Brief thoughts on Psalm 137:5-6.
A 2016 underwater archaeological excavation off the coast of Tel Dor in Northern Israel revealed an inscribed stone block confirming the name of the Roman governor of Judea during the time leading up to the Kochba revolt. Recall, after this, the Romans decided to abolish the province of Judea and to obliterate any mention of its name. This brought to mind Psalm 137:5-6 (NKJV):
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth— If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.”
The Hebrew text of Psalm 137:5-6 is especially stunning! Here is another way that it can be read and understood:
“If I forget you Jerusalem (speaking to the feminine gender), she will be forgotten! She will cleave to my tongue, to my palate (towards the roof of my mouth) if there has not been to me a mention (memory). If there is no going up (rising) towards her, Jerusalem above, the head of my joy (rejoicing).”
In my Hebrew reading of Psalm 137:5-6, it appears to me that this is pointing us upward towards what was said in at least four places of haBrit haChadashah (the New Covenant):
1) Galatians 4:26, “but the Jerusalem above is free, she is the mother of us all.”
2) John 3:6-7, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’"
3) 2 Corinthians 5:5, “Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is Elohim (God), who also has given us the Spirit as a down payment.”
4) Revelation 3:12, “I will write on him the name of my Elohim (God) and the name of the City of my Elohim (God), the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from my Elohim (God).”
The Jerusalem of Psalm 137:5-6 is also Jerusalem above as she is called a "Mother;" that is, the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) of promise. She is the same one that raised up Yeshua from the second death (Genesis 2:17 and Revelation 2:11), on the Third Day.