Psalm 133
A song of ascents. Of David.
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 forevermore.
Psalm 134
A song of ascents.
1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
***
Imagine road-tripping with friends all through the night to a pristine tropical beach. After many long hours in the car, you finally arrive at your destination. Skipping the hotel, you head straight to the shore. An entire carload of friends sprint through the sand and crash into the waves breaking on the beach. Everyone exclaims in unison how excited they are to be there.
The final two psalms in the Psalms of Ascent give a similar feeling. Starting in 120 and ending in 134, pilgrims sang the Psalms of Ascent as they journeyed toward Jerusalem to worship in the temple. Each Psalm can be read alone, but common themes weave throughout the group effectively leading the readers’ hearts toward God and his throne in Zion as the source of life and blessing. The final two psalms in this grouping express the themes of unity and praising God in his temple. They are best enjoyed, however, as the digestif to a long, multi-course banquet that started in Psalm 120.
Psalm 133 proclaims the blessing of unity amidst God’s people. Unity flows and permeates, spreading God’s blessing to the entire community. David, the author, describes unity with two vivid metaphors. Oil running down the head, beard, and robes of Aaron may seem odd and, frankly, gross to our modern imaginations. However, oil symbolized blessing. Israel anointed kings and priests with oil to show the blessing of the Spirit. In the same way, unity shows that God’s Spirit is at work in his people. Similarly, the dew flowing from the much taller, snow-capped Mt. Hermon blesses the land beneath it, including Jerusalem. Unity is contagious. It feels great when we experience it, and sorely missed in times of tension. As the worshipping pilgrims sing these songs, they’ve nearly reached the temple. As they all converge toward God’s presence together, how natural to exclaim the blessing of unity!
Finally, Psalm 134 concludes the Psalms of Ascent with proper praise. As pilgrims finish their journey, what left is there to do but praise God? It’s as if to say, Hey, you, in the temple! We’re here! Bless the Lord all night long! Raise your hands with us in praise! May our Creator God bless you! After traveling for days, what a sight to behold the temple—the chosen resting place of God where heaven and earth overlap. The final verse provides a fitting benediction by describing God in the same way seen in 120 and 124.
The long journey toward God’s presence didn’t start with the same joyous attitude. In fact, Psalm 120 displays quite the opposite: distress, conflict, and strife. Psalm 123 cries out to God for mercy out of exhaustion from experiencing contempt. Even as the worshipping travelers remembered God’s deliverance in Psalm 126, they recognize the need for it again. All the yearning and pleading, however, is God-ward. No word of these psalms—or any psalm for that matter—directs its prayer to anything but God, the maker of heaven and earth. And the source of their hope physically rested in Zion.
That is, until Israel’s sin forced God’s hand into the judgment foretold from Deuteronomy. His presence left the temple, and his people were exiled from the land. Even after Babylonian captivity, they remained oppressed in their own land by a sequence of foreign powers. No doubt the Psalms of Ascent gave voice to the conflicting fear and hope of God’s people. Yet without God’s presence in the temple—the source of life and blessing—these psalms retained a feeling of supplication rather than victory. In these years, the unity and praise of Psalm 133 and 134 serve to remind God’s people of their need for God’s presence to unify his people and bring victorious praise to their lips.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord … in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell … and tabernacle among us (Romans 7, Colossians 1, John 1). In Jesus, God accomplished all his promises. Not only is God accessible through the once-for-all sacrifice of his Son, but the very Spirit who rested in once in the temple now resides in his people. Even though we don’t physically journey to God’s presence in a temple like our spiritual forebears, Psalm 133 helps us celebrate the unity of God’s people across the globe because God adopted us as sons and daughters. Psalm 134 helps us call our new family to worship knowing that God—he who is making the new heavens and new earth—has already blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1).
We could all dwell a bit more on Psalms 133 & 134 and better learn how to celebrate God’s people across the globe, to seek our unity and see ourselves as family. Click To Tweet
