Don't let the Strange Land take your praise Psalm 137:1-4
Notes
Transcript
God always
Leave us with a reason
to Praise Him
And He left us
Different ways to Praise Him
The 7 different types of Hebrew Praises
YADAH ( yaw-daw ) — to worship with the extended hand. The giving of oneself in worship & adoration
TEHILLAH ( the-hil-law ) — a spontaneous new song. This refers to a special kind of singing. It is singing unprepared unrehearsed songs.
BARAK ( baw-rak ) — To kneel or to bow. To give reverence to God as an act of adoration. It implies to continual concious giving place to God.
HALAL ( haw-lal ) — To shine; hence, to make a show , to boast.
TOWDAH ( to-daw ) — agreeing with what has been done or will be.
ZAMAR ( zaw-mar ) — to sing with instruments. To make music accompanied by the voice.
SHABACH ( shaw-bakh ) — to address in a loud tone, a loud adoration, a shout! Proclaim a loud voice, unashamed.
And these Jews
Have allowed
This strange land to take their Praise
1st Thess. 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
What’s a strange Land — anything that you’re not used of, familiar with, accustom to, a place you never saw yourself in
Psalm 137 History
Being exiled
to a foreign land
was one of the covenantal threats
for disobedience
to the Lord
tangible evidence
that they were under
divine judgment
for breaking
the stipulations of the covenant
He had made with the nation of Israel
In 597 BC
The Babylonians under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar
Came in and conquer
The southern kingdom of Israel
Known as Judah
And destroy the capital city
Known as Jerusalem
In this time
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians
Destroyed the sovereignty
Of Israel in 597 BC
And Israel would not
Regain sovereignty
Over that land until 1948
They have been a displace people
Who did not have sovereign control
Over the land the Lord had given them
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians
Came in and destroyed Jerusalem
And the reason it”s call EXILE
When Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians
Came in and destroyed Jerusalem
They laid hold on 4,600 Jews
And exile them
To live in Babylon
Under the hand of the enemy
That destroyed their homeland
You need to know
That it was the custom
Of the Babylonians
That when they conquered a nation
That they didn't just take anybody
They took the best of the best
And left the remaining remnants in Jerusalem
While 4,600 Jews
Where EXILE to Babylon
To live as Babylonian citizens
In essence
They took from Jerusalem
All the human resources necessary to rebuild the city
Even though it was rough
For the remnant of the Jews
Who remained in Jerusalem
The reality of it was
Even tougher for the EXILES
Who now live in Babylon
So the 4,600 Jews
Had to wait
For word of mouth
On the ground
To know what was happening back in Jerusalem
And slowly
Word begins to get to Babylon
That the city had been destroyed
And the temple had been burn down
And that left them with questions with no answers ( WHAT”S REALLY GOING ON )
And now to make matters worse
They are now living in hostile enemy territory
they are now living with the Babylonians
living with people they don't like
adjusting to food that they are not accustomed to
living in a city that they don't know nothing about
working jobs they have no experience at
Learning a language they do not speak
being in a religious system that does not worship the God of their fathers
At this time the 4,600 Jews
The only thing that gave them hope
Was 3 prophets
The only thing
That they can hold onto
Was a word from Ahab, Zedekial & Hananiah
And these 3 prophets
Gave the EXILE some hope
By telling them
That the Lord says “ the EXILE will only last 2 years
These 3 prophets
Gave the EXILE
Some FALSE HOPE
That the Lord
Will deliver you out of Babylon
If you hold on to God for 2 years you'll be back in Jerusalem
And God
Will destroy the Babylonians
That have you captive
And you will be back in Jerusalem
And now this letter comes from Jeremiah ( Chapter 29 )
It's here
Where Jeremiah writes
To the 3,023 Jews
That had already been EXILE
And Jeremiah tells them
“ Y'all don’t listen to Ahab & the other prophets
Ahab - Zedekial - Hananiah is not speaking to you on behalf of the Lord
the Lord told me to write to you
in EXILE that it wouldn't be 2 years but 70 years
And now These Jews
feel That because of where they are
They can’t Praise The Lord
But it’s not where they are
It’s about their mindset
1st They was in a Pitiful Position ( V 1A )
In the text
These Israelites
Was sitting
And sitting
was the official position for mourning
Note: That’s one of the reasons at funerals the family don’t stand
Note: The church need to learn how to get out of their Pitiful MOURNING POSITION
Note: They still had a reason to Praise God that they was ALIVE
1st They was in a Pitiful Position ( 1A )
2nd They was Pondered on the Past ( V 1B )
This painful
and traumatic experience
is still fresh
and raw for the singers
And they are remembering Zion
Here is what they are saying
we are here in Babylon
And we are remembering Zion
noticed
they don't say Jerusalem
because in their cultic Life
of Israel
Zion is a specific reference
to the house, home and presence of God
So here's
what they're saying
in essence in Psalm 137
“ We are here and we remember God is back there “
( In their mind )
we can't praise God
where we are
because God is not
where we are
God is where
we left him
in the temple
so they begin to doubt
the presence of God
in Babylon
because they had limit
the presence of God to Jerusalem
And now
Jerusalem have been destroyed
and the temple is no longer
and God is over there
and there's no way
God is over here with us
He is the problem !!!!!
God was never
in favor of the children
of Israel
building a temple
when David
wanted to build a temple
God objected for one reason
God objected to the temple
because God preferred the tabernacle
I don't want the temple
I want the tabernacle
the word tabernacle literally means
“ move along side with “
And God said
the reason I’m objecting
to the temple
is that the temple
is stationary
and I know you
If you build a temple
you will think
the only place
I dwell is in the temple
and you will forget
that I am a tabernacling God
When you was in the wilderness
I was tabernacling with you
when your enemies came against you
I was tabernacling with you
When you was sick
I was tabernacling with you
When you didn't know
where you was going to go
I was tabernacling with you
And the Psalmist
is looking at their place
and forgetting
God is a tabernacling God
“ Wherever you go I will go with you “
It's easy to praise God when you're in church
It's easy to praise God when your bills is paid
It's easy to praise God when you're free from sickness
It's easy to praise God when everyone likes you
There’s sometimes
You have to not Ponderer on the Past
But deal with
The right now
1st They was in a Pitiful Position ( 1A )
2nd They was Pondered on the Past ( V1B )
3rd They Preferred Pouting over Praise ( V 2 )
Psalm 137:2 “We hanged our harps Upon the willows in the midst thereof.”
Footnote: Praising God is a choice
Footnote: Willow trees met them where they were, willow tress had low-hanging branches and limbs
The worship of the Lord
in Jerusalem
had resounded with music
but now his people
were geographically and emotionally
distant from the place
and pulse of praise in faraway Babylon
They brought their harps
And didn’t feel like
playing them ( Music was important to their worship )
Music was a way
to express their grief
And seeking the Lord’s help
And they HUNG UP what was suppose to PICK THEM UP
137:4 The songs of Zion were composed to be sung at the temple or on the way to worship there.
Any singing of Zion
in Babylon
therefore
would be insincere and inauthentic, just a pretense
Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: But a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
1st They was in a Pitiful Position
2nd They was Pondered on the Past
3rd They Preferred Pouting over Praise
4th Their Praise was Predicated on there Place
Psalm 137:4 “How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a strange land?”