Psalm 133:1-3 "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (2) 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; (3) 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."
Dwell together in unity! We see an exclamation point at the end of this
sentence. That particular punctuation is not used often in the Word of
God. Every word in the Bible is important; yet, it seems there are some
things that God places the exclamation or points us to the power of intent of
these words. God says it is good and it is pleasant when His people are
able to have unity. That tells me that all disunity among God's people is
not of God. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
He then gives two examples of comparison to unity. First, it is like the
"ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
that went down to the skirts of his garments." Why would God use
this particular analogy? The only time this ointment was used was when
the High Priest went into the Holiest of holies to minister unto the Lord with
sacrifices. This analogy of ointment upon Aaron's head represented fellowship
with the Lord. The second analogy is that of the dew of Hermon which is
so heavy that it keeps the vegetation watered as if it had rained. The
dew of Hermon and of Zion is used as an analogy of being refreshed in the
Lord. Having unity and harmony among God's people is indeed refreshing.
Paul stated it in this way, "With all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; (3) Endeavouring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:2-3)
The word, forbearing, has always fascinated me. To put it in simple
layman's terms, it means to put up with one another. To put it in my
words, God is saying, "You need to just put up with me and love me in
spite of all my shortcomings." The Psalmist was inspired to tell us that
God says that is "good and pleasant" to Him.
I used the word, disunity, which means disagreement and conflict among God's
people. It seems to me that it is an impossibility to have fellowship with God
if I cannot fellowship with His people. It is most important for God's people
to be able to simply "get along" with each other. But the
effort is very much worth it when we remember how God feels about the subject.