Gela

Gela
He leads me beside still waters

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Psalm 137: A study in grief, loss and culture shock


Kate Bradford

Psalm 137 can be read over quickly in order to glean factual information. Such a summary may note that the Psalm was written as a result of the siege and final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. (586 BC) The people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, were taken captive and exiled by the Babylonians. Psalm 137 records the experience of some of the captives. The psalm is set by the waters of Babylon which are possibly a network of irrigation canals between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The captives are musicians, possibly Levites of the priestly class responsible for temple music. They are taunted by their captors who demand that they sing their holy songs before a profane audience. They refuse. They remember instead the beauty of Jerusalem and their music; they remember the betrayal by the Edomites, their brothers, and express their desire for revenge on the whole Babylonian society.

If the only purpose of the psalm was to record historical facts, then these sad events have been recorded in other places. This psalm however offers something in addition to ‘history from above’. By contrast, this psalm offers ‘history from below’, a unique insight into the mental and spiritual world of the captives. The events are told from their unique perspective – our field of vision too is reduced until we know only what they know.

I wish to suggest that this is analogous to a chaplaincy visit. When we enter a situation and hear a story, even if it has been reported in the media, in that first conversation we choose to only know what the suffer chooses to share. They connect words to their experience. As they search for words a deeply affected language emerges. It is pungent with emotion and feeling which conversely may also be demonstrated by an apparent lack of emotion. If we were to read the psalm by limiting our field of vision to only what is shared in the psalm a very different perception of reality emerges.

As we listen we experience in ourselves the extreme grief of the captives.  They sat and wept (vs 1), they hung up their harps on the poplars in a state of despondency (vs 2), they refused to sing songs of joy before their captors (vs 3).  They pledge their undying-loyalty to Jerusalem, and to the memory of the way things were, and they take no joy in the new circumstances (vs 4-6).  They ruminate and rehearse; they catalogue all wrongs done to them (vs7) and fantasize about the destruction of their adversary (vs 7).

The captives are in deep depression, exhibited in despondency, manifested in exercising a control they have left to them – refusal to co-operate. The past is idealised, nostalgia has taken hold and the fond memories of Jerusalem serve the present, forgetful of the apostasy that lead to the exile. They are continually and deliberately remembering the past, all that is lost, all the wrong that has been done to them and they experience anger expressed in a desire for vengeance.[1]

Shocking as some of these sentiments may be, it is helpful to note that the captives are experiencing an entirely normal grief response to the abnormal situation of having survived the deprivations of an horrific two-year siege and the dislocation of a forced exile to a foreign land. Brueggermann, observed that the various psalms describes different phases that are experienced in relationship with God and the world. These experiences may be described as orientation, disorientation or re-orientation.[2] Psalm 137 describes a people in deep disorientation in a state of loss-orientated grief.

If we were to conduct a loss assessment on the captives we would observe that they have experienced loses in every aspect of their lives. Material loss is represented by loss of possessions and homes.  Relational loss has been precipitated by the death toll of war and starvation.  The captives have experienced complete systemic loss with the dissolution of their nation and community. As survivors of a siege and exile they would experience ongoing physical and psychological health problems. Intra-psychic loss is expressed in the loss of future hopes and dreams associated with Jerusalem. For temple musicians the destruction of the temple causes immediate loss of vocational role.  There has been some suggestion that these musicians are working as ditch diggers keeping Babylon’s canals free of silt. This would routinely lead to emotional and spiritual losses caused by humiliation.

In this case it is also interesting to note that the captives have experienced almost all common symptoms of culture shock which are known to be exacerbated in cases of enforced removal or repatriation. Typical symptoms are withdrawal; feeling isolated or helpless; sad and despondent; irritable; homesickness; hostility towards host nationals and criticizing local ways of doing things. It is probably helpful to keep in mind that almost all people that a chaplain meets in hospitals, prisons, aged care and mental health facilities will be undergoing some form of culture shock in addition to the many other losses that tragedies bring.

Now, having heard from the captives all they are going through and also reflecting on a couple of assessment models, how does the chaplain help? It is interesting to reflect that knowing about something is not the same as ‘knowing it’. There will always be a gap between the sufferer’s experience and our understanding of their experience.

The captives, like all people going through extreme grief, have a need to tell their story over and over again. The prayer of the chaplain would be that the captives begin to integrate their experience in time and begin to find meaning and purpose to go on orientating towards God rather than further away from him. The chaplain would accompany the captives as they move from a grief-orientated loss process towards a re-orientation process. This process will only be able to happen as the captives begin to deal with the past truthfully as they reflect on why God allowed them to be exiled from Jerusalem in the first place. Over time this would usually lead to a less romantic reflection on Jerusalem. Careful listening reveals that although the captives are missing the songs of God and Jerusalem, they have not mentioned God himself. A re-oriented perspective is that God is with the captives in Babylon, he exists separate from songs about him and his temple in Jerusalem. He has not abandoned his people, he is present with them in the the foreign land. The chaplain guides, offering warm silence and gentle wisdom in the hope of helping to assist the captives rediscover their first love, the hope of a new future. But this is not a truth that can be imposed. It has to be revealed by God himself.
Theologically Psalm 137 asks, ‘Can the people of God, be the people of God outside the Land?’ Humanly speaking Psalm 137 asks, ‘Can any human survive the atrocities that captives such as these have endured?’ On reflection, and over time and with good pastoral care it could be possible for the captives to reply ‘yes’ on both accounts.


[1] For a related discussion see, Viviers, H., 2010, ‘Psalm 137: Perspectives on the (neuro-) psychology of loss’, Verbum et Ecclesia 31(1), Art. #397, 7 pages. DOI: 10.4102/ve.v31i1.397
[2] Walter Brueggemann,  ‘Ch 3 Psalms of Disorientation’, The Spirituality of the Psalms, Minneapolis: Fotress, 2002, pp 25-45.

2 comments:

  1. This article good insights into listening and to loss. They do pray to God in verse 7. Intimacy with God is stronger than words about him.

    Psalm 137 raises some interesting questions. Is the imprecation in verse 9 more the angry face of grief, or a statement about God acting in judgment? How far can a lament for receiving the consequences of God's punishment by exile for the nation's idolatry and injustice be transferred to a context where people are suffering illness?

    What happens when the psalms are processed through the filter of the Cross? (e.g. How far does Psalm 51:11 apply to a New Testament Christian believer?)

    What other Biblical resources will the chaplain use to help take the patient beyond the lament of Psalm 137?

    We shall, of course, allow or facilitate a patient to ventilate anger as part of our pastoral listening, and not work with the patients beyond that with which they are willing to deal.

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  2. Thank you for your thoughtful comments Lindsay. Yes, you are right verse 7 is a cry to God – anguish towards the one who can really hear. This is a thread that can be caught and worked with, they are expressing a belief in a God who will hear them.

    A student asked me one day, wasn’t verse 9 prophesy that was in fact fulfilled at a later stage. I don’t think that there is any reason why it needs to one or the other, quite often truth is blurted out in anger, that it is said in anger doesn’t make it less true, and that it is true doesn’t excuse the anger. Grief removes inhibitors that are usually in place, I sometimes think it act like a truth drug.

    Psalm 51:11 is exactly the sort of place we would hope the captives would eventually reach. Psalm 137 is unusual, belonging to a small group of psalms that do not reach a resolution or place of re-orientation. Many psalms have a ‘but’ that functions as a hinge where the psalmist refocuses towards God i.e. Ps 55:14, But I call to the Lord and he saves me’, or Ps 141:8 ‘But my eyes are fixed on you O Sovereign Lord’.

    Scripture has blessed us by providing us with a true snapshot of God’s deep in despair and disorientation. It is not entirely clear how they will move again towards God, which in turn asks us the question, what would we do in the same situation? Psalm 137 poses more questions than it answers, the 23rd psalm which is also written in the lament genre offers one possible answer.

    How does this psalm filter through the cross? This psalm shows our need for the cross in so many ways. Our hope would be that the captives again turn towards God, and the act of turning is an act of repentance. Such turning is only made possible by God through Christ.

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