A Song of Anger

Today's readings: Ps 137, 144; Job 3:1-26; Acts 9:10-19a; John 6:41-51

Psalm 137 is a difficult text. Its violent images and sentiments arose from a people suffering in oppressive exile. Jewish faith and identity were inseparable from the land delivered to them by God. When the Babylonians forcibly removed them from that land and placed them into slavery, their faith and identity were in unimaginable crisis. When the psalmist asks “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (v 4) he is responding to his captors’ demands for the Israelites to perform holy songs as crude entertainment.

Instead, the Israelites compose a song about the revenge they would seek on the Edomites, a people who captured escaped Israelites and sold them to the Babylonians. Of course the Israelites are really using the Edomites as a cover to curse the Babylonians. Used in nursery rhymes, African-American spirituals, and other songs, such coded language is common when a people can’t safely express themselves openly.

Sadly, the description of the Israelites happily dashing the enemy’s infants against the rocks is not code for anything. We may find this image shocking, but an honest look at world news reveals similar atrocities every day. The oppressed becoming the oppressor is an old, old story.

In this psalm – unlike some of the passages in Joshua – God is not commanding cruelty against innocents. The psalmist and his people are turning a degrading demand into a revenge fantasy. Oppressed people need a way to vent their rage, and a song or poem is a safe way to do so. Modern artistic expressions from rap to slam poetry to screamcore often portray violence as a reaction to oppression. We are not required to advocate or agree with a position to understand or consider it.

This psalm warns us about who we may become when oppressed, and what we may reap when we oppress. Let’s take heed.

Comfort: God understands our anger.

Challenge: Compare and contrast the lyrics of “When Will We Be Paid For The Work We’ve Done?” by the Staples Singers to Psalm 137

Prayer: God of renewal, I trust you even with my anger.

Evening readings: Ps 104

Tomorrow's readings: Ps 146, 147; Job 4:1-6, 12-21; Rev 4:1-11; Mark 6:1-6a