תהלים, פרק קל״ז, פסוק ב׳

Following the initial shock of exile, the captives find themselves by the waterways of a foreign land, confronted with the agonizing reality of their displacement. Their grief manifests in a poignant physical action involving the very musical instruments that once brought joy and spiritual elevation, expressing a deep rupture from their past as they face their captors.

The location of this sorrowful moment is firmly within the territory and city of Babylon [רד״ק, שטיינזלץ, המאירי]. An alternative idea suggests this occurred in Zion before the exile, but this is dismissed because the barren willow trees involved in this event naturally thrive along riverbanks. Jerusalem lacked such rivers ever since King Hezekiah sealed the waters of the Gihon [אבן עזרא, רש״י, רד״ק, מצודת ציון, שטיינזלץ].

The primary approach among commentators views the treatment of the harps quite literally, as an act of hanging them upon the branches of these trees. When the exiles attempted to play their music as they once did, the overwhelming memory of Zion flooded them with sorrow. Stripped of any desire or emotional capacity to sing, they abandoned their instruments, suspending them to signify they were no longer of use [רד״ק, אבן עזרא, שטיינזלץ]. This act also served to conceal the sacred harps, which were formerly used in the Temple, within the thick foliage so the enemy could not gaze upon them [מצודת דוד]. Despite the crushing pain of the destruction, the exiles deliberately chose to suspend the harps rather than smash them. They preserved the instruments out of a deep hope that they would one day return to play them in a rebuilt Temple [אלשיך].

Offering a starkly different perspective, another interpretation argues that the Babylonian captors would never have permitted the exiles to simply cease their music, nor would the captives have carried heavy instruments into exile merely to leave them on trees. In this view, the action describes the stretching and tuning of the harp strings, much like pitching a tent. The tragedy, therefore, is not the silencing of the music, but the cruel coercion by the enemy, forcing the exiles to prepare their instruments and perform the sacred songs of Zion against their will [המאירי].

Beyond the literal events, the specific trees involved carry profound symbolic weight. Their name shares a linguistic connection with the concept of pleasantness. Although Babylon offered an abundance of physical comforts, the exiles steadfastly refused to indulge in them. The sharp contrast between the luxurious land of their captors and God's desolate city only deepened their mourning [מלבי״ם]. Alternatively, the name of the trees connects to the concept of a guarantor or security. Suspending their harps represented the exiles' reliance on spiritual guarantors, such as the Divine Presence and the promises of the prophets, which assured them that God would eventually redeem them from their exile [אלשיך].