Daughter of Zion ...Chronicle by Glenda Wilson

Ps 137:1-6 BY THE rivers of Babylon, there we [captives] sat down, yes, we wept when we [earnestly] remembered Zion [the city of our God imprinted on our hearts]. 2 On the willow trees in the midst of [Babylon] we hung our harps. 3 For there they who led us captive required of us a song with words, and our tormentors and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill [with the harp]. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember you not, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy! [Ezek 3:26.] AMP

About 3 years ago, I began working on a piece with a willow tree. I was really going “through some things”. I felt a kindred spirit with it. Although the living waters of the spirit ran within me. I was in a place where my head and branches hung low. The willow was so incredibly beautiful and stately, yet it looked so sad. I began to speak to it, though I was really encouraging and exhorting myself. I said.

Willow tree oh willow tree, why are you looking down,
When the God of the universe has given you a crown.
Lift up your limbs that always hang so low
And look toward the Son who brought salvation so long ago”. 

I could not seem to finish it so I laid it aside. Personally, I have come to know that without the inspiration of the Spirit of God, I am just wasting time. Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. The piece may have been out of sight, but not out of mind and heart. I have longed for the day when the Lord would reveal its meaning and purpose.

Isa 44:3-4 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.

When I read Psalm 137, I immediately remembered the piece that I began so long ago. He created willow tree to thrive near the waterways. We find early in scripture according to Lev 23:40, they used the willow in constructing the booths for the Feast of Tabernacles and in Isa 44:3-4 it is likened to believers who were thriving in their God.

However, I began to see that the Sovereign God –the creator of the universe who stands outside of time saw a time when the Daughters of Zion would go into captivity. Seeing their plight and anguish; perhaps with grief in His heart, He wept. Therefore, He created a tree that would reflect the mournful state of affairs–one that was melancholy in its nature … with its head and limbs hung low.

There by the rivers of Babylon, the Daughters of Zion would weep for their homeland; they would mingle their tears with the streams by which they camped. The Babylonians thought that they had chosen the place for the conquered-downtrodden Jews to camp, but nothing lies outside the sovereignty of God. It may seem that our enemies have dictated the place of our captivity. But He has gone before us and prepared the place for ultimate deliverance.  

This was indeed a grievous time for them, how distressed they were, for their estrangement from Zion was more heartbreaking than being away from their own homes. Weeping and wailing for many reasons. Perhaps also tears of repentance remembering that the prophets warned them of the consequences of their rebellion.

We do not see the word “weeping willow” in the word, but we might assume once free from captivity the Daughters of Zion recounted the story of their time in a strange land –it came to be known as the “weeping willow”.

If we gain nothing else from this piece, we shall never again see the willow weeping, but we must see it bowed in submission to its maker, thirsty –planted by the living waters.

Here is a poem that was submitted by a friend.

Daughter of Zion
By Craig Stellpflug
©Copyright 2005 all rights reserved

Rise quickly and awaken O daughter of Zion fair.
Whose beauty’s soft can ne’er compare.
Even while in your slavery the enemy did taunt.
At your nakedness and figure gaunt.

While in sorrow’s throes by the river you did camp.
No longer to sing or trim the lamp.
At last take down your harp from the willow tree.
Play again a sweet worship melody.

Reclaim your youth from the bondages of yore.
But God has healed your spirit sore.
Your soul in brutal captivity was broken and torn.
God has not forsaken you to mourn.

He has healed your bruises and hidden your shame.
Redeemed of the Lord is your name.
For the winds blew as the heathen forces raged.
Until God the demon hosts assuaged.

Play now a new song, mend your heart and be glad .
The weeping willow is no longer sad.
Wherein its cheerless limbs your silenced harp did raise..
But now it bows its limbs in praise.

Claim your deliverance and rejoice your heart.
From your captivity now depart.
As the spirit’s dove comes upon you in its flight.
The angels worship from the height.

Free at last from the oppressive shackles of iniquity.
Play again the truth’s simplicity.
And as the willow that is planted by the living water.
So it is with Zion’s daughter .