THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

CXXXIII: The Basis And Blessing Of Brotherly Unity

(Psalm 133:1-3)

I. Introduction

A. Ephesians 4:3 calls us Christians to endeavor to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace.

B. Such unity is achieved when everyone relies on the Holy Spirit for the will and the power to have such unity (Philippians 2:12-13), but Psalm 133:1-3 explains the basis and blessing of brotherly unity.

C. We view this psalm for our insight, application and resulting edification (as follows):

II. The Basis And Blessing Of Brotherly Unity, Psalm 133:1-3.

A. The introductory remarks are part of verse one, so the numbering system in the Hebrew text matches that of the English Bible (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1092). We thus stay with the English Bible's numbering system.

B. We then translate Psalm 133:1-3 (as follows):

1. "A song of ascents of David. Behold! How wholesomely good (tob, Ibid.; Robert B. Girdlestone, Suns. of the O. T., 1973, p. 92-93, 139) and how delightful (na'im, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 653) it is for brothers to dwell in unity, unitedness (yahad, Ibid., p. 403)," Psalm 133:1.

2. It is like the precious olive oil [poured] on the head, running down the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes," Psalm 133:2.

3. "It is like the dew of [Mount] Hermon falling down upon the mountains of Zion, for there (emphatic position to refer to Zion's mountains) Jahweh bestows His blessing of life for evermore," Psalm 133:3.

C. We note significant observations regarding this psalm (as follows):

1. After stating that brotherly unity is wholesomely good and delightful (v. 1), David explained in verse 2a that it is like the "highly perfumed" olive oil used for anointing ONLY the priests, ONLY the tabernacle and ONLY its furnishings, Exodus 30:22-33; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Exodus 30:22-33. Were this oil's special blend of olive oil and spices to be made by anyone else or used for any other purpose, the party or parties responsible were to be executed, Exodus 30:32-33!

2. 1 John 2:20, 27 claims this anointing oil typifies the Holy Spirit in the believer's life, that just as Christ's Person and work is extensively typified in the tabernacle, its furnishings and ministries of the priests and high priest and the Holy Spirit in Christ affected His whole ministry, so we believers today should rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit for the motivation and power to function with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as revealed in Galatians 5:22-23 ESV.

3. However, like the precious oil used to anoint Aaron the High Priest, one must truly be controlled by the Holy Spirit, not by his sin nature for the unity about which David speaks to become a reality in his spiritual walk. Otherwise, if one does not rely on the Spirit and violates Scripture, he is out of fellowship with God and godly believers, 1 Jn. 1:5-7. True unity is marked by righteousness, not unrighteousness!

4. Psalm 133:2b-3 describes the blessings of such true, righteous unity: (a) Just as the precious anointing oil on Aaron's head flows down to give high fragrance to his head, then to his beard and then to his collar and eventually to his robes, so true, righteous unity in the Holy Spirit is winsome in relationships for the whole body of God's people, Psalm 133:2b. (b) Just as the dew of Mount Hermon to the far north begins to drip and collect to form streams that eventually create the headwaters of the Jordan River that irrigate Israel's land to its south with moisture for its crop lands to the blessing of Israel's people, so true, righteous spiritual unity richly edifies and nurtures all of God's people. (c) Just as the anointing oil on the head of Israel's spiritual leader in the High Priest Aaron and the dews of the headwaters of the Jordan River in Mount Hermon start God's blessings, so the Lord uses spiritual leaders who are controlled by the Holy Spirit to instigate edifying true, righteous unity throughout the body of His people for their blessing!

Lesson: True spiritual unity is wholesomely good, winsome and delightful, but it can only exist where the believers involved rightly relate to God the Holy Spirit, and it is essential that the human leaders of God's people rightly relate to the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit for there to start to be true, edifying unity throughout the body of believers. Otherwise we function in an artificial unity that supplies no real or long-term blessing of unity.

Application: (1) May all of us who trust in Christ rely on the Holy Spirit for true, edifying unity to occur. (2) May especially leaders of God's people rely on the Spirit to heed Scripture that edifying unity might occur in His people.