Psalms 133
Big idea: Three verses about people getting along, and both images are about something running downward and not stopping. Oil poured on Aaron's head that keeps going — down the beard, down onto the collar of his robes — until the whole man is covered. Dew from Hermon, the tallest mountain in the north, somehow reaching the hills of Zion in the south. Unity is not described as an achievement but as something that spills, and the last clause says what it lands as: life forever more.
Psalm 133 describes the pilgrims standing together. Psalm 134 says goodnight to the people who stay.
133:1–3 — How good it is for brothers to live in unity
Three verses on unity, and both images are about running down. Oil poured on Aaron's head runs into the beard and onto the robes — a lot of oil, used at an ordination — and dew comes down off Hermon in the far north onto Zion in the south, which is geographically impossible and deliberately so. Unity is described as something that descends and spreads, from a source above.
1 A Song of Ascents. By David. See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that came down on the edge of his robes, 3 like the dew of Hermon, that comes down on the hills of Zion; for there Yahweh gives the blessing, even life forever more.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).