Daily Meditations

Psalm 137:3-4 Sing the songs of Zion What a horrible place to be in! Taken captive by an oppressive regime, the Israelites were transported to Babylon, a land of pagan deities with temples and sacrifices to Marduk, Ishtar, Nabu et al. The Israelites only had one God and now they were exposed to a culture that was pantheistic and that was steeped in superstition and idol worship.  Faith in YAHWEH was at the very heart of what the Jewish people lived for, their Temple and their holy city were sources of great national pride and now they were learning the lessons of their disobedience and their neglect. They had taken God for granted and lived with little regard for His laws, now they were exiles in Babylon and the shame of their foolishness hit home very hard. To add insult to injury the Babylonians asked to hear their psalms, their songs of joy, they wanted to be entertained by the Jewish musicians and singers, they demanded to listen to one of Zion’s songs. It was a hard call,...

Psalm 137:2 The sound of silence. What a strange verse! I live in a village that is renowned for its poplars! Apparently, a wealthy landowner from the past decided to line the roads with these trees and they have been tended and planted ever since. Poplars are fast growing and can reach up to 40 meters in height (that’s 130 feet). These trees can also live for up to 400 years, presumably they were “popular” in Babylon. (Excuse the pun.) The Psalm now adds a strange fact; it was on the poplar trees that the exiled Jews hung their harps! Isaiah writes of the Tribulation of the last days, and he uses these words,  “The joyful timbrels are stilled, the noise of the revellers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.”  Isaiah 24:8. Job writes as follows, “ My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.”  Job 30:31. I am a very amateur musician, but I do know that minor keys, especially D minor, are associated with sadness and melancholy. It seems that the Bab...

Psalm 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon The notes in my Study Bible introduce this Psalm as follows: - “A plaintive song of the exile – of one who has recently returned from Babylon but in whose soul there lingers the bitter memories of the years in a foreign land and of the cruel events that led to that enforced stay.” Previous Psalms have described the love that the Israelites had for Zion and the Temple of God and its feasts and ceremonies that accompanied their faith. This Psalm also reflects those sentiments and the pain of being separated from the City of God.  Boney M turned these words into an international hit song in 1978, these are the lyrics they sang. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion When the wicked Carried us away in captivity Required from us a song Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land When the wicked Carried us away i...

Psalm 136:26 His love endures forever! What a Psalm this has turned out to be! At first sight it appeared to present a number of well-known Biblical events and then follow them up with a repetitive slogan that promotes God’s enduring love. Perhaps we’ve all skimmed over these words and failed to grasp the deep lessons that underly them. The final verse is similar to verse 1, an injunction to give thanks to the Lord, plus a reminder of who He is. But note, whilst preceding verses have described God’s creative powers and His interaction with the earth, this last verse takes us to a different place, beyond the stratosphere, to a spiritual world that all of us have yet to enter. Why end in this way? It’s because the Lord wants to remind us that His enduring love is not just earthbound, but it exists in a world beyond this earth, and it is here that love will accompany us forever. In other words, God will continue to love us just as much when we leave this planet as He does while we are her...

Psalm 136:25 The Creator's intricate designs It has become almost a daily occurrence now, that my attention is drawn to some wonder or object of God’s creative genius; a fact about a bird or a plant, the sight of a butterfly on the wing, the awe-inspiring pillars of cloud on the horizon, I could go on and on. On every occasion, I find myself asking the question, “How could anyone believe that all of this came together by accident rather than design? How could intelligent people miss the complexity, beauty and creative design that is evident all around us?” Paul states succinctly, in Romans 1:18-23, that the truth about God is plain, it can be seen in all that He has made, there is no excuse for people’s ignorance. But rather than acknowledge God, men dream up alternative theories as to how the heavens and the earth came into being and then they parade their so-called knowledge as wisdom, a wisdom that, in their view, far outshines the pathetic notions and ignorance of the “God-fear...

Psalm 136:23-24 When will it end? There were many occasions when the fortunes of Israel hit rock bottom. They ran out of food and water in the wilderness. They faced the perils of the Red Sea, as we saw in v13-14. There were endless occasions when they confronted overwhelming enemy forces, and it seemed that their fate was sealed. The ultimate ignominy was being crushed by all-powerful empires such as the Assyrians and Babylonians and later of course, the Romans. The existence of that nation has been a flickering flame against the backdrop of human history and at times the flame has almost been completely snuffed out.  Modern history is no different, today’s headline news (23/07/2025) has to do with accusations of genocide aimed at Israel because of their treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza. The Jews would argue that they suffered far worse in the holocaust and for centuries before, wherever they went in the world. They might also argue that they are surrounded by Muslim nations ...

Psalm 136:21-22 The land of Israel is an inheritance Remember those Scriptures that we have quoted on several occasions? God first promised the ancient land of Canaan to Abraham,   “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”   Genesis 15:7. Jacob heard a similar pronouncement from heaven when he dreamed of a stairway with angels ascending and descending, the Lord spoke to him with these words,   “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.”   Genesis 28:13. Moses had similar instructions when God told him, at the burning bush, that he intended to bring the Israelites out of Egypt   “into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.”   Exodus 3:8 But note also the words of the Lord as He announces that t...

Psalm 136:19-20 Removing the nephilim The Amorite kings were Sihon and Og, (king of Bashan) and you may remember that it was Moses who defeated these two when he led the Israelites up the eastern border of the River Jordan, thus clearing the way for those tribes who would inhabit the eastern lands, namely Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh. (Numbers 21:21-25) Various Scriptures, including  Deuteronomy 2:24-37, 3:1-11 and Amos 2:9-10, describe these events showing that they had considerable significance in Israel’s history.  This was not just a battle for land, it was a conflict between YAHWEH and other gods! Bashan (fertile land) was considered to be a pagan place. In ancient Mesopotamian writings it was ruled over by divine but dead warrior kings who inhabited the underworld! In that language it was called “Bathan” which means serpent. The ancient people called Bathan “the gates of hell.” In later times, one of its cities, Caesarea Philippi, was devoted to the go...

Psalm 136:17-18 The God who fights for His people Who are the great kings who were struck down by the Lord as He helped the Israelites to reach, and then take, the land of Canaan? Joshua 24:8-13 has an impressive list: - 8  “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites   who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.   9  When Balak son of Zippor,   the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor   to put a curse on you.   10  But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you   again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand. 11  “‘Then you crossed the Jordan   and came to Jericho.   The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites,   Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites,   but I gave them into your hands.   12...

Psalm 136:16 He leads His people through the wilderness The Lord God knew the Israelites better than they knew themselves! For instance, when they first left Egypt, He deliberately led them south on an elongated route towards the desert rather than have them head off on the obvious road to Canaan, that headed directly northeast. Why?  “When Phraoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road towards the Red Sea.”  Exodus 13:17-18. Psalm 78:52-53 says,  “But the Lord brought His people out like a flock; He led them like sheep through the wilderness. He guided them safely, so they were unafraid. ” Our spiritual lives should never be static, and the Lord certainly does not want us to turn around and head back towards Egypt. That is why we sometimes find ourselves on a torturous ro...

Psalm 136:15 A God of love or a tyrant? There is a distinct conflict here in the way that people view the Lord God. As we have seen, in verse10, He was a mighty and miraculous deliverer so far as Israel was concerned. He brought them out of Egypt and freed them from slavery and oppression, and so, they could say  “His love endures forever!”  However, the same events were viewed from a completely opposite perspective by Pharaoh and the Egyptians. To them, the God of the Hebrews was a vicious tyrant who had slaughtered their male offspring and humiliated them as a nation. When Pharaoh sent his army in hot pursuit, he had still not learned his lesson. He believed that he could overcome the Israelites and drag them back to Egypt for further decades of enforced slavery. Neither did it enter his head that there was a God who was mightier and greater than the armed forces of Egypt. Once again, he would be proved wrong. Once again, the Egyptians would suffer because of his pride and u...

Psalm 136:13-14 He divided the Red Sea There have long been debates about the exact location where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Some people say that the Red Sea is actually the Reed Sea and that there may have been passably dry areas where the people were able to cross over! Others look for shallower waters further south and there are modern discoveries that suggest that the crossing took place at the southern end of the modern-day Gulf of Suez, opposite Mount Sinai.  Let’s look at the facts as described in Exodus 14. Firstly, God used a strong east wind that blew all night to turn the proposed route into dry land. Secondly, the water that was parted stood like a wall on the left and the right of the travellers as they passed through. Thirdly, when the water flowed back into place, it was sufficiently deep to drown the entire Egyptian army! By the way, my wife and I learned recently, on a guided trip round the British Museum, that when ancient civilisations like the Egyptian...