Psalms — Chapter 136

SUPER FLUMINA BABYLONIS ILLIC SEDIMUS ET FLEVIMUS. Lapide: Psalm 136 — the great exile psalm. "Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion." Lapide: the pathos of exile is one of Scripture's most powerful images. Literally: the Jewish exiles in Babylon (587 BC). Allegorically: the soul in the exile of this life, weeping for the heavenly Jerusalem. Tropologically: the soul in the exile of sin, weeping for lost grace and union with God. Lapide: "Illic sedimus et flevimus" — "there we SAT and WEPT": the helplessness of exile expressed in the posture of sitting (one who has given up moving) and weeping (one who has given up hope of return on their own). The only resource: God's fidelity to His promise of return.