Larry McKinney reminisces:
During the harrowing years of the American Civil War, the College of William and Mary (VA), founded in 1693 as the third oldest college in North America, emptied its buildings to supply young soldiers to the cause. Between 1861 and 1865, no students sat in classrooms, no professors prepared lectures, no books circulated from the library, and no graduates received diplomas. The buildings fell in disrepair. Soaking rain dripped through the roofs that needed to be maintained and snow blew into buildings that needed broken windows to be repaired. The campus was like an academic ghost town. No voices were to be heard for four years. It appeared as if the College would never open again.
Yet, everyday of the War, President Ewing left his house and went up to the bell tower of the College chapel. There he would take the rope in his hand and ring the College bell loudly and defiantly in the face of the distraction that maimed the campus around him. The sound of that bell echoed through the empty buildings and across the abandoned countryside. It was the sound of confession and hope that the College would someday open it doors again.
I am reminded of Psalm 137:1-6:
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
Why do God’s people weep? Not merely because of loss of homes and loved ones. But especially they grieve over the loss of Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem was the place of songs (v3), the place where hymns were sung which celebrated the glorious rule of Yahweh, hence “the songs of the Lord” (v4). Perhaps these were even songs sung in the Temple itself .
In the Songs of Zion proper (e.g., psalms like Psalm 46-48) Jerusalem is the site of Yahweh’s throne on earth, the centre from which he rules not merely Israel but all nations (cf. Ps 2). It seems impossible for a grieving people to sing the ‘songs of joy” demanded by their tormenters (v3). It is commonly thought that the hanging of the harps on the poplar trees (v2) means the Israelites were too sad to play such songs.
Another interpretation is that the harps themselves are expressing sorrow and mourning (cf. Lam 1:14 – “The roads of Zion mourn”; so Anderson).
Yet another interpretation is that to sing such songs in a foreign land is to engage in an unclean act : “How can we who are unclean (in that we are punished) sing Yahweh’s praises to an unclean people in an unclean land?” (Anderson).
But the key thing to notice is the psalmist recognition that in fact he must not hang up the harp and must not refrain from singing the songs of the Lord because to do so would be to forget Jerusalem. The question “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” is not merely expressive of the difficulty of a depressed, heavy heart rising in joyful praise, but implies that the very deportation of Israel to Babylon and the demise of Jerusalem seem to indicate that Yahweh’s rule has come to an end.
So Jerusalem and its temple may lie in ruins. Its people may be deported to Babylon where God’s people are tormented by their captors. But whatever catastrophe we the Lord’s people may live through let us determine to sound that bell each day, to keep on singing “the songs of the Lord.”
Posted April 5, 2011
www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au
Upon clicking 'Buy now' you will be redirected to paypal.com where you can securely and quickly complete your purchase with a few clicks.
Immediately after payment at PayPal you will be redirected to a download page which
provides you instant access to your purchase.
