For those who wish to read my earlier article in English, here’s for you.

For those who wish to read my earlier article in English, here’s for you. Who Composed Psalms 137? “By the Rivers of Babylon..” is a very famous song by The Melodians and Boney M in the 70s. The lyrics, though, were taken from Psalms 137. Who, then, composed such soul-moving words of laments and sorrows in a psalm (Hebrew song)? If you had said, “since it is in the book of Psalms so, the composer must have been King David”, you’ll be absolutely wrong. Because not all Psalms were composed by King David.

Psalms 137 was composed long after the passing of King David. After King David’s death, his kingdom was passed down to his son, King Solomon. After Solomon’s death, the kingdom was ruled briefly by Solomon’s son Rehoboam before it was divided into two kingdoms; the Northern Kingdom (Israel), and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) (1Kings 12, 14:21-31, 2Chron. 10-12).

The Northern Kingdom (Israel) was repeatedly attacked by their enemies, and Assyria ransacked their Capital City Samaria in BC 721. Similarly, the Southern Kingdom was also attacked by Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar, captured their Capital City Jerusalem, and took away many of their citizens in BC 597. That’s how Daniel and his three friends became officials in Babylon.

Such attacks occurred under the rules of King Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (2Kings 24). During their captivity in Babylon, the people of Judah expressed their yearning for Jerusalem – a communal lament about being in exile. Of course, this was many years after the death of King David, and hence, for obvious reason the composer can’t be King David. The Babylon rivers that was referred to in the Psalm were Euphrates and Tigris rivers still exist in modern Iraq. Prophet Jeremiah was attributed to be the poet of the Psalm in Septuagint (OT in Greek).