WEEK 48

psalms this week
"When we are for a long time weighed down by calamities, and when we do not perceive any sign of divine aid, this thought unavoidably forces itself upon us, that God has forgotten us."
     - John Calvin
​Psalms 136, 137, and 138

introduction to the Series

Most of what we learn how to do, we learn from other people. Sometimes it is the learning that comes from specific and deliberate instruction. At other times it is the learning that comes by way of example and imitation. During 2023, our endeavor is to learn how to pray from the Psalmist.*

The Book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible, and it is mostly a book of prayers. We will spend the year going through the book, beginning to end, and letting the Psalmist teach us by example how to pray.
In this endeavor, we cannot benefit from his deliberate instruction, of course. What we can do, however, is take full advantage of his example.  We will observe how he prays, and we will learn to imitate him.

Our approach will be week by week. The recommended practices and exercises are not daily, but rather suggestions for an individual to implement throughout the whole week. ​

Exercises for this week

Psalm 136
Psalm 137
Psalm 138
Read Psalm 136.  This Psalm is distinctive for its call-and-response style.  The first half of each verse features one kind of content, while the second half of each verse features a recurring refrain. 

Read through the Psalm as though the refrain did not exist. That is to say, read just the first half of every verse, as though that were the entirety of the Psalm. Then reflect on what you have read:
  • Apart from the refrain, how would you describe the tone of the Psalm?
  • Apart from the refrain, what would you say is the theme of the Psalm?
  • Apart from the refrain, how would you summarize the message of the Psalm? 
  • Apart from the refrain, what might you define the purpose of the Psalm? 

Now reflect on the answers just given in light of the refrain:
  • With the refrain factored in, which of the questions would you answer differently?
  • How would you answer those questions, instead?
  • What do you understand to be the relationship between the refrain and what you originally identified as the theme of the Psalm?
  • What do you understand to be the relationship between the refrain and what you originally identified as the message of the Psalm?
  • What do you understand to be the relationship between the refrain and what you originally identified as the purpose of the Psalm? 

Read the refrain -- the second half of any verse -- in a variety of translations in order to gain a full sense of its meaning.

A review of the various translations no doubt revealed the richness of the words involved. Choose three translations that are quite different from each other in terms of the vocabulary used.  Write them down.

Read through the Psalm again, this time out loud, and this time inserting and alternating the three selected translations as the refrain as you read.

The non-refrain content of Psalm 136 is mostly a recounting of events from the Lord's work in Israel's history.  In the spirit of the Psalm, make a list of seven events from your own life that are part of your testimony -- events that reflect the Lord's work in your life. 
  • Write those seven events as statements in the style of Psalm 136.
  • Insert the three different versions of the refrain in between those statements.
  • Read the resulting "psalm" aloud. 

The Hebrew word hesed is variously translated as mercy, faithfulness, steadfast love, faithful love, gracious love, and lovingkindness.
  • Meditate on those ways of capturing this attribute of God.
  • Talk to Him about your experience of that attribute of His.
  • Thank and praise Him for your experience and for who He is.

Select five numbers at random between 1 and 26. Make those the verses for specific reflection. For each of the five verses:
  • What does the first half of the verse reveal about the Lord?
  • To what extent does what that verse reveals about Him resonate with your own experience?
  • What does the first half of the verse have to do with His hesed?​
Read Psalm 137.  After reading it, make a list of the different emotions you sense in the author of the Psalm.

​Verse 1 mentions two places: Babylon and Zion. The Psalm is evidently written by Jews who were among the exiles in Babylon. Zion, meanwhile, was a meaning-filled term for the city of Jerusalem, especially as it was God's holy city, the site of the Temple, and the place of God's presence.  The Babylonian army had conquered and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and burned down the Temple. 
  • Write a brief and thoughtful description of the variety of things you imagine that the Psalmist felt when he thought about Zion.
  • Write a brief and thoughtful description of the variety of things you imagine that the Psalmist felt when he thought about Babylon.

When have you felt things similar to any of what the Psalmist was likely feeling about Zion?  Talk to the Lord about it.

When have you felt things similar to any of what the Psalmist was likely feeling about Babylon?  Talk to the Lord about it.
​
Think in terms of Zion representing a past that was beloved but gone, while Babylon represents a tragic and painful present. 
  • When have you been in a comparable place?
  • What did you pray?
  • How does Psalm 137 feel to you while reflecting on your own comparable experience?

Setting aside the heartlessness of the request in verse 3, describe what you imagine the Psalmist felt in response to that request.
  • Do you have an experience that resonates with what the Psalmist expresses in verse 4?
  • Do you have a sense for what the Lord's will might have been for the Psalmist in verse 4?
​
In verses 5-6, the Psalmist expresses a kind of pledge to Jerusalem.
  • What is your sense of what the Psalmist is feeling?
  • What is the purpose of such a statement within that context?
  • Is there a way in which the Psalmist is a role model for you in these verses?
 
Read Obadiah.  How does that brief prophetic book add insight into your reading of Psalm 137:7?

The Edomites were brothers to the Israelites, for Israel was descended from Jacob and Edom was descended from Jacob's brother Esau. Edom was located west-southwest of Judah, yet when Judah was under attack, Edom did not come to Judah's aid, but rather celebrated its calamity.
  • What do you understand to be the mood or feelings of the Psalmist in verse 7?
  • When have you felt similarly?
  • When have you prayed similarly? 
  • What is the Psalmist' motivation?
  • For what is he praying? 
  • To what extent is he praying for God's will to be done?
​
Verses 8 and 9 perhaps have something of the same tone and heart as verse 7, but they have in view Babylon rather than Edom. These verses are widely recognized as the most severe and extreme of the imprecatory prayers in Psalms. 
  • Talk to the Lord about the merit and purpose of praying such raw emotion.
  • Talk to the Lord about the relationship between the desire for justice and the desire for vengeance. 
  • Talk to the Lord about the proper response to enemies.
  • Talk to the Lord about the proper response to evil.​ ​ 
​Read Psalm 138. This is a Psalm of thanks and praise to God.  As you read, adopt what we have called the journalistic approach to reflecting on the content of the Psalm.  Specifically, we want to identify the who, what, where, why and such of thanksgiving and praise. Accordingly, answer these questions based on what you find in Psalm 138:
  • Who is to be thanked and praised?
  • Who is to thank and praise Him?
  • Where is He to be thanked and praised?
  • How is He to be thanked and praised? 
  • Why thank Him? 
  • Why praise Him?

Now reflect back on your discoveries from Psalm 138 in terms of your own life experience.
  • To what extent does your experience and practice of thanks and praise resemble that of the Psalmist?
  • In what ways does the author of Psalm 138 instruct you?  How might you grow in your experience and practice of thanking and praising the Lord? 
  • Talk to the Lord about how your experience and expression of praise might be broadened or deepened.
  • ​Spend time praising Him now. 

Read verse 1 in a variety of translations in order to gain a sense for the meaning of the terms.
  • What do you suppose the Psalmist to be saying when he referred to "the gods"?
  • ​What do you imagine was the significance for him of singing the Lord's praise "before the gods"? 
  • How might the Psalmist's resolve be instructive to you or applicable in your life?

Verse 3 is a personal word -- a brief part of the Psalmist's own testimony.  He does not give specific details, however, which makes his testimony general enough to become your testimony. Accordingly:
  • If you had written verse 3, to what time(s) or specific experience(s) would you be referring?
  • Talk to the Lord about that/those time(s) or experience(s).
  • To what extent has your own experience with God (personal) become your testimony (public)?

​Verses 4-5 would have been remarkable statements to make at any point in Israel's history, for Israel was almost always smaller than the surrounding nations, and those surrounding nations and peoples were always polytheistic. Accordingly, in order to get a sense for the dramatic thing that the Psalmist says in these verses:
  • Make a list of the first ten world leaders that come to your mind.
  • Two or three at a time, insert their names into the beginning of verse 4 while reading verses 4 and 5 aloud.
  • Talk to the Lord about your experience.

​Read verse 6 in a variety of translations in order to get a full sense for its meaning.
  • What are the two kinds of people identified by the Psalmist?
  • To what extent would you say that all people in the world fall into one or those two types or categories?
  • What does the Lord's response to each type of person reveal about Him?
  • What stories in the Bible echo or illustrate the truth of the statement made by the Psalmist in verse 6?

In verse 7, the Psalmist refers to his enemies. We see, therefore, that his life is not trouble-free or danger-free at the moment of writing.  In light of that:
  • What is the meaning and significance of the affirmations and confident statements he makes in verse 7?
  • What is the meaning and significance of the affirmations or confident statements he makes in verse 8?

Rewrite verse 8 in your own words. Then speak it aloud as your own personal affirmation.
* We will refer to the author as “the Psalmist,” though of course not all of the Psalms were written by the same person. A significant number are attributed to David. Others are associated with Asaph, the sons of Korah, and an assortment of other individuals. Also, several dozen Psalms have no name attached to them.  For the sake of ease and uniformity, we will simply refer to “the Psalmist.”