Question:
Some have said that the psalm “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down” could not have been written by David, because David did not sit by the rivers of Babylon. This happened during the Babylonian captivity, hundreds of years after David… It is also noted that the psalm says “we sat down” in the past tense, meaning something that had already happened.

Answer:
As a general principle, we say to you that David did not write all the Psalms. Rather, they were attributed to him because he wrote the majority of them.

Nevertheless, even if David did write this psalm, there is nothing to prevent that…

Perhaps he wrote it in the spirit of prophecy, through the inspiration of the prophet who sees the future as though it is happening or has already happened.

And the use of the past tense does not at all conflict with prophecy.

For the psalm that prophesied the crucifixion of Christ also spoke in the past tense.

David said in it: “They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones” (Ps. 22:16–17). And it is clear that David’s own hands and feet were not pierced.

But he said this in the spirit of prophecy concerning Christ, and he said it in the past tense about things that would happen in the future—to another person and not to himself…

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Five (Issue Eleven) 14-12-1974

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