Singing in Minor Keys
Google Images Judah has fallen—several times! In a succession of invasions, the Babylonians, as instruments of God’s judgment, have taken the royal city. They have removed most of the inhabitants and taken them into captivity. Only the poorest are left behind (2 Kings 25:12). But what is worse is the total destruction and dismantling of the city and the temple as described in 2 Kings 24 and 25. Solomon’s glorious expression of worship is reduced to a pile of pebbles and its riches are either destroyed or carried away. In passages like Psalm 137 we discover the depth of the despair all this caused in the Hebrews. The were devastated. But to add insult to injury the captives were commanded by their captors to sing songs! How could they be expected to sing under these circumstances? “ 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 ...