Psalm 137 begins: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept” (NIV). It is a psalm full of pain. The Jews had experienced their nation over-run by the Babylonians and their capital city Jerusalem destroyed after a brutal, three-year siege. Many of the Jews had been slaughtered, and most of the rest had been sent into exile in Babylon, months away from their homeland. These exiles were shocked by what happened next: “There our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’” (Psalm 137:3). This demand was either a way of mocking the defeated Jews or maybe just a demand that their Jewish captives serve them by providing entertainment. The Jews refused. The hung their harps on poplar trees and cried, “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:2,4). The Jews felt so overwhelmed by the disasters they had experienced that they did not have the heart to sing. Singing is an expression of joy, and they had no joy. Moreover, their Jewish songs did not seem to fit in this foreign land.

Added to this was the real fear, expressed in verses 5-6, that the Jews would be in exile so long that they would forget their songs, lose their love of their homeland, lose their national identity, and lose their faith in their God: “If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.” There was a real danger that the Jews would be overwhelmed and absorbed into Babylonian culture, just as the northern kingdom of Israel had earlier been exiled and absorbed into Assyrian culture. The Jews affirmed that they would rather lose the ability to play and sing if they could not and did not use those gifts to worship the true God.

The Jews also felt immense anger against their neighbors, the Edomites, who had rejoiced in the destruction of Jerusalem, hoping to take over at least some of the Jews’ land: “Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell” (Psalm 137:7-9). They understandably expressed the desire that the Edomites would suffer the same fate that the Jews had suffered. It was a call for just retribution.

And yet that is not how things worked out.

In the first place, this psalm was likely written by one or more of the temple musicians (worship leaders). They had expressed the impossibility of singing the Lord’s songs in a foreign land—and ironically they had expressed this by writing a new song. They were musicians, and they couldn’t help but make music.

Further, “singing the songs of the Lord songs in a foreign land” is exactly what the Jews in exile in Babylon did. Jews such as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego made a profound impact on Babylonian society, declaring their knowledge of the true God and converting many of their captors. In exile, they developed the synagogue system that enabled them to preserve the Scriptures that God had revealed to them, not just in exile in Babylon but also when they were later scattered throughout many other nations for thousands of years. The synagogue system provided the model for Christian churches, which have also preserved and taught God’s Word throughout the world. Like the Jews in Babylon, most Christians throughout history have lived in pagan societies. It is the duty and calling and joy of Christians throughout the world to “sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land.” It is our responsibility to declare God’s revelation also, and especially, where we think it least likely to be heard and accepted.

The Edomites were eventually conquered but not as brutally as the Jews had been. And later on some of them became Christian believers, as the Lord’s song was also sung among them.