Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Coming down upon the beard,
Even Aaron’s beard,
Coming down upon the edge of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon
Coming down upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever.
2 Questions
1) What motivated King David to write Psalm 133?
2) What has Unity to do with Life Forever?
The Past
He starts off by making a statement – how wonderful brotherly unity is. And, without asking the
question ‘what is unity like?’, he answers it by saying ‘It is like……..’. In order to understand what this unity is, we need to go back to his past experience and especially his experience with Jonathan, son of Saul.
As a principle, every spiritual experience that we have that has anything of notable eternal value, always has its beginnings (the source) with God. It is God who initiates, and in 1Samuel 18vs1, He initiates the uniting of the soul of Jonathan with the soul of David. What was God’s purpose in doing this? Interestingly, it was to be a Prophetic Enactment of what God was intending to do a thousand years later, and beyond.
This unity that David and Jonathan experienced under the Hand of God, was to David, better than the love of women – 2 Samuel 1 vs 26.
“I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
You have been very pleasant to me.
Your love to me was more wonderful
than the love of women.”
This unity was not homosexual in nature. He was saying, it was better than the love of women. And because it was so much better, David compared it to the anointing of Aaron the High Priest. Why did David compare unity to the anointing of Aaron? Aaron the High Priest represented the nation of Israel. On the day of Atonement, Aaron stood before God representing the whole nation of Israel – as One. It was a poignant reminder of their oneness as a nation.
The Present – prophetic fulfilment of Psalm 133.
The elaborate description of the oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard is where we come to the Prophetic nature of this Psalm. When we compare what Jesus (our High Priest) accomplished on the cross for us, He (the Head), was anointed with the Holy Spirit (the precious oil) which He then poured out upon His waiting disciples of 120 disparate men and women (down to the edge of His robes) – making them One on the day of Pentecost. It was a prophetic description of the birth of the Church united as ONE with the Head! Acts 2.
King David could not have envisaged what Christ would do a thousand years later but in his attempt to describe the unity which he experienced, God used it prophetically to His purpose.
And, what was the content of the High Priestly prayer of Jesus in the Gospel of John 17? Is it not about the love of the brethren, Unity and Life Forever that Jesus accomplished through His death? Is it not what King David was trying to describe in his relationship with Jonathan?
The Future of Psalm 133
The second question, – what has unity normally to do with life forever? NOTHING. It can only be possible through Jesus. No amount of unity can ever produce life forever. Yet in Jesus, we have Unity and we have His Life. And that Unity and Life Forever will truly only be fully realised when the Consummation (Ephesians 5:31,32) of the ages takes place i.e. when Christ Jesus comes for His bride, and, even beyond the Millennial reign of Christ. Much of this the Lord has yet to reveal. This is our future and hope.
Brother Steve Yap
