Biblical Vision Of CommitmentMuestra

The Jews and their commitment to Yahweh 

In Psalm 137 we see the heartfelt yearnings of the Jewish people in exile. By the rivers of Babylon the Israelites make one of the most important decisions in history, to stay committed to Yahweh no matter what. To give some background to their situation (which we can find in Jeremiah 52) Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon had destroyed the temple of Jerusalem and taken the Israelites captive. For a Jew God resides in the temple, so if a foreign power had destroyed Yahweh’s abode and taken His people away then that leads to a very difficult existential situation which challenged their theology. The Jews were now forced to interpret these events in light of what they knew about God.

Whenever a tribe was captured by a foreign power, the whole tribe would usually give up their god for the new god because the new god had proven himself/herself to be more powerful. It was a common practice to abandon their known god and embrace the new god in light of the captivity. But the Israelites do something radically different. By the rivers of Babylon they decide not to abandon their God but repent for their sins. In fact it says in verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 137, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, If I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!” such strong language is used to ensure that the people do not forget Yahweh, the God who brought them out of Egypt. They understand that their existential situation is not because Yahweh is not powerful but the consequence of their own actions.

They come to the conclusion that it was Yahweh who has allowed the foreign power to attack because of their own disobedience. And instead of abandoning Him, they decide to hold stronger to Him and repent.

This is a strong lesson for us. Many times we might interpret our difficult situations as God not caring for us or our situations being too big for God to handle (even though we might not state it in those words). But we should not derive our understanding from our existential circumstance but rather from the revelation of God through Jesus Christ. We commit ourselves to the God who loves us no matter what our situation may be. He is the true and lasting one. It is only to Him and Him alone that we give our allegiance to. God is still the one on high, he deserves nothing less than our absolute commitment.