Psalm
135 – “Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord!
. . . Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; celebrate his lovely name with
music” (135:1-3).
He is kind and greater than all the gods. “He
causes the clouds to rise over the whole earth. He sends the lightning with the
rain and releases the wind from his storehouses” (135:7).
In Egypt, God “performed miracles and wonders”
(135:9). It is God who brings down nations and opens space for His people.
The God of the Jews, creator of nature and
power behind history is not like the “gods of the nations,” gods made of silver
or gold. Those who worship such gods – may they all become like these gods.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm
136 – “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His
faithful love endures forever” (136:1). This refrain follows every verse. God’s
glories are repeated – the earth, the sun and moon, his work in the history of
his people, his conquest of the kings defeated by the Jews. And even when the
Jews were defeated, He did not forget them. His love is eternal. He freed them
from their enemies.
Psalm
137 – “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there
we wept when we remembered Zion” (137:1). How many
times have I sung these words?
In Zion, the Babylonians forced the Jews to
sing, to entertain them. And then the psalm ends with a horrendous plea for
vengeance – “Happy are those who pay you [Babylon] back for what you have done
to us – who take your babies and smash them against a rock” (137:8-9). It is very hard to read these words and know how truly they
reflect a very common human response to brutality and defeat.
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