Home memories: A literary and biblical study of Psalm 137!

Psalm 137 refers to the period of the Babylonian exile. It appears to be a turbulent time for Jewish culture, marked by pain, suffering, deprivation, imprisonment, and even irreparable losses. The listener/reader, upon hearing it and/or reading it, thanks to the fresco offered by the lyrical poetry (vv. 1a-9b), understands that the collective self of Israel at the time was experiencing a new phase of slavery. On one hand, it uses unique strokes to describe the day-to-day life of the Hebrews within the walls and settlements in Babylon; on the other hand, it clings to the song, using the latter as an instrument of liberation and as sustenance capable of alleviating the homesickness, nurturing among the people the good memories lived and celebrated in Zion. However, this entire narrative, whose theme sings the "migrant" life of an exiled people, found meaning thanks to its main character: the LORD(((sic))" (4a-7a).