Was Moses a Man of God? How do we interpret this Psalm.

Philosophy Forums Religion and Spirituality
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Psalms 137:9 , has been interpretted to death. From what I know Psalms is a book of mainly songs, and many theologians see this book as God describing what will happen?.. Not that he wants it to happen, but the men who bash your young ones upon rocks will be happy… Then others interpret as Moses and The israelites killed babies upon rocks and were happy. Then some think Moses was that of Jihad, while some thing he was a man of God?

I basically want to know what some of the Christian debators or Scyth or Faust think of this subject, I don’t want some Irrelevant Dan answer, you will need to show reasoning behind what you believe this text says and who moses really was.

As far as the impression I got, Louis Pojman, a Churchman, has called Moses something close to that of Jihad and says the Torah was Total War and not Just War(even though the Just War theory was unheard of then, it could still have been practiced).

Discuss, I’d like to know more on this subject.

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IMO, the song is about revenge.

let’s break it down:

the location is set, the captives are singing from Babylon.

They hung up their musical instruments, becuase they connected music with their faith.

the babylonians demanded to hear the hebrew play these songs of joy. Of Israel (of zion).

How can they be joyful while in captivity?

Remember… jerusalem is connected to Zion, and is connected to YHWH (LORD). If I (being the singers of this song) forget Jerusalem, they may as well forget how to play their harp!

May they no longer be able to sing, their praises of joy… for they have forgotten that joy.

This context is important… They will revisit the Edomites, what they did to the hebrews on that day. Through the thought of revenge, it gave them the hope they needed to continue to sing.

The question is, how do you view justice? Were the hebrews justified in wanting to visit the destruction upon their captor, that was visited upon them?

Cultural context is important, and without that, it would seem that the hebrews are not justified. The commandment against murder, is not against killing. The commandments themselves lay out when it’s important to kill. Sometimes within our own cultural context they do go to far… like the wayward defiant child. But, I think that the destruction of those who would destroy is important justice.

Why does our country have a problem with murder and gangs? because they aren’t publicly executed. It’s harsh, but the only truthful way we can deal with some madmen.

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Just when you think someone is a total lunatic, they ruin it with a great piece of logic.

Nicely done scythe, and I agree completely. (pick your jaw up, nothing lasts forever)

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maybe you’d be impressed with my words of wisdom more often if you stopped making assumptions about my “angle.”

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Well he thought he was. He kept the family name.

Those ancient languages, like modern Hebrew didn’t have vowels, hence he was M’s’s, which meant ‘son of’. eg Ram’s’s (Rameses), Tutm’s’s (Tutmosis) and Thutem’s’s (Thutemosis), ‘Son of the sun’ etc.

So all the pharoahs reckoned they were descended from celestial bodies, and indeed they returned to them after death. This religious system had kept the Egyptians in order for a couple of thousand years or so, so I guess he decided to keep it.

It would appear that Moses was a member of the ruling elite and decided, for whatever reason, to leave Egypt and take a few friends (servants?) with him.

As for ‘Was he a man of (the modern concept of) God?’ It looks pretty doubtful.

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Oh come on scythe, I don’t do the “angles” thing, never have, I have just seen how you use your personal symbology, and the appearances that they give. Nothing more.

Still, you captured the essence of this question quite estutely. Well done.

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Psalm 137 is about judgment with mercy. Man’s relationship with God had gone evil. Man had strayed from his “Zion” and repented for his transgressions.–“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept (repentance) when we remembered Zion” (strayed) from Zion–. Because of man’s stubbornness in breaking the “covenant” by sinning, he was ashamed and humiliated by his tormentors. --"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 us one of the songs of Zion. “-- Man begins to understand his “sins”–How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”–and desired to return to the patient God. God disciplines with justice.–“If I forget you O jerusalem may my right hand forget its skills, may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”–Man’s own action and conduct brought the fall of “Jerusalem”–“remember O Lord what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. Tear it down, they cried, tear it down to its foundation”
“O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us- he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”- O daughter of Babylon, you are guilty, you will repay according to your deeds and work, O daughter of babylon, its time to experience and repay for all the wrongs you have done, O daughter of babylon the time to harvest will soon come, O daughter of Babylon, time to learn your lessons, O daughter of Babylon, those who contributes to the destruction of babylon will also know the
Law of Compensation. Karma. Karma is not vengeance. It is a law. You reap what you sow.

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Hi Club. When we ran acrooss this quote in college, my teacher appealed to a quote from CS Lewis, who said on the subject: You know all those little sins that are cute and you’re attached to and don’t want to be rid of? Let them all be dashed against the rocks!