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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CXXXVII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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There are divers psalms which are thought to have been penned in the
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latter days of the Jewish church, when prophecy was near expiring and
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the canon of the Old Testament ready to be closed up, but none of them
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appears so plainly to be of a late date as this, which was penned when
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the people of God were captives in Babylon, and there insulted over by
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these proud oppressors; probably it was towards the latter end of their
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captivity; for now they saw the destruction of Babylon hastening on
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apace
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:8">ver. 8</A>),
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which would be their discharge. It is a mournful psalm, a lamentation;
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and the Septuagint makes it one of the lamentations of Jeremiah, naming
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him for the author of it. Here
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I. The melancholy captives cannot enjoy themselves,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. They cannot humour their proud oppressors,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:3,4">ver. 3, 4</A>.
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III. They cannot forget Jerusalem,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:5,6">ver. 5, 6</A>.
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IV. They cannot forgive Edom and Babylon,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:7-9">ver. 7-9</A>.
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In singing this psalm we must be much affected with the concernments of
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the church, especially that part of it that is in affliction, laying
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the sorrows of God's people near our hearts, comforting ourselves in
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the prospect of the deliverance of the church and the ruin of its
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enemies, in due time, but carefully avoiding all personal animosities,
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and not mixing the leaven of malice with our sacrifices.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps137_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Sorrows of Captivity.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept,
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when we remembered Zion.
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2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
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3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a
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song; and they that wasted us <I>required of us</I> mirth, <I>saying,</I>
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Sing us <I>one</I> of the songs of Zion.
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4 How shall we sing the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s song in a strange land?
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5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget <I>her
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cunning.</I>
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6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof
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of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here the daughter of Zion covered with a cloud, and dwelling
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with the daughter of Babylon; the people of God in tears, but sowing in
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tears. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. The mournful posture they were in as to their affairs and as to
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their spirits.
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1. They were posted <I>by the rivers of Babylon,</I> in a strange land,
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a great way from their own country, whence they were brought as
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prisoners of war. The land of Babylon was now a house of bondage to
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that people, as Egypt had been in their beginning. Their conquerors
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quartered them <I>by the rivers,</I> with design to employ them there,
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and keep them to work in their galleys; or perhaps they chose it as the
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most melancholy place, and therefore most suitable to their sorrowful
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spirits. If they must build houses there
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+29:5">Jer. xxix. 5</A>),
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it shall not be in the cities, the places of concourse, but by the
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rivers, the places of solitude, where they might mingle their tears
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with the streams. We find some of them by the <I>river Chebar</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:3">Ezek. i. 3</A>),
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others by the <I>river Ulai,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:2">Dan. viii. 2</A>.
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2. There they <I>sat down</I> to indulge their grief by poring on their
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miseries. Jeremiah had taught them under this yoke to <I>sit alone,</I>
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and <I>keep silence,</I> and <I>put their mouths in the dust,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:28,29">Lam. iii. 28, 29</A>.
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"We sat down, as those that expected to stay, and were content, since
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it was the will of God that it must be so."
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3. Thoughts of Zion drew tears from their eyes; and it was not a sudden
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passion of weeping, such as we are sometimes put into by a trouble that
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surprises us, but they were deliberate tears (we <I>sat down and
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wept</I>), tears with consideration--we <I>wept when we remembered
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Zion,</I> the holy hill on which the temple was built. Their affection
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to God's house swallowed up their concern for their own houses. They
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remembered Zion's former glory and the satisfaction they had had in
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Zion's courts,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:7">Lam. i. 7</A>.
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<I>Jerusalem remembered, in the days of her misery, all her pleasant
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things which she had in the days of old,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:4">Ps. xlii. 4</A>.
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They remembered Zion's present desolations, and <I>favoured the dust
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thereof,</I> which was a good sign that the time for God to favour it
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was not far off,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:13,14">Ps. cii. 13, 14</A>.
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4. They laid by their instruments of music
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>We hung our harps upon the willows.</I>
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(1.) The harps they used for their own diversion and entertainment.
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These they laid aside, both because it was their judgment that they
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ought not to use them now that God called to weeping and mourning
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+22:12">Isa. xxii. 12</A>),
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and their spirits were so sad that they had no hearts to use them; they
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brought their harps with them, designing perhaps to use them for the
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alleviating of their grief, but it proved so great that it would not
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admit the experiment. Music makes some people melancholy. <I>As
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vinegar upon nitre, so is he that sings songs to a heavy heart.</I>
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(2.) The harps they used in God's worship, the Levites' harps. These
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they did not throw away, hoping they might yet again have occasion to
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use them, but they laid them aside because they had no present use for
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them; God had cut them out other work by <I>turning their feasting into
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mourning and their songs into lamentations,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:10">Amos viii. 10</A>.
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Every thing is beautiful in its season. They did not hide their harps
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in the bushes, or the hollows of the rocks; but hung them up in view,
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that the sight of them might affect them with this deplorable change.
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Yet perhaps they were faulty in doing this; for praising God is never
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out of season; it is his will that we should <I>in every thing give
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thanks,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:15,16">Isa. xxiv. 15, 16</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. The abuses which their enemies put upon them when they were in this
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melancholy condition,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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They had <I>carried them away captive</I> from their own land and then
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<I>wasted them</I> in the land of their captivity, took what little
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they had from them. But this was not enough; to complete their woes
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they insulted over them: They <I>required of us mirth and a song.</I>
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Now,
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1. This was very barbarous and inhuman; even an enemy, in misery, is to
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be pitied and not trampled upon. It argues a base and sordid spirit to
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upbraid those that are in distress either with their former joys or
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with their present griefs, or to challenge those to be merry who, we
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know, are out of tune for it. This is adding affliction to the
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afflicted.
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2. It was very profane and impious. No songs would serve them but the
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<I>songs of Zion,</I> with which God had been honoured; so that in this
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demand they reflected upon God himself as Belshazzar, when he drank
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wine in temple-bowls. Their enemies <I>mocked at their sabbaths,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:7">Lam. i. 7</A>.</P>
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<P>
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III. The patience wherewith they bore these abuses,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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They had laid by their harps, and would not resume them, no, not to
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ingratiate themselves with those at whose mercy they lay; they would
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not answer those fools according to their folly. Profane scoffers are
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not to be humoured, nor pearls cast before swine. David prudently
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<I>kept silence even from good</I> when the <I>wicked were before
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him,</I> who, he knew, would ridicule what he said and make a jest of
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it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:1,2">Ps. xxxix. 1, 2</A>.
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The reason they gave is very mild and pious: <I>How shall we sing the
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Lord's song in a strange land?</I> They do not say, "How shall we sing
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when we are so much in sorrow?" If that had been all, they might
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perhaps have put a force upon themselves so far as to oblige their
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masters with a song; but "It is the <I>Lord's song;</I> it is a sacred
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thing; it is peculiar to the temple-service, and therefore we dare not
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sing it in the land of a stranger, among idolaters." We must not serve
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common mirth, much less profane mirth, with any thing that is
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appropriated to God, who is sometimes to be honoured by a religious
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silence as well as by religious speaking.</P>
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<P>
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IV. The constant affection they retained for Jerusalem, the city of
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their solemnities, even now that they were in Babylon. Though their
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enemies banter them for talking so much of Jerusalem, and even doting
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upon it, their love to it is not in the least abated; it is what they
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may be jeered for, but will never be jeered out of,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. How these pious captives stood affected to Jerusalem.
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(1.) Their heads were full of it. It was always in their minds; they
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remembered it; they did not forget it, though they had been long absent
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from it; many of them had never seen it, nor knew any thing of it but
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by report, and by what they had read in the scripture, yet it was
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graven upon the palms of their hands, and even its ruins were
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continually before them, which was ann evidence of their faith in the
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promise of its restoration in due time. In their daily prayers they
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opened their windows towards Jerusalem; and how then could they forget
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it?
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(2.) Their hearts were full of it. They <I>preferred</I> it
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<I>above</I> their <I>chief joy,</I> and therefore they remembered it
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and could not forget it. What we love we love to think of. Those that
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rejoice in God do, for his sake, make Jerusalem their joy, and prefer
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it before that, whatever it is, which is the head of their joy, which
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is dearest to them in this world. A godly man will prefer a public good
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before any private satisfaction or gratification whatsoever.</P>
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<P>
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2. How stedfastly they resolved to keep up this affection, which they
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express by a solemn imprecation of mischief to themselves if they
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should let it fall: "Let me be for ever disabled either to sing or play
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on the harp if I so far forget the religion of my country as to make
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use of my songs and harps for the pleasing of Babylon's sons or the
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praising of Babylon's gods. <I>Let my right hand forget her art</I>"
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(which the hand of an expert musician never can, unless it be
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withered), "nay, <I>let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,</I>
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if I have not a good word to say for Jerusalem wherever I am." Though
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they dare not sing Zion's songs among the Babylonians, yet they cannot
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forget them, but, as soon as ever the present restraint is taken off,
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they will sing them as readily as ever, notwithstanding the long
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disuse.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps137_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps137_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Sorrows of Captivity.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>7 Remember, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the children of Edom in the day of
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Jerusalem; who said, Rase <I>it,</I> rase <I>it, even</I> to the foundation
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thereof.
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8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy <I>shall
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he be,</I> that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
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9 Happy <I>shall he be,</I> that taketh and dasheth thy little ones
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against the stones.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The pious Jews in Babylon, having afflicted themselves with the
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thoughts of the ruins of Jerusalem, here please themselves with the
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prospect of the ruin of her impenitent implacable enemies; but this not
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from a spirit of revenge, but from a holy zeal for the glory of God and
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the honour of his kingdom.</P>
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<P>
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I. The Edomites will certainly be reckoned with, and all others that
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were accessaries to the destruction of Jerusalem, that were aiding and
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abetting, that <I>helped forward the affliction</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+1:15">Zech. i. 15</A>)
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and triumphed in it, that <I>said, in the day of Jerusalem,</I> the day
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of her judgment, "<I>Rase it, rase it to the foundations;</I> down with
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it, down with it; do not leave one stone upon another." Thus they made
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the Chaldean army more furious, who were already so enraged that they
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needed no spur. Thus they put shame upon Israel, who would be looked
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upon as a people worthy to be cut off when their next neighbours had
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such an ill-will to them. And all this was a fruit of the old enmity of
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Esau against Jacob, because he got the birthright and the blessing, and
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a branch of that more ancient enmity between the seed of the woman and
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the seed of the serpent: <I>Lord, remember</I> them, says the psalmist,
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which is an appeal to his justice against them. Far be it from us to
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avenge ourselves, if ever it should be in our power, but we will leave
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it to him who has said, <I>Vengeance is mine.</I> Note, Those that are
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glad at calamities, especially the calamities of Jerusalem, shall not
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go unpunished. Those that are confederate with the persecutors of good
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people, and stir them up, and set them on, and are pleased with what
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they do, shall certainly be called to an account for it against another
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day, and God will remember it against them.</P>
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<P>
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II. Babylon is the principal, and it will come to her turn too to drink
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of the cup of tremblings, the very dregs of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>):
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<I>O daughter of Babylon!</I> proud and secure as thou art, we know
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well, by the scriptures of truth, thou <I>art to be destroyed,</I> or
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(as Dr. Hammond reads it) <I>who art the destroyer.</I> The destroyers
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shall be destroyed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+13:10">Rev. xiii. 10</A>.
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And perhaps it is with reference to this that the man of sin, the head
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of the New-Testament Babylon, is called a <I>son of perdition,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+2:3">2 Thess. ii. 3</A>.
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The destruction of Babylon being foreseen as a sure destruction (thou
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<I>art to be destroyed</I>), it is spoken of,
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1. As a just destruction. She shall be paid in her own coin: "Thou
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shalt be served <I>as thou hast served us,</I> as barbarously used by
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the destroyers as we have been by thee," See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:6">Rev. xviii. 6</A>.
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Let not those expect to find mercy who, when they had power, did not
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show mercy.
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2. As an utter destruction. The very little ones of Babylon, when it
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is taken by storm, and all in it are put to the sword, shall be dashed
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to pieces by the enraged and merciless conqueror. None escape if these
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little ones perish. Those are the seed of another generation; so that,
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if they be cut off, the ruin will be not only total, as Jerusalem's
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was, but final. It is sunk like a millstone into the sea, never to
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rise.
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3. As a destruction which should reflect honour upon the instruments of
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it. Happy shall those be that do it; for they are fulfilling God's
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counsels; and therefore he calls Cyrus, who did it, his <I>servant,</I>
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his <I>shepherd,</I> his <I>anointed</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+44:28,45:1">Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1</A>),
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and the soldiers that were employed in it his <I>sanctified ones,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+13:3">Isa. xiii. 3</A>.
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They are making way for the enlargement of God's Israel, and happy are
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those who are in any way serviceable to that. The fall of the
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New-Testament Babylon will be the triumph of all the saints,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:1">Rev. xix. 1</A>.</P>
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