Skip to main content

The Harpist by the River

Preface

One of the songs that has haunted me all along is By the Rivers of Babylon by Boney M [1978]. It is inspired by the biblical Psalm 137. The Psalm was written after the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II, conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed their most sacred temple in Jerusalem. The Jews were soon exiled to Babylon. Then some Babylonians asked the Jews to sing songs for them. Psalm 137 is a response to that: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in an alien land?” There is profound sorrow in the psalm. Exile and longing for homeland, oppression by enemies, and loss of identity are dominant themes. Boney M succeeded in carrying all those deep emotions and pain in their verses too.

As I was wondering what to write for today’s #WriteAPageADay challenge, Boney M’s version of Psalm 137 wafted into my consciousness from the darkness and silence outside my bedroom long before daybreak. How to make it make sense to a reader of today who may know nothing about the Jewish exile and their agonies? The following story was the answer. 

The Harpist by the River

Fiction

“I won’t sing anymore nor play the harp until Yahweh wreaks vengeance upon the Babylonians for destroying His Temple,” Nathan vowed as he hung his harp by a piece of palm rope on the branch of a poplar tree not far from the Euphrates. The Temple was built by none other than King Solomon and it housed the sacred Ark of the Covenant. And now it lay in smithereens. Destroyed by idol-worshipping pagans.

“Destroying the enemy’s temple is the worst anyone can do to them,” Amos said to Nathan. Amos was Nathan’s best friend. “See, even your God is powerless in front of us – that’s what the enemy wants to tell us through this destruction.” Amos wondered whether Yahweh was indeed powerless though he didn’t articulate that blasphemy. How many times has Yahweh abandoned us again and again? Amos’s faith in Yahweh was strong, but had it begun to waver a little?

We are the chosen race, according to Yahweh’s repeated assurances. Amos reflected to himself. But He has given us up umpteen times by now. If only He didn’t choose us anymore!

And the next moment he sought Yahweh’s forgiveness. Blasphemy is a huge sin.

A Babylonian messenger came and ordered Nathan to go with him to the house of noblewoman Amat-Ishtar.

“The lady has heard about your magical music and wants you to play for her in her court.”

Nathan refused bluntly.

Amos came to his rescue again. “You’d better go,” he counselled. “That lady is very powerful and you know what power means for helpless people like us.” Amos asked Nathan to remember Eliakim.

Eliakim was a Jewish scribe. That is, a religious scholar and copyist. He refused to work for Amat-Ishtar and so he was starved to death. Power sucks your blood to the last drop either way: your skills or your very life.

Nathan didn’t want to die of starvation. Not yet. He has to wait until Yahweh proves His prowess to the Babylonians. “If I forget you Jerusalem, may my right hand wither!” Nathan muttered to himself. And said yes to the messenger.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I forget you. Nathan was composing his new song as he walked to the palace of Amat-Ishtar.

Amat-Ishar, graceful outside and feral inside, thought Nathan was singing about her. She was used to adulation.

She was swayed by the magic in Nathan’s harp. Intoxicated by Nathan’s love for Yahweh which she mistook as for her.

“Your wish will be granted,” Amat-Ishtar declared solemnly in the stupor of her intoxication. Nathan wanted Eliakim back.

And Eliakim, the scribe, appeared before him in minutes. A skeleton that didn’t even have the energy to stand erect. He was not dead yet; he was dying. Yahweh is great, Nathan muttered to himself.

Nathan sang for Yahweh again and again. Ceaselessly. 

By rivers cold, we wept so long,
Our harps in silence knew our pain,
Yet hope has burned, a hidden spark,
And now we rise to sing again!

Nathan’s music had magic.

“Bring fire to your lines, man,” Amos said to Nathan. “Only when poetry sets hearts on fire will Yahweh come with his brimstone to Nebuchadnezzar.”

Arise, Yahweh, arise and become a flame in our hearts, Nathan’s poetry acquired a new tone altogether. Yahweh’s power is our power, he sang. The Jews repeated his lines.

What is God but the longing in human hearts? Amos contemplated.

And now we rise to sing again!

Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh… They chanted… until Yahweh brought Cyrus of Persia to take back Judah from Babylonians and let Yahweh’s own people return as well as build a new Temple.

“One Nation One Religion is a policy of bigots,” Cyrus declared. “Let every citizen discover his God in his own heart. To every man his own God.”

Amos was happy to let Yahweh return to his heart though Yahweh hadn’t changed a bit all the while. Nathan continued to play his harp in the new temple in Jerusalem. And his songs returned to the old harmonious melodies. The Jordan river gurgled on merrily.

PS. Both images generated by Copilot Designer

Labels:

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanFebruary 19, 2025 at 5:28 AM

    Hari Om
    A tidy tale... we could do with a few more harpists for real! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liz A.February 19, 2025 at 8:54 AM

    Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sintra blogueFebruary 19, 2025 at 2:29 PM

    thanks! by the way, an appropriate song :) https://youtu.be/l3QxT-w3WMo?si=XSV8hsxG_RHITiXx

    ReplyDelete
  4. rupam sarmaFebruary 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM

    Beautiful, well written

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In this Wonderland

I didn’t write anything in the last few days. Nor did I feel any urge to write. I don’t know if this lack of interest to write is what’s called writer’s block. Or is it simple disenchantment with whatever is happening around me? We’re living in a time that offers much, too much, to writers. The whole world looks like a complex plot for a gigantic epic. The line between truth and fiction has disappeared. Mass murders have become no-news. Animals get more compassion than fellow human beings. Even their excreta are venerated! Folk tales are presented as scientific truths while scientific truths are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. When the young generation in Nepal set fire to their Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, they were making an unmistakable statement: that they are sick of their political leaders and their systems. Is there any country whose leaders don’t sicken their citizens? I’m just wondering. Maybe, there are good leaders still left in a few coun...
12 comments
Read more

Death as a Sculptor

Book Discussion An Introductory Note : This is not a book review but a reflection on one of the many themes in The Infatuations , novel by Javier Marias. If you have any intention of reading the novel, please be forewarned that this post contains spoilers. For my review of the book, without spoilers, read an earlier post: The Infatuations (2013). D eath can reshape the reality for the survivors of the departed. For example, a man’s death can entirely alter the lives of his surviving family members: his wife and children, particularly. That sounds like a cliché. Javier Marias’ novel, The Infatuations , shows us that death can alter a lot more; it can reshape meanings, relationships, and even morality of the people affected by the death. Miguel Deverne is killed by an abnormal man right in the beginning of the novel. It seems like an accidental killing. But it isn’t. There are more people than the apparently insane killer involved in the crime and there are motives which are di...
7 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
47 comments
Read more

When Cricket Becomes War

Illustration by Copilot Designer Why did India agree to play Pakistan at all if the animosity runs so deep that Indian players could not even extend the customary handshake: a simple ritual that embodies the very essence of sportsmanship? Cricket is not war, in the first place. When a nation turns a game into a war, it does not defeat its rival; it only wages war on its own culture, poisoning its acclaimed greatness. India which claims to be Viswaguru , the world’s Guru, is degenerating itself day after day with mounting hatred against everyone who is not Hindu. How can we forget what India did to a young cricket player named Mohammed Siraj , especially in this context? In the recent test series against England, India achieved an unexpected draw because of Siraj. 1113 balls and 23 wickets. He was instrumental in India’s series-levelling victory in the final Test at the Oval and was declared the Player of the Match. But India did not celebrate him. Instead, it mocked him for his o...
6 comments
Read more

Whose Rama?

Book Review Title: Whose Rama? [Malayalam] Author: T S Syamkumar Publisher: D C Books, Kerala Pages: 352 Rama may be an incarnation of God Vishnu, but is he as noble a man [ Maryada Purushottam ] as he is projected to be by certain sections of Hindus? This is the theme of Dr Syamkumar’s book, written in Malayalam. There is no English translation available yet. Rama is a creation of the Brahmins, asserts the author of this book. The Ramayana upholds the unjust caste system created by Brahmins for their own wellbeing. Everyone else exists for the sake of the Brahmin wellbeing. If the Kshatriyas are given the role of rulers, it is only because the Brahmins need such men to fight and die for them. Valmiki’s Rama too upheld that unjust system merely because that was his Kshatriya-dharma, allotted by the Brahmins. One of the many evils that Valmiki’s Rama perpetrates heartlessly is the killing of Shambuka, a boy who belonged to a low caste but chose to become an ascetic. The...
8 comments
Read more