Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Psalms
Book: Psalms
Chapter: 136
Overview:
The Jews bewail their
Captivity.
(1-4) Their
Affection for
Jerusalem.
(5-9)
1-4 Their enemies had carried the Jews
Captive from their own
land. To complete their woes, they insulted over them; they
required of them mirth and a song. This was very barbarous; also
profane, for
No Songs would serve but the
Songs of Zion.
Scoffers are not to be compiled with. They do not say, How shall
we sing, when we are
So much in sorrow? but, It is the
Lord's
song, therefore we dare not sing it among idolaters.
5-9 What we
Love, we
Love to think of. Those that rejoice in
God, for his sake make
Jerusalem their joy. They stedfastly
resolved to keep up this
Affection. When suffering, we should
recollect with godly sorrow our forfeited mercies, and our sins
By which we lost them. If temporal advantages ever render a
professor satisfied at a distance from the ordinances
of
God,or ashamed of his profession, the worst calamity has
befallen him. Far be it from us to avenge ourselves; we will
leave it to Him who has said, Vengeance is
Mine. Those that are
glad at calamities, especially at the calamities of
Jerusalem,
shall not go unpunished. We cannot pray for promised success
to the
Church of
God without looking to, though we do not
utter a
Prayer for, the ruin of her enemies. But let us
Call to
mind to whose
Grace and finished
Salvation alone it is, that
we have any hopes of being brought home to the heavenly
Jerusalem.