Context
- Why were the people of Israel taken to Babylon? [ Jeremiah 25:1-14 ]
- What did the Edomites (descendants of Esau) do to their brothers (descendants of Jacob) in their time of trouble? [ Psalm 137:7 ]
- How had Babylon gone beyond the Lord’s command? [ Psalm 137:9 ]
Characters
- Why did the people of Israel sit down and weep? [ Psalm 137:1 ]
- What emotions or thoughts might have been going through their minds?
- What did the Babylonians say to them? [ Psalm 137:3 ] Why might the Babylonians have done this?
- How did the people feel about Jerusalem? [ Psalm 137:4-6 ]
- How was the land connected with the LORD?
- Why was Jerusalem held in the highest regard by the people?
- What are the people crying out for against the Edomites and the Babylonians? [ Psalm 137:7-9 ]
- What does the LORD say about the Edomites [ Obadiah 1:10-14, Malachi 1:3-4] and the Babylonians [ Jeremiah 50:17-18 ]?
Application
- What did the people of Israel value and perhaps more clearly understand in their exile in Babylon?
- In contrast to these things, what should we value?
- How did the people pray to the LORD?
- What has happened to them? How might they have been feeling? How are they being honest with the LORD?