating the answer. "Thou answeredst me," etc. We are God's witnesses, and should with readiness, care, frequency, and courage testify what we have seen and known.

3. By exhibiting the strength of soul which was gained by prayer. This is good witness-bearing. Show by patience, courage, joy, and holiness what the Lord has done for your soul.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

Whole-hearted praise before the world
He who praises God with his whole heart is like a man on fire, he is terrible to the adversaries of the Most High. When the great Spanish Armada was ready to swoop down upon the English coast, our brave Admiral Drake took some of his small ships, and placed them where the wind would carry them right among the Spanish fleet. He filled the vessels with combustible material, and set them alight. Then the wind just took the fire ships and drifted them up against the Spanish galleons that floated high out of the water, and exposed a vast surface to the air, and one and another of the big unwieldy monsters were soon in a blaze, and a great victory was won without a blow being struck. So, I like to get a red-hot Christian, full of music and praise unto Jehovah, and just let him go, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, right into the middle of the adversaries of truth. They cannot make him out, they do not know how to handle a man of fire. It was a wise plan, this of David, of getting in among the heathen gods and singing to the praise of Jehovah.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

Courage in praising God
Singing unto Jehovah before the gods was good for David's own soul. It is perilous to attempt a secret fidelity to God, it is so apt to degenerate into cowardice. A converted soldier tried at first to pray in bed, or in some secret corner, but he found it would not do; he must kneel down in the barrack-room before the others, and run the gauntlet of the men's remarks; for until he had done so he had not taken his stand and he felt no peace of mind. It is needful for our spiritual health that we come out distinctly upon the Lord's side.

People
David, Edomites, Psalmist
Places
Babylon
Topics
138, Crushing, Dashed, Dashes, Dasheth, David, Happiness, Happy, Infants, O, Ones, Psalm, Rock, Rocks, Seize, Seizes, Stones, Sucklings, Takes, Taketh
Outline
1. The constancy of the Jews in captivity
7. The prophet curses Edom and Babel

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 137:1-9

     4215   Babylon
     5945   self-pity

Psalm 137:7-9

     6040   sinners

Psalm 137:8-9

     5493   retribution

Library
Letter xxii (Circa A. D. 1129) to Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas
To Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas Bernard consoles him under the persecution of which he is the object. The most pious endeavours do not always have the desired success. What line of conduct ought to be followed towards his inferiors by a prelate who is desirous of stricter discipline. 1. I have learned with much pain by your letter the persecution that you are enduring for the sake of righteousness, and although the consolation given you by Christ in the promise of His kingdom may suffice amply for …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

The Captivity.
"Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"--Larn. ii. 15. Manasseh's son, Amon, undid all the reformation of his latter years, and brought back idolatry; and indeed, the whole Jewish people had become so corrupt, that even when Amon was murdered in 642, after only reigning two years, and better days came back with the good Josiah, it was with almost all of them only a change of the outside, and not of the heart. Josiah was but eight years old when he …
Charlotte Mary Yonge—The Chosen People

Third Sunday after Easter
Text: First Peter 2, 11-20. 11 Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14 or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Thou Shalt not Commit Adultery.
In this Commandment too a good work is commanded, which includes much and drives away much vice; it is called purity, or chastity, of which much is written and preached, and it is well known to every one, only that it is not as carefully observed and practised as other works which are not commanded. So ready are we to do what is not commanded and to leave undone what is commanded. We see that the world is full of shameful works of unchastity, indecent words, tales and ditties, temptation to which …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

In Judaea
If Galilee could boast of the beauty of its scenery and the fruitfulness of its soil; of being the mart of a busy life, and the highway of intercourse with the great world outside Palestine, Judaea would neither covet nor envy such advantages. Hers was quite another and a peculiar claim. Galilee might be the outer court, but Judaea was like the inner sanctuary of Israel. True, its landscapes were comparatively barren, its hills bare and rocky, its wilderness lonely; but around those grey limestone …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Concerning the Sacrament of Penance
In this third part I shall speak of the sacrament of penance. By the tracts and disputations which I have published on this subject I have given offence to very many, and have amply expressed my own opinions. I must now briefly repeat these statements, in order to unveil the tyranny which attacks us on this point as unsparingly as in the sacrament of the bread. In these two sacraments gain and lucre find a place, and therefore the avarice of the shepherds has raged to an incredible extent against …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

The Iranian Conquest
Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving in Coste and Flandin. The vignette, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a statuette in terra-cotta, found in Southern Russia, represents a young Scythian. The Iranian religions--Cyrus in Lydia and at Babylon: Cambyses in Egypt --Darius and the organisation of the empire. The Median empire is the least known of all those which held sway for a time over the destinies of a portion of Western Asia. The reason of this is not to be ascribed to the shortness of its duration: …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

The History of the Psalter
[Sidenote: Nature of the Psalter] Corresponding to the book of Proverbs, itself a select library containing Israel's best gnomic literature, is the Psalter, the compendium of the nation's lyrical songs and hymns and prayers. It is the record of the soul experiences of the race. Its language is that of the heart, and its thoughts of common interest to worshipful humanity. It reflects almost every phase of religious feeling: penitence, doubt, remorse, confession, fear, faith, hope, adoration, and …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Letters of St. Bernard
I To Malachy. 1141.[924] (Epistle 341.) To the venerable lord and most blessed father, Malachy, by the grace of God archbishop of the Irish, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard called to be abbot of Clairvaux, [desiring] to find grace with the Lord. 1. Amid the manifold anxieties and cares of my heart,[925] by the multitude of which my soul is sore vexed,[926] the brothers coming from a far country[927] that they may serve the Lord,[928] thy letter, and thy staff, they comfort …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Questions.
LESSON I. 1. In what state was the Earth when first created? 2. To what trial was man subjected? 3. What punishment did the Fall bring on man? 4. How alone could his guilt be atoned for? A. By his punishment being borne by one who was innocent. 5. What was the first promise that there should be such an atonement?--Gen. iii. 15. 6. What were the sacrifices to foreshow? 7. Why was Abel's offering the more acceptable? 8. From which son of Adam was the Seed of the woman to spring? 9. How did Seth's …
Charlotte Mary Yonge—The Chosen People

Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. But there are other reasons for the comparative neglect into which he has fallen. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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