For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psa 133

1 How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life for evermore

A. Find Out

1. What is good and pleasant? v.1
2. What is that like? v.2a
3. What did that do? v.2b-
4. To what else is it compared? v.3a
5. Why? v.3b
6. What does that produce? v.3c

B. Think:

1. What is the heart of this psalm about?
2. What do the comparisons say about it?
3. What is the end product of this?

C. Comment:

                These psalms or songs of ascent, are like a series of mini-meditations on particular themes that affect the people of God. This fourteenth one focuses on the wonder of a community of unity and how it receives God’s blessing.

                In verse 1 there are two facets that go together. First there is the experience of brothers (and this can include the wider community) living together in unity (v.1b), but rather than take that for granted the psalmist makes us pause and realise that that is both good and pleasant (v.1a). It is ‘good’ because it is how God has designed us to be and it is ‘pleasant’ because it creates an enjoyable experience.

                But then he gives two things that he uses to compare it. The first is the anointing oil (v.2a) that was poured on Aaron’s head when he was consecrated to the role. That oil came in such profusion that it ran down Aaron’s head, then down his beard and then down on his robes (v.2a-c). The thing about this is that it spread and it smelled beautiful. Unity is a spreading fragrance. The second comparison is the dew on Mount Hermon (v.3a) in the north, a high mountain where the dew was deep, and he imagines that dew coming down on Jerusalem, because there the Lord decrees His blessing (v.3b). The Lord bestows His blessing on unity and from that comes everlasting life (v.3c)

D. Application:

1. The Lord’s will is unity among His people.
2. Where there is that unity, life and blessing are released.