Psalm 136:2
the instruments we play
On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments. (Psalm 136:2 DR)
The greatest temptation for the exiles of Judah as they entered into an unknown future was to forget the land from which they came and to abandon their faith in God now that everything seemed lost.
There is a certain human trait that when we are in sorrow, we almost find a certain solace in our refusing to be comforted. This can be a bad motive when the end is to sink into self-pity and despair, but can be a good motive when done from contrition. The soul that is sorry for its sins refuses to be comforted by anything, for it knows that only God can bring it peace.
Thus for the exiles they have the ability to play their songs of Sion, to perhaps recapture a sweet memory of what had been, but the shock of exile and the contrition for sin make that impossible. How could they be content in a strange land and derive comfort thereof?
The willow tree in the Psalmist’s time was understood as an unproductive tree, and thus for the captives to hang their instruments upon it is indicative of their refusing to be comforted. In the previous verse it was noted that the waters of Babylon are the pleasures and allures of this world which can sweep us away in their current. Here the willow trees are unproductive trees watered by the lusts of this world and all its empty pomp and promises. The temptation to compromise is clearly present— they could after all make a great life here and compose new songs, or fold the memory of Sion into the framework of Babylon. A thousand compromises could be made that would make exile seem less painful, but are ultimately empty:
Willows are unfruitful trees, and here so placed, that no good whatever can be understood of them: elsewhere perhaps there may. Here understand barren trees, growing by the waters of Babylon. These trees are watered by the waters of Babylon, and bring forth no fruit; just as there are men greedy, covetous, barren in good works, citizens of Babylon in such wise, that they are even trees of that region; they are fed there by these pleasures of transitory things, as though watered by “the waters of Babylon.” You seek fruit of them, and nowhere find it. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 136, 5.)
We may not live in a physical exile, but ours is no less real in this vale of tears. How often do we face temptation to force fit our faith into the world’s vision of the good life, or struggle to live virtuously when the crashing waves of vice and temptation constantly try to drag us into the undertow?
To hang up our instruments is to refuse to compromise, to refuse to subsume one’s faith or virtue to that of the world. This can be a costly endeavor, as it may mean foregoing what in and of themselves are goods but are being sought to be used for either lesser goods or even evil. The exiles of the Psalmist’s memory put aside their instruments and thus forsook the joys of the songs of Sion since it would mean singing them in a barbarous land, away from their true home. They chose a state of contrition and sorrow that leads to repentance over the allure of temporary joy that may result in forgetfulness, as the songs of Sion may slowly and imperceptibly become songs of Babylon.
In the spiritual life we are always in a state of sojourning, away from our true home, but we can easily and almost carelessly mistake this world of exile for our true home. The temptation is to begin to sing the songs of foreign lands until those lands get into our hearts and supplant the true telos for which we are made.
The life of prayer and contrition and penance knows that it must be ready to hang up its instruments on the willows, to forsake worldly goods for spiritual ones, to wait for comfort from the One who will eventually bring us back from exile.
This animation is pretty on the nose. I found some great imagery from various medieval apocalypses and cutout a tree and some instruments. Crazy stuff, I know.
In After Effects I basically just placed the precomps of each instrument at a place on these trees and adjusted the anchor point so that they would rotate at the pivot point. I then set some keyframes for the seamless loop, added the loopOut() expression, added some time remapping for some offset and that was that.
Enjoy.
On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.
(Psalm 136:2 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: