Psalms 133

Psalms 133:1-3

Psalms 1331. (Psalms 133:1) A Song of Ascents. By David. Behold, how good and how pleasant (is) the dwelling of brethren also together. This psalm is an effusion of holy joy occasioned by the sight of the gathering of Israel as one great household at the yearly feasts. It is distinguished from the later compositions of this series by the absence of complaint or lamentation, while its freshness and vivacity and antique phraseology confirm the title which ascribes it to David. The idiomatic use in the last clause is not easily transferred to any other language.

The meaning may be, that although the children of Israel were brethren even when divided and dispersed, it was only in these great convocations that, besides being thus related to each other, they also actually dwelt together. There might likewise be allusion, in the first instance, to the previous jealousies and alienations in the family of Israel, which seemed to be exchanged for mutual concord and affection, on David’s accession to the throne of the whole nation.

2. (Psalms 133:2) Like the oil, the good (oil), on the head, running down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, which runs down to the edge of his robes. The joyous character of this great family meeting suggests the “oil of joy” (Isaiah 61:3), the standing symbol of festivity, to which a more specific and religious character is then imparted by a beautiful transition to the good oil (i.e. sweet and costly), with which Aaron was anointed (Exodus 29:7; Exodus 30:22; Exodus 40:13), as a sign of consecration and of spiritual influences. See above, on Psalms 2:2. As we read of the anointing of no subsequent High Priest, except prospectively (Leviticus 21:10, Numbers 35:25), the reference here may be confined to Aaron himself. This is alleged to have differed from the unction of the other priests, by adding to the simple application of the oil to certain parts of the body, a copious affusion on the head, extending to the beard and even to the sacerdotal vestments. Some interpreters apply the last clause to the beard itself as reaching down to the mouth or opening at the neck of the official tunic. But the repetition of the verb, and the strong improbability that so much stress would have been laid upon the length of the beard, to which nothing is compared and which illustrates nothing, seem decisive in favour of the other explanation.

3. (Psalms 133:3) Like the dew of Hermon, which comes down upon the mountains of Zion; for there has Jehovah commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. The comparison with oil is now exchanged for one with dew, suggesting the idea of a refreshing, fertilizing influence. As the general comparison with oil is rendered more specific by the mention of the kind most highly valued, because made under the divine direction and applied to a most sacred use, so the general term dew is specified in like manner as the dew of Hermon, the dew falling on the lofty heights of Antilibanus. See above, on Psalms 89:12. How this dew could be said to fall upon the mountains of Zion, is a question which has much divided and perplexed interpreters. Some have assumed a peculiar theory or system of physics on the writer’s part.

Others suppose dew of Hermon to be merely descriptive of the quality, irrespective of the actual place of the deposit. Simpler and more natural than either of these, although not without difficulties of its own, is the interpretation which restricts the comparison itself to the first few words, and includes all that follows in the application. Like the dew of Hermon (is the influence) which descends upon the hills of Zion, for there, etc., the last clause then explaining what this influence was. Whether this be the true solution of the question as to form or not, it is no doubt the essential meaning of the passage, upon any exegetical hypothesis whatever. The dew of Hermon was mere moisture, but the dew of Zion was the promise of eternal life, there made and verified. Even life for evermore, literally life even to eternity.