Беседа 46 на псалом 136 107

Ps.136:1. David. Jeremiah. On the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. The Babylonian captivity awakened in the Jews a fiery love for Jerusalem and greatly contributed to their correction. – “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten” (Ps. 136:5). – An exhortation to live in such a way as not to lose the heavenly Jerusalem. – The thirst for revenge on the part of the captive Jews, the thought of the prophet himself and the New Testament teaching about this. 1. These people have great love for the city (Jerusalem), a great desire to return there. While they possessed benefits, they were constantly dissatisfied and insolent; and when they were deprived of them, then they began to desire them; This is why God deprived them, in order to arouse in them a greater desire. This is what God often does. When we, enjoying His benefits, do not feel this, He deprives us of them, so that we will understand the deprivation and again try to acquire them. But why did they sit by the rivers? They were prisoners and were in enemy country; That’s why they lived outside walls and cities. “We hung our organs on the willow trees in the midst of it” (Ps. 136:2). Another translator (Aquila) says: "psalms" (κιθάρας). Third (Symmachus): "lyres" (λύρας). Why did they, when going into captivity, take with them organs that they could not use? This was arranged by God so that in a foreign country they would have monuments of their former social structure and would be even more distressed when they saw the signs of the worship of that time. “For there those who captivated us asked us about the words of the songs and those who led us about the singing: “Sing to us (something) of the songs of Zion!” (Ps. 136:3). They also received a lot of benefit from the fact that foreigners pestered them and wanted to hear their songs. Look here too at the correction they received from captivity. Those who went beyond the proper limits, retreated from their reverence for God and violated the law in every way, behaved so strictly in a foreign land that even when foreigners pestered them, threatened them, surrounded them on all sides and wanted to listen, even then they did not bow to their desire, but preferred the law and strictly preserved it. Instead of: “those who led,” another translator (unknown, see Orig. Ex.) said: “those who treated us arrogantly” (καταλαζονευόμενοι ήμων), as if expressing the following: those who previously attacked us and rebelled, over time became so meek, quiet and humble, that they even wanted to listen to our songs. However, the Jews did not agree to sing. Do you see how grief makes people strong, how it makes people contrite, how it humbles the soul? They both wept and kept the law; the very same ones who laughed at the weeping prophets, amused themselves and mocked them, now, when no one reminded them of them, turned to tears and cried. The enemies also received great benefit from this; They saw that the Jews were not burdened by captivity, they were not mourning slavery or being in a foreign land, but the deprivation of their own worship. That is why the psalmist adds: “they remembered Zion.” And they didn’t just cry, but made it a constant activity. That’s why at the beginning he said: “we sat and wept,” i.e. That's why they sat down to cry and sob. Why were they not allowed to sing in a foreign land? Because unclean ears should not have heard these mysterious chants. “How can we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land?” ( Ps.136:4 )? Those. we are not allowed to sing; although we have lost our fatherland, we continue to keep the law and observe it exactly; although you control our bodies, you will not overcome our souls. Do you see a soul that, out of sorrow, has become wise and has risen above calamities? “If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten! Stick my tongue to my throat, if I do not remember You, if I do not set Jerusalem as the height of my joy!” ( Ps. 136:5-6 ). Notice the great change here too. Those who heard every day that they would be deprived of the city, and did not pay attention to it, now call upon themselves curses if they forget about it. What does it mean: “let my right hand be forgotten”? Let, he says, my fortress, my strength, forget me, and let me be silent from many disasters, “if I do not remember You, if I do not set Jerusalem as the height of my joy.” What does it mean: “if I do not establish Jerusalem”? Not only, he says, will I remember you in other matters, but also in singing and in songs. The word: “I’ll put it” means: I’ll put it at the beginning of the song; it expresses a strong desire, or better yet, love and ardent desire for the city. Let us all listen to this and learn from it. Just as they, when they were deprived of the city, then began to look for it, so many of us will experience the same thing when on that day we are deprived of the heavenly Jerusalem. But after being deprived, they had the hope of returning, but for us, once we are deprived, it will no longer be possible to return. “Their worm, says the Lord, does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:46). Therefore, we need to watch ourselves with special care and arrange our real life in such a way that we do not become captives, aliens and excommunicated from that native city. “Remember, Lord, to the children of Edom, who said on the day of Jerusalem: “Devastate, devastate it to the ground!” (Ps. 136:7). And this expression is characteristic of people who passionately strive for the city. The meaning of their words is as follows: punish those who did not want to be content with taking the city, who were not satisfied with its destruction, but insist and say: destroy while it has a foundation. They would like that the very foundations of the city would not remain, but that its foundations would also be uprooted. 2. Together with the Babylonians, the Arabians also attacked the Jews, whom the prophet often mentions and strongly reproaches for the fact that, despite their kinship with the Jews, they acted worse than their enemies. “Daughter of Babylon, accursed! Blessed is he who repays you for what you have done to us” (Ps. 137:8). Another (Aquila): "wasted" (προνενομευμένη). Third (Theodotion): “which will be plundered” (διαρπασθησομένη). Here he shows the power of God not in delivering from disasters, but also in sending disasters on the victors themselves, predicts the misfortunes that will befall Babylon, and, because of the disasters that are about to befall it, calls it unfortunate. He also teaches this to the Jews, instilling in them that the power of God is spread throughout the whole earth. “Blessed is he who repays you for what you have done to us.” Another (unknown, see Orig. Ex.): “which you did to us before” (προεποίησας). “Blessed is he who takes and dashes your babies against a stone” (Ps. 137:9). These words, filled with great anger and threatening great punishment and torment, are the words of passion of the captives, which demand great punishment, some amazing and extraordinary execution. Prophets say a lot not from themselves, but by depicting and exposing the passions of others. If you want to know the prophet’s own thoughts, then listen to what he says: “if I have taken revenge on those who repay me evil” (Ps. 7:5); he stood above even the measure of retribution that was allowed to him by law. And when he depicts the passions of others, he describes anger, indignation, as he did now, exposing the passionate desire of the Jews, who extended their anger even to infancy. But not so in the new covenant; on the contrary, we are commanded to give drink and food to our enemies and to pray for those who offend us. We do this according to the law established for us. Which one? “Unless your righteousness, said the Lord, exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, then you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Let us show great zeal and preserve all truth in excellence, while still living on earth as in heaven, and rejoicing with the angels. In this way we will achieve future blessings, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The psalms in the text are translated by P. Yungerov - Editorial office of the ABC of Faith You might be interested in: