On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
Babylon means the kingdom, not the city. The Jews gathered by the rivers where they could worship in the open air, since they had no synagogues there. This is history written as it happened, not prophecy: the captivity has come, and the Psalmist speaks for the whole Church under this affliction.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 137:1-9
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. The drooping branches appeared to weep as we did, and so we gave to them our instruments of music; the willows could as well make melody as we, for we had no mind for minstrelsy.
Zion sits covered in cloud, dwelling among Babylon's daughters, tears mixing with the streams. They were posted by the rivers as prisoners of war, quartered there to labor in the galleys or left in solitude to match their sorrow. When they remembered Zion's glory, their love for God's house swallowed up every other care.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 137:1-6