The year was 587 B.C. The nation of Israel was overthrown, the city of Jerusalem was leveled, and the people of Israel were taken into bondage in Babylonia. The survivors of the brutality and the death march found themselves in captivity in a foreign land, cut off from the holy city and their heritage, their hope and roots, and, most important of all, from the temple, the center of their faith. No longer able to offer their worship around the Ark of the Covenant, unable to offer sacrifices on the altar, they literally felt cut off from God.

Even worse, their captors made fun of them by mocking their ritual practices, mimicking their sacred melodies, and laughing at their holy hymns, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" No wonder they asked: 

How can we sing the Lord's song in the …