Who is the accepted author of Psalm 137, and if it was David Hamelech, then is it accepted as a prophecy?
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4related judaism.stackexchange.com/q/15215/759– Double AA ♦Mar 10, 2013 at 0:10
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2Ilana, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for bringing your question here! I hope you'll look around and find other material that interests you, perhaps including our 48 other tehilim-psalms questions.– Isaac Moses ♦Mar 10, 2013 at 3:01
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related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/106129/170– msh210 ♦Jul 31, 2019 at 3:18
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3 Answers
- According to Midrash Eicha Zuta, it was written by ירמיה (Jeremiah). This is also reflected in the Septuagint (aka LXX aka Targum Shivim), which opens with the line "By Jeremias, in the Captivity." This is probably the oldest tradition.
- According to Rashi, Midrash Tehillim (aka Midrash Secher Tov), Pesiqta Rabbatti, Ibn Ezra in his introduction to Tehillim, Daat Mikra, (and, if I'm reading them correctly, Ibn Ezra and Radak on this perek), it was composed by exiled Jews as they "sat by the rivers of Babylon." This approach was accepted by the academics Robert Alter, C.A. Briggs, and M. Buttenwieser.
- According to the Metzudat David, based on the Gemara (Gittin 57b), it was written by King David in a prophetic vision. The Yalkut Shimoni quotes this gemara, and the Malbim and Meiri appear to hold this as well. R' Yeshaya diTrani (aka the רי"ד; commentary available in the Mikraot Gedolot haKeter) writes that this psalm was (my translation) "composed either by David or by one of משוררים (psalmists) about the future; that is to say, this is what Israel will say in their exile."
- According to current academic theory (as stated in the JPS Study Bible and by Prof. Shimon Bar-Efrat of Hebrew University), it was written in Israel by someone who returned from the exile in Babylon.
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The JPS Study Bible says that it was written by somebody who returned in the post-exilic period? That's interesting: scholarship that I have seen on the psalm has suggested an exilic origin, given that it ends without any indication of restoration. May 20, 2013 at 8:07
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@ShimonbM - Yes. If you click the link it should take you to that page.– ShmuelMay 20, 2013 at 20:10
The Gemora (Gitin 57b) states that Hashem showed Dovid Hamelech a prophecy of the destruction of the two temples and he composed Tehillim Chapter 137.
However the Ibn Ezra (in his introduction to his commentary on Tehillim) writes that some say it was composed at the time of the Babylonian Exile.
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1Just to add some information to the previous answers, Professor Ta-Shma writes that it is now known that the אחרים אומרים in ibn Ezra refers to Moshe haKohen ibn Jikatilla. (Here, p. 458)– BYGMar 11, 2013 at 4:39
In the introduction to his Moreh Nevukhei ha-Zman, Nachman Krochmal argues at length for the (Ibn Ezra's) view that this mizmor was composed at the time of the Babylonian exile.
