Not so Good Theology
Reading Scripture is tricky business. Perhaps the trickiest part of all is that when we read it, we read it as us. We consider it in an immensely selfish way that is constructed of what we are able to understand, what we are willing to consider, what we are willing to dismiss out of hand as completely inappropriate or unreasonable. We tend to condition the text so that it ends us saying less of what it actually intends to say, and more of what we would prefer it to say.
Nobody is immune to this, though we can and should condition ourselves to be aware of this fact and read Scriptures carefully, soas to hopefully minimize the additional meanings that we layer into it or substitute.
Let's begin by agreeing that the language of Psalm 137 is pretty intense. Far more intense than we're used to hearing in Scripture - though frankly that's only because most folks ignore large swaths of Scripture and focus on an extremely narrow selection of verses that they find helpful and comforting.
The allegorical interpretation that the author diverts to is understandable. How much more appropriate that we be praying for the conversion of our enemies, not their destruction. I agree with the sentiment, which is very much in keeping with the overall Scriptural narrative that describes a Creator God intent on reconciling as much of humanity to Himself as is willing to be reconciled.
However to apply this interpretation we have to ignore the whole of the rest of Psalm 137. We have to ignore the bitter situation of the Israelites in exile. The people who watched their homes and temple and city burned to the ground. Who watched their young men killed in battle and their young women raped. Who have been taken far away to a foreign land where every moment of their existence is a state of ritual uncleanness with no possible way of making themselves clean. Where they are tormented and mocked by their captors who have rejected God and believe their own idols to be superior.
And to apply the allegorical interpretation suggested also de-emphasizes the Psalms recognition that there are enemies of God who refuse to be reconciled to Him. And these enemies will receive the reward of their rebellion. Suffering in the absence of God for eternity. It is not our job to decide who is beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit's power, and that's why we are called to pray for our enemies. But at the same time we need to be cautious of shying away from the reality that those who refuse God's reconciliation through Jesus Christ will indeed suffer. There is justice and Truth, and refusal to acknowledge and live in the light of justice and truth and righteousness always bears a cost - a cost that the rebel is not in a position to dictate.
This Psalm ought to drive us to fervent prayer for our enemies, that they will indeed be saved. But it is also a promise to those who suffer under the heel of oppression regardless of time or place or circumstance that there will be a day of judgment where their tormentors will be called to account for their actions. It's a sobering Psalm. Sin and death deserve nothing less than very stark, sobering treatment so that we don't get too comfortable with them.
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