There is an old saying that oil and water don’t mix. Yet there is one place in the Bible where these two elements are combined to form one illustration. It is the illustration of unity, and it is found in the 133rd Psalm.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard that went down to the skirt of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.”

The unity of verse one is likened in verse two to the anointing oil, and in verse three to the rain waters that originated in Hermon, and eventually descended upon the mountains of Zion in Jerusalem. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate that these are not two pictures of the same thing, but are progressive pictures, showing successively the unity of the Gospel and Millennial ages.

CONTEXT OF THE 133RD PSALM

It is easy to place this particular Psalm in a context. It is the second to the last of a series of 15, called in the titles, “A song of degrees.” While there are various explanations for this series title, the most reasonable is that they were sung progressively by the pilgrims on their annual trek to the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem.

Picturing a pilgrimage from the Galilean highlands, notice the appropriateness of the allusion in Psalm 121 to the “hills.” There the fearful prospect of highway robbers in the hill country is countered by the assurance of heavenly help.

Similarly, the 122nd Psalm speaks of the anticipation of the journey.

“I was glad when they said, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.”

By the time they were singing the 133rd Psalm, they would be crossing the last ridge of hills before seeing the city itself. Their eyes would be beholding other pilgrims streaming in from the other directions of the compass. No wonder their anticipation would find expression in the words,

“How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

Finally, in the 134th Psalm, they reach their destination and sing their final praise,

“Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.”

THE ANOINTING OIL

Now, proceeding to the two symbols, we see that the anointing oil is treated first. The obvious point of reference is Lev. 8:12,

“And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.”

The lack of a separate reference to Aaron’s sons being so anointed, coupled with the Psalm 133 reference, leads us to conclude that the anointing of the high priest was sufficient for the underpriests as well.

True, in Lev. 8:30, the sons are also sprinkled with anointing oil; but there it was sprinkled and not poured on the head, and there it was mingled with blood, showing that our acceptance is only due to the blood of our Redeemer. (Contrast T37 with T46.) It is also mentioned in Exod. 30:30 that the sons were anointed; however, this does not describe an anointing ceremony, but the use of the anointing oil. Thus this probably refers to the repetition of the anointing with Aaron’s sons when they, in turn, became High Priests. (See footnote on T37.)

Another debatable issue in the application of Psa. 133:2 is whether the term “skirts of his garment” relates to the lower fringes, or to the “hem” that surrounds the neckline. This appears to be a distinction without a difference. Whether oil doused the garments themselves, or flowed along the skin lines within the garments, through the upper “hem”’ the results would have been the same.

Gravity would have eventually brought the oil downward over the entire body to the lower extremities.

Thus the lesson is simple. One anointing covered all head and body.  Our unity is in our relationship to the head. We share a common anointing. The anointing spoken of in Psa. 133 is not that of king and prophet, though they were also anointed. Here the reference is clearly to the priests, because of the allusion to Aaron.

To the journeying pilgrims of David’s day, the joy expressed was in the continuing priesthood, all coming under the common anointing of Aaron. This illustrated the oneness of the “royal priesthood,” where a 2000 year period is spanned under the anointing, or authorization, of Christ. Our unity is in being a part of His body, and thus a part of the High Priest of the next dispensation.

THE WATER WAS DIFFERENT

While the anointing oil was restricted to the priesthood, the same was not true of the rain water. As Jesus expressed it, God “sendeth rain on the just and the unjust” (Matt. 5:45).

At first glance, it is tempting to see in this second illustration of Psalm 133 an allusion to the Jordan river. Rising from headwaters at Mt. Hermon it descends through the Galilee to its final resting place in the Dead Sea. In New Testament times, its waters formed the main baptismal font for the early church. Both John and the disciples of Jesus often used this stream for the baptismal rite. A passing reference to this passage on F443, where the Christian’s unity in the Pentecostal baptism is described, lends force to this lesson.

However, this does not appear to be the primary lesson of Psalm 133. The Jordan water, though it descended from Mt. Hermon, never reached the mountains of Zion. The Jordan valley passes some 30 miles to the east of Jerusalem’s hills, near to Jericho. Jerusalem is watered by its own springs and its streams feed the Jordan, rather than the reverse.

PALESTINIAN STORM PATTERNS

Jerusalem does receive waters from Hermon, but not through the channel of rivers. The prevailing wind pattern of Palestine is westerly from the Mediterranean until the higher ranges of the anti-Lebanon mountains (where Hermon is located) are reached. The winds then are shunted southward along the Jordan valley to the Negev, where the rising heat drives them back westward into the Mediterranean.

This pattern seems documented in the 29th Psalm. There, using the euphemism of “the voice of the Lord” for thunder, a typical Israeli thunderstorm is portrayed . It begins, in verse 3, upon “many waters,“ presumably describing the roiling effect of the storm on the Mediterranean sea. Then, in verses 5 and 6, it reaches the heights of Lebanon. Sirion, in fact, is the name given by the Sidonians to Mt. Hermon. (Deut. 3:9) Then the storm turns southward to Kadesh, the wilderness region in the Northwestern part of the Negev from which the spies went forth Kadesh-Barnea.

Thus the picture seems to be that the dews rising from the melting snows of Hermon joined the rain clouds from the Mediterranean and were directed southward to irrigate the area of Galilee and Judea, including Jerusalem on the Mountains of Zion.

Hermon is spoken of as the dwelling place of Solomon and his love in the Songs of Solomon (Cant. 4:8). It is a leading contender in the identification of the Mount of Transfiguration.* Another name for Hermon is Sion (see Deut. 4:48). This “Sion” should not be confused with “Zion.”

Hermon, then, is an apt picture of Christ and the Church on the sides of the north, looking out over the interests of Israel, the promised land. The blessings – “dew of Hermon” – spread out from them to bless the people of the South, particularly the dwellers of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, here, would then represent resurrected mankind, as they enter into the relationship provided by the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven.

Thus seen, the 133rd Psalm provides a complete picture of unity. First, the unity of Christ and his Church in the anointing (Isa. 61:1-3). Second, the unity that will be afforded humanity by the teachings of righteousness from the mountain of the spiritual kingdom (Hermon) to the “just and the unjust” of the earth.

It is hard to summarize the lesson better than in the words of the Christian Hebraist A. F. Kirkpatrick, as quoted in the Soncino Bible:

“Brethren are to dwell together as brethren should do. A strong and united metropolis, at once the religious and political center of the country, will concentrate and invigorate the whole nation, and spread blessing through the body of which it is the head.”

– Carl Hagensick

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