How can we sing a song of the LORD in a FOREIGN land?

[tonychanyt]

Ps 137:

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

Babylon contrasted Zion. The Jews longed for Zion while they were heading to idolatrous Babylon.

2 There on the willows we hung our harps,

Harp was a symbol of music, joy, worship, and civilization. Willow trees associated with drooping branches by watersides, gave the scene a contrasting weeping melancholy. It’s a snapshot of resignation and despair of the captives.

3 for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy:
“Sing us a song of Zion.”

The Jews were not in the mood of singing a joyful song. They could not bring themselves to do it under the circumstances.

4 How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

Why did the captive Jews refuse to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

The foreign land was a pagan land. The exiles were mourning the destruction of their homeland, the Temple, and the loss of their freedom. Singing songs of joy and worship, which were tied to their identity as God's people and their connection to Zion (Jerusalem), felt painful in the context of their captivity and suffering. Singing sacred songs of worship in a pagan land that was tormenting them was wrong. They refused to entertain their tormentors.

Their feeling were the opposite of joy:

8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
9Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

They had nothing but hatred for their captors. They were not in the mood to sing for their enemies.