Together - Psalm 133
A Song of Ascents. (NRSV)
A Pilgrim Song of David (MSG)
A Song of Ascents. Of David. (ESV)
A pilgrimage song. Of David. (VOICE)
A song of David for those journeying to worship. (CEB)
How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! (NRSV)
How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! (MSG)
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (ESV)
How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in peace! (VOICE)
Look at how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one! (CEB)
For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. (NRSV)
It’s like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron’s beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. (MSG)
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down onthe collar of his robes! (ESV)
It is like expensive oil poured over the head, running down onto the beard— Aaron’s beard!— which extended over the collar of his robes. (CEB)
It is like the finest oils poured on the head, sweet-smelling oils flowing down to cover the beard, Flowing down the beard of Aaron, flowing down the collar of his robe. (VOICE)
How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in peace! (VOICE)
Look at how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one! (CEB)
For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. (NRSV)
It’s like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron’s beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. (MSG)
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down onthe collar of his robes! (ESV)
It is like expensive oil poured over the head, running down onto the beard— Aaron’s beard!— which extended over the collar of his robes. (CEB)
It is like the finest oils poured on the head, sweet-smelling oils flowing down to cover the beard, Flowing down the beard of Aaron, flowing down the collar of his robe. (VOICE)
Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion.
And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
life forevermore. (NRSV)
It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life. (MSG)
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore. (ESV)
It is like the dew on Mount Hermon streaming down onto the mountains of Zion, because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing: everlasting life. (CEB)
It is like the gentle rain of Mount Hermon that falls on the hills of Zion. Yes, from this place, the Eternal spoke the command, from there He gave His blessing—life forever. (VOICE)
life forevermore. (ESV)
It is like the dew on Mount Hermon streaming down onto the mountains of Zion, because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing: everlasting life. (CEB)
It is like the gentle rain of Mount Hermon that falls on the hills of Zion. Yes, from this place, the Eternal spoke the command, from there He gave His blessing—life forever. (VOICE)
-Psalm 133 (NLT)
Harmony, unity, and getting along carry with them the idea of brothers and sisters being able to stay together. Unity is most needed for us to work together, to stay together, and to live together in harmony. We can only have unity if we have maturity and the headship of Christ in the church.
Someone was careful to put these fifteen psalms in a certain order. Psalm 133 certainly comes out of Psalm 132. If You have a life of 'God first', resulting in being a blessing to others, unity or harmony with others comes naturally.
Conversely, if we do not have the maturity of a 'God first' and a 'being a blessing to others', life, then unity or getting along is hard or not possible. 'God first' is a personal and corporate thing.
The beard of Aaron might symbolize that we grow up into maturity. We don't expect babies, toddlers, and even children to be mature. Boys become men and girls become women. There is a time to enter in to manhood and womanhood (1 Cor. 13:11), which I believe is age 13.
The oil that comes down on Aaron's head is the anointing that comes when we are in unity. Notice that it comes on the head first, which symbolizes the headship of Christ. We have Aaron's name here, which I believe is a picture of Christ as the high priest, but his sharing his priestly ministry with all believers.
I believe that the anointing oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit loves the headship of Jesus Christ over his people and he also loves it when his people are in unity, and that these release a blessing from him, like wheels on a cart being oiled so that they roll more freely.
Unity or harmony is refreshing. Refresh means to make fresh again. "May I refresh your water", the waiter might ask.
My dad used to hose down the driveway whenever we had company coming. He refreshed everything and this made things look nicer. That is the picture of waking up to dew being on everything. It is fresh. We call gentle, misty rain, "dew". To me, everything looks kissed when there has been dew. It is a beautiful picture of God's blessing.
God's love for us does not change, even when we sin, or when we refuse to grow up. But since we have freedom as persons and God is also a person. God reacts to things we do sometimes, with a blessing. It is like sensing God's smile. I bet Jesus felt that his whole life. And the biggest example of God reacting perhaps was when God spoke out and said, "this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased".
When God commands a blessing, it is a good thing for us that we don't want to pass up. I believe what God is looking for is for us to be under Christ's headship and thereby, in unity with one another. Unity comes from people who are mature, making God first and who are a blessing to others. And unity only works when all of our life is under Christ's headship.
In summary, Psalm 133 teaches us that harmony or unity among God's people comes from learned maturity. The mature people must come under the headship of Christ in their lives and when they function together. This results in unity or harmony or getting along, which results in the anointing from God, which is an increased presence of the Holy Spirit among us together. And God refreshes those who function in this oneness, all the way to eternal life.
To review the 14 steps we have now covered:
Harmony, unity, and getting along carry with them the idea of brothers and sisters being able to stay together. Unity is most needed for us to work together, to stay together, and to live together in harmony. We can only have unity if we have maturity and the headship of Christ in the church.
Someone was careful to put these fifteen psalms in a certain order. Psalm 133 certainly comes out of Psalm 132. If You have a life of 'God first', resulting in being a blessing to others, unity or harmony with others comes naturally.
Conversely, if we do not have the maturity of a 'God first' and a 'being a blessing to others', life, then unity or getting along is hard or not possible. 'God first' is a personal and corporate thing.
The beard of Aaron might symbolize that we grow up into maturity. We don't expect babies, toddlers, and even children to be mature. Boys become men and girls become women. There is a time to enter in to manhood and womanhood (1 Cor. 13:11), which I believe is age 13.
The oil that comes down on Aaron's head is the anointing that comes when we are in unity. Notice that it comes on the head first, which symbolizes the headship of Christ. We have Aaron's name here, which I believe is a picture of Christ as the high priest, but his sharing his priestly ministry with all believers.
I believe that the anointing oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit loves the headship of Jesus Christ over his people and he also loves it when his people are in unity, and that these release a blessing from him, like wheels on a cart being oiled so that they roll more freely.
Unity or harmony is refreshing. Refresh means to make fresh again. "May I refresh your water", the waiter might ask.
My dad used to hose down the driveway whenever we had company coming. He refreshed everything and this made things look nicer. That is the picture of waking up to dew being on everything. It is fresh. We call gentle, misty rain, "dew". To me, everything looks kissed when there has been dew. It is a beautiful picture of God's blessing.
God's love for us does not change, even when we sin, or when we refuse to grow up. But since we have freedom as persons and God is also a person. God reacts to things we do sometimes, with a blessing. It is like sensing God's smile. I bet Jesus felt that his whole life. And the biggest example of God reacting perhaps was when God spoke out and said, "this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased".
When God commands a blessing, it is a good thing for us that we don't want to pass up. I believe what God is looking for is for us to be under Christ's headship and thereby, in unity with one another. Unity comes from people who are mature, making God first and who are a blessing to others. And unity only works when all of our life is under Christ's headship.
In summary, Psalm 133 teaches us that harmony or unity among God's people comes from learned maturity. The mature people must come under the headship of Christ in their lives and when they function together. This results in unity or harmony or getting along, which results in the anointing from God, which is an increased presence of the Holy Spirit among us together. And God refreshes those who function in this oneness, all the way to eternal life.
To review the 14 steps we have now covered:
- We learn to call upon God and that God saves us and answers prayers.
- We learn that God is our guardian, watching over us.
- We learn to be worshipers, desiring God.
- We choose to humble ourselves as servants as we ask for mercy.
- We cultivate seeing God's workings in our lives, then sharing the stories.
- We learn to live a life of trusting the Lord, that brings security.
- We discover that there is more or we have lost something and ask God for it and learn to release the grief of our hope differed, through tears and we persevere in our walk towards God, with weeping as we walk, and experience astonishing joy from God.
- We learn to trust God to build everything, and we labor under God in building, learning to enjoy finding rest, and becoming aware of the gift of and responsibility of raising children for God.
- We learn that the result of a life of revering God and walking with him is fruitfulness, which means children: your own or spiritual, or metaphorical; and having grandchildren is the end result of a blessed life.
- We learn that suffering is part of the faith walk towards God. God uses suffering to grow us up into Christ-likeness. This may surprise us after we have done so well, 'going wide', in learning to walk with God, cultivating a rich relationship with him, and learning to enjoy the blessings. After learning to 'go wide' with God, having an enlarged 'God life', we begin to learn to 'go deep'.
- We are surprised to learn, after we have been walking with God for some time, that God has more redemptive work that he wants to do in us. We discover deep places where we want God. God in turn redeems us in those deep places with his unfailing, steadfast, covenant love; and we are made more like Christ.
- We learn to humble our selves, and stop all the crying and chatter. We can say that we are not proud, to God, and that we don't have it all figured out, but have a lifestyle of trusting him in our lives, that dethrones pride. We patiently embrace the silence of waiting, and encouraging others in a life of hope in God.
- We learn to be more concerned or preoccupied with God and God's habitation in us, than with our selves, in all our lives. We get a revelation that, "my house is Gods house", and we want to dwell in God in our whole lives and God's presence in our whole lives brings a blessing to others and God blesses us generationally.
- We learn that harmony or unity among God's people comes from learned maturity. The mature people must come under the headship of Christ in their lives and when they function together. This results in unity or harmony or getting along, which results in the anointing from God, which is an increased presence of the Holy Spirit among us together. And God refreshes those who function in this oneness, all the way to eternal life.
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