For Brethren To Dwell Together In Unity: An Exposition Of The 133rd Psalm

For Brethren to Dwell together in Unity: An Exposition of Psalm 133

The 133rd Psalm is one of the shortest psalms in the Bible, yet it speaks a wonderful message. How pleasant it is when there is harmony in the household. The reason it stirs up such sentimentality is that it seldom works itself out. To understand how precious unity is, one had to experience dysfunctional relationships. This prerequisite is not lacking in too many of us. We live in a world full of conflict at every level. The world always seems tottering on the precipice of war. Fractures occur in nations. There is racism and tribalism. Local communities are ill at ease. When we come home, conflict awaits. So the idea of unity comes from the deepest desire of our hearts. How do we get there?

First of all, we must understand that the world has always been restless. Communities have always been restless. Families and individuals have always been restless. We can look at old time TV shows like “Father Knows Best” and imagine that the world was once like this. But I can remember the air raid drills and fallout shelters. I can remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember Vietnam. I remember the riots of the 60’s. So things weren’t so wonderful back then. Families and people were troubled. There might be more or less “dis-ease,” but even in the best of times, things were far from perfect.

We don’t know when the 133rd Psalm was written, but if one reads about the history of Israel and Judah in the Bible, we can see that things weren’t much different back them. The names and places were different, but this same restlessness existed whenever it was written. It is one of the “Songs of Ascent,” a group of Psalms collected together which were sung or chanted on the pilgrimage up to Jerusalem. This, at least, is how it was applied. In Hebrew thought, one always goes up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem stood on Mt. Zion, so this climb was literal. But is way also symbolic. One’s thoughts were to ascend as he or she walked up to the city. We would call this “lofty thoughts” or “idealism.” People were to center their thought on the perfection of Yahweh, the Creator. They were to take their thoughts off of themselves and their problems. Yahweh was so much greater than these.

The psalmist uses two metaphors to describe the unity of God. Yahweh is One.” The first metaphor is the sweet smell of the anointing oil poured over the head of Aaron. One can see Aaron in his beautiful garments and the oil dripping over them. This evokes pleasant thoughts. The blessing of unity pours down from Yahweh unto Aaron, the priest of His people. We think when we see this that this same blessing is also available to us as well. The second metaphor compares the blessing of Yahweh to the dew of Hermon which flows upon the mountains of Zion. This metaphor takes a little more explanation. Water is precious in Palestine. The rains provided fresh water to drink rather than the putrid water in the cisterns. The rainy season was always welcomed, as it gave life for crops also. Much of the water which flows down the Jordan River comes from the mountains of Hermon in Lebanon. Because the mountain is high, fog, rain and even snow comes down upon the mountain to provide visual refreshment as well as real refreshment to the people.

The psalmist pairs the dew of Hermon to the dew falling upon Mt. Zion. Mt. Zion gets much less moisture than Hermon as it is at the edge of the desert. So even when the morning dew falls upon it, it is a blessing. But we must remember that a metaphor is used to point to a greater reality. Mt. Hermon provides water to drink and irrigate crops. But Mt. Zion gives comfort to the troubled soul. We certainly need earthly food and drink. Yahweh supplies that. But He also calls us to receive spiritual refreshment. We cannot live by bread alone. There is a thirst that water cannot quench, no matter how fresh and cool it might be.

St. Augustin talks about this spiritual thirst. He says that the soul is always restless until it finds its rest in Him. The French mathematician and theologian, Blaise Pascal, says that there is “a God-sized hole in everyone’s heart. This points us to join the Jews and the saints of the church in spiritual pilgrimage into the presence of God. In Old Testament times, the physical presence of God was in the Temple at Jerusalem. We understand along with Solomon that God cannot be contained in a building, no matter how spectacular. Even so, the Temple was a special place. We are temporal creatures. We can think upon the omnipresence of God in theory, but it is hard to relate on a physical level. The Temple was a condescension on the part of God to meet this desire. In our day, the Temple of God is in the heart of the believer. Wherever we are and whatever our situation, we do not need to go to a place on earth which God designated but rather to the Holy Spirit who dwells within, who desires to quench our thirst.