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Psalm 133 | King James Audio Bible
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The psalm begins with a declaration, ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!’ This opening line serves as a thesis statement, asserting the intrinsic value and pleasantness of communal harmony. The emphasis here is on the collective experience of togetherness, highlighting the inherent goodness found in unity among God’s people.
In the second verse, the psalmist employs a vivid analogy: ‘It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments.’ The reference to the anointing oil on Aaron, the first high priest of Israel, is loaded with connotations of consecration and sacred service. In the ancient Israelite context, anointing with oil was a ritual signifying divine selection and blessing. The oil, often infused with expensive spices, was a symbol of sanctity and set-apartness for a holy purpose. The imagery of the oil flowing down Aaron’s beard to the skirts of his garments symbolizes the overflowing of blessing and sanctification from the head (leadership) to the entire community.
The third verse shifts the metaphorical landscape: ‘As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.’ Mount Hermon, known for its lofty heights and abundant dew, stands as a symbol of refreshment and fertility. The comparison of unity to the dew of Hermon suggests a life-giving, refreshing quality that unity brings to the community. Further, the mention of the mountains of Zion ties this imagery to the spiritual centre of Israelite worship and identity. Zion, often used as a metonym for Jerusalem and the Temple, was where the Israelites experienced the presence of God in a special way. The psalmist implies that just as the dew brings physical sustenance, unity among the people brings spiritual vitality.
The concluding phrase, ‘for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore,’ affirms that in the context of unity, God commands a blessing. This blessing is characterized as ‘life for evermore’, indicating not only physical sustenance and well-being but also a deeper, spiritual life that transcends temporal existence.
Thus, Psalm 133 stands as testament to value of unity. It weaves together ancient Israelite religious practice, the sanctity of leadership, the life-giving properties of nature, and the spiritual significance of Zion. In doing so, the psalm underscores the belief that unity is not merely a social or moral good but a sacred state where God’s blessing and presence are uniquely experienced.
Psalm 133 | King James Audio Bible
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 skirts 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 for evermore.
Psalm 133 | King James Audio Bible
- Value Of Communal Harmony: The opening line, ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,’ places a strong emphasis on the importance of unity among God’s people. This theme highlights the inherent goodness and pleasantness found in harmonious communal living.
- Sanctity And Blessing In Unity: Imagery of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, flowing down to his garments, symbolizes the sanctification and overflowing of blessings from leadership to the entire community. This represents the idea that unity brings a divine blessing and consecration upon the people.
- Refreshment And Vitality From Unity: The metaphor of the dew of Hermon and the dew on the mountains of Zion illustrates the life-giving and refreshing quality of unity. It suggests that just as dew nourishes the earth, unity invigorates and brings vitality to the community.
- Spiritual Significance Of Zion: Reference to Zion connects the theme of unity with the spiritual heart of Israelite worship. It implies that unity among God’s people is particularly significant and blessed in the context of spiritual practice and presence.
- Divine Commandment Of Blessing: The psalm’s concluding phrase, ‘for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore,’ indicates that unity is a state where God commands His blessing. This theme underscores the belief that unity is a sacred state, marked by divine favour and the promise of eternal life.
Psalm 112 centralizes the concept of the righteous life. The psalm praises those who fear the Lord and delight in his commandments. This fear is not about being afraid, but about respecting and revering God, and finding joy in following his teachings. This respect for divine commandments sets the stage for a life guided by ethical and moral values [ … ]
We process. Glass exhibition cases, old reliquaries. A forearm here; here a nun’s fingertip. In chapel, at a glance, there are the usual faces. But they all stand to attention. Jonathan breaks from the procession to – fire the organ with oomph and dignity: Ride on! ride on in majesty! The angel-squadrons of the sky look down with sad and wondering eyes to see the approaching sacrifice. When we’ve done the readings, the Arch holds that tree in his hands to deliver the homily. He rocks quietly on his feet, some few seconds, as if balance defeated it. A way you might affect as the Spirit moves… Copying. Then he says: ‘Our palm fronds may seem to us today rather dry. I mean this not in a literal sense, but by the standards of those who originally lined the roadways in order to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, as they proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, who would be clambering up and ripping their palm branches fresh from off the trees. I think perhaps also our faith is somewhat distant from that of the people there on that highroad into Jerusalem, and something of our sense of the meaning has shifted in vividness from what it was then. And of course the expectation of all those many people is markedly different, but in many important respects the same. There are the same essential qualities to all our faith in God, which springs complete from our humanity, and that is one and the same in value for all of us, and time is consistent on this point. So then, let us renew the fullness of Catholic faith, and let us ask the Lord’s blessing as we embark upon our Holy Week. ‘Our Lord enters into Jerusalem in order to refresh us. He is to die in order that we may have life. There is a living reality here, both spiritual and as entangled in the joy of our daily living. We have Ladies’ Day where I grew up. They still have it, and they close the roads off, and little children parade, dressed-up like spring brides. When I was a boy, there was a May Day festival, and there was a May pole on the field, with the people dancing, like Morris dancers might be one way of visualizing this if you’ve never seen it, with their ribbons tied onto the top of the May pole, and they would weave around each other, dressing the pole, which is what we called it. It was like a dance with red and white and blue ribbons all hung off of the top of the May pole, which stood there all year, only like a telegraph pole, but it was concreted in, and then there was a slide, and swings – one baby-swing and two you could have a go at – terrible health and safety but that’s what it was in those days. ‘There was a round-a-bout – we used to run it round and round to try to get it off its central axis. It were rusty as anything and creaked like mad – on concrete. And climb up where it was all greased up at the top. Ruth, who was big as the next four of us, used to sit there sucking on the lollipops we nicked for her from Raddies, and she’d direct matters. We were trying to destroy it, and get it to dislodge from its central axis, and fly away – roll off into that farmer’s field, which he only ever kept for silage, but we never succeeded. There was a car someone had left there so we spent forever smashing that up, until someone who lived in one of the houses there took exception to our doing that, so he put thick grease under the door handles and gave us a right talking to. ‘It would only be a few stands, hot-dogs and things like that. The man selling the hot dogs would have his records on full blast. There’d be a couple of set-up stalls. Air-rifles – that sort of thing. But we all had them, and we all went shooting, of course, if not with twelve bores then with smaller gauge. Or pay a pound – I have no idea how much it was in actual fact then – it might have only been a few pennies – and we’d get all that time smashing up the crockery the man would put up for us to smash on the dressers. That was my particular favourite thing to do at these festivals, by the way, in case you were wondering. You got a little bucket of so many cricket balls. ‘I dread to think what went into those hot dogs. Probably EE rules would forbid it now. But it was a fair mix in those days. A lot of young people then were C of E. We’ve done a lot to hang onto our young people, which is a tremendous encouragement when you consider how things are, while in recent decades the Church of England hasn’t been so successful. People still want it on feast days and what are essentially now civic celebrations. It’s strange to see, though, how all the little stands there people have are run by the police and people like that along those lines. There’s no May pole. That was a sort of faith that ran and ran beneath all the theoreticals of it in the 1960s and the 1970s and into the 1980s. The May pole isn’t there now in the particular place I’m thinking of. Considering May poles were officially suppressed hundreds of years ago – as a part of the protestant reformation. One or two of you are probably thinking I’m remembering things from that time! ‘I should have liked to say that those processionals were so hardwired into us, that even after the last thirty years, when I became a bishop, they are still with us. They were […]
Peter has been instructed by Jesus as to his mission in life, and his destiny. Now he turns to see John approaching, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’, who leant on Jesus at the Last Supper, and Peter asks Jesus about what will happen to him in his life. John is the one Apostle who not martyred. According to St Irenaeus, he lived into the reign of Trajan (AD 89-117), and rumours had circulated that John was not to die [ … ]
