Live Together Series

Psalm 133 “Brothers living together”

Introduction to Psalm: This is the fourteenth Pilgrim Songs or Songs of Ascents. David penned this psalm on the occasion of the union between the northern tribes and southern Judah. They all met at Hebron to make David their only king after the death of Saul and Jonathan. It is attested by Targum and by some manuscripts of the LXX, the attribution of this Psalm to David is sustained by the Scroll of Qumran Cave. Here the psalmist emphasized the Unity, dignity, and Divinity of the saints and the chosen people.

Illustration: Two notorious brothers lived in town. All of their lives they had done horrible things. One day one of the brothers died and the other brother went to the Pastor to arrange for his funeral he told Pastor, "Pastor, during my brother's funeral could you do me a favor?" “Sure’ said the pastor. He told Pastor to call his brother a saint.” The Pastor agreed and word broke like wildfire in the congregation that Pastor would be calling the worst person a saint. During the funeral message, all were eager to hear what the Pastor would say. The pastor paid tribute: "Ladies and Gentlemen we are gathered here today to mourn upon the most wicked, the most hateful, and maybe the worst person we have ever met in our lives, but compared to his brother who is alive. He was a saint."(adopted).

Psalm 133:1 Unity of the Believers

He starts the psalm with the beautiful words “How good and how pleasant, Brothers dwelling together in unity”. The great scholar Matthew Henry says “Unity is not only not quarreling and devouring one another, but delighting in each other with mutual endearments, and promoting each other’s welfare with mutual services, and having one heart, one soul, and one interest”.

Further another commentary known as Treasury of David puts “When they join together and are one in affection, when they are all of one heart, though possibly they are not all of one mind; or, when they meet in affection, though not in one opinion” yet unity must be exhibited in their lives.

Hence, unity is the identity of the Disciples of Jesus Christ. The best and foremost important prayer of Jesus is found in John 17 calls for unity among the followers of Christ. Paul says “you agree with one another and have no divisions among you” (I Corinthians 1:10), agree for the sake of unity, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the community, for the sake of Church existence, for the sake of unbelievers. And further Paul says “Be of one mind and live in peace” (II Corinthians 13:11), Live in harmony with one another (I Peter 3:8) with One thought, one purpose, one goal, and one aim.

Mom’s Bible Journal says “sadly, unity is not a word that describes the Church of today; division and factions are more accurate descriptions of the condition of today’s church”. Another scholar Coffman Comments “Despite its fragmentation, despite its bitter disputes, anathemas and denunciations are still surpassingly Church is beautiful”. Further, he elaborates “God has commanded us to keep the "Spirit of unity in the bond of peace"; but we cannot `keep' that which does not exist”. So that what we can do is only look up to God in our helplessness and plead with Him to look upon us all with loving compassion and pity to create unity.

Therefore, if we want to bring unity to the Church as Paul says “Make every effort to keep the unity” (Ephesians 4:3), such as the effort of forgiving, the effort of forgetting, the effort of accepting the weakness of one another, the effort of appreciating each other.

Psalm 133:2 Dignity of the believers

Here the Psalmist talks about Ointment/perfume. He refers to the perfume made by Moses and later passed on to the priestly family. That Ointment was holy. Here the Ointment is compared to Unity in Love (1 John 5:1). This composition of Ointment was a divine dispensatory; God appointed the ingredients and the quantities. It was very precious, and the like to it was not to be made for any common use.

The ointment and perfume make the heart rejoice. Aaron and his sons were not admitted to do ministry unto the Lord till they were anointed with this holy ointment. Therefore, our services are not acceptable to God without love and unity within us. Often the Church promotes things that do not exist in the Church, which is very difficult to put into practice. The oil signifies worship, feasting, and celebration in unity. The flow of oil from head to the floor is the fullness of the Holy Spirit among the united. If we are united our unity is known to the outsiders, unbelievers, they will testify. The Gospel will have its own advancement in the unrighteous and crooked society.