Last Sunday, we focused on Psalm 105 which feels like it goes on forever because it summarizes Israel’s early history with story after story. That psalm needs to feel long because it is reminding us of how God has been faithful in the past.
But just like sermons, not every psalm needs to feel long or go on and on, like for example, today’s psalm, Psalm 133. Psalm 133 only has three verses compared to last Sunday’s psalm that had 45 verses.
Of the 150 psalms, Psalm 133 is one of only three psalms that has three verses. Trivia question time: Which psalm has the shortest number of verses? Psalm 117 which only has two verses.
So why is Psalm 133 so short? I think it has something to do with it being one of the psalms of ascent. Three weeks ago, we were introduced to a psalm of ascent, Psalm 128.
Psalms of ascent were known as psalms you would sing as you were making the long journey from wherever you live up the long slope toward the city of Jerusalem where the Jewish Temple was located to attend one of the 3 big religious festivals. Those pilgrims would literally ascend for many miles during their long journey before finally arriving into the city.
People would have traveled together during those long journeys and the singing of these psalms of ascent was a way for people to not just fill the time, but to remind them where they were headed, Zion, the beautiful city of God. One of our hymns in the hymnal, in fact the very last hymn is a modern-day hymn of ascent called, “We’re marching to Zion.” That’s an example of a hymn where the lyrics help you to feel like you are on a journey.
Psalm 133 is one of fourteen of these psalms of ascent that we find in the Book of Psalms. And by the way, all fourteen of these psalms of ascent are grouped together from psalm 120 to psalm 134.
The reason the people would sing this psalm during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is because of two reasons. First of all, it refers to Jerusalem which was the location of the Temple where all of Israel was called to worship during three annual festivals.
And secondly, this psalm focuses on the goodness and blessings of people living together in unity. This would have been an important focus for those singing pilgrims because the people of Israel were divided into several different tribes scattered throughout the Middle East region.
Even though they shared the same religious faith, the Jewish faith, they also represented many different cultures and customs, so there would have been a lot of differences between them.
This psalm of ascent as it would have been sung over and over again, served as a great reminder of what they had in common in spite of their differences which was their faith and trust in the Lord. So, this Psalm in particular, was a way to remind the people that together, they were God’s people.
In the back of our hymnal, you will find a big section called, The Psalter. These are several psalms that appear in our weekly scripture readings that are accompanied by a short refrain that is sung in between the responsive readings. Some of those refrains are taken from familiar hymns while others were composed specifically for that particular Psalm.
The lyrics of those sung refrains reflect the theme of each psalm. For our Psalm today, Psalm 133, the words of the refrain are, “Unite us, Lord, unite us by your everlasting love.” When the Israelites sung this psalm on their long journey to Jerusalem, they were celebrating their unity as God’s people.
Whenever I ask church musicians what they appreciate most about church music, they will often say to me that it is what brings people together. I think that’s what I love the most about church music as well. Whenever I hear an anthem, it’s such a beautiful thing to hear several people singing as one.
That’s why choirs meet every week to rehearse their music. They are perfecting the art of blending their voices together as an offering to God. And those who listen to the music are drawn into that sense of unity and togetherness.
So, let’s look at the three verses of this Psalm to see how the Psalmist helps us to celebrate our unity as God’s people. The first verse might sound familiar because it is so beautifully stated. There are several colleges that use this as their school motto by the way. Just listen to this beautiful phrasing:
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.”
And the last two verses of the Psalm offer us an image to help us celebrate that unity which needs a little unpacking. The psalmist prays, “It is like the precious oil on the head running down the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.”
I must admit that at first glance, this image does nothing for me. In fact, the thought of oil dripping down someone’s beard makes me not want to be anywhere near that person, quite frankly.
But this image is referring specifically to the time when Aaron was anointed by his brother Moses to be a High Priest during the time when Israel was being formed as God’s people.
Perhaps this psalmist is thinking about the unity of these brothers, Moses and Aaron as they in turn, helped to unify the people. And just as the anointing oil was poured on Aaron’s head and flowed down over his robe, so too, God’s blessings flow down over us forming us into a community of God’s people.
And in the last verse, the Psalmist compares the oil that flows down upon us to the morning dew of Hermon, which was located many miles north of Jerusalem. The overflowing dew of Hermon is even able to reach Zion, the city of Jerusalem, the Psalmist tells us.
Hermon was known for its plentiful rain, hence the dew image, and Jerusalem was known to be more arid and located in a dry area of Israel. And so, the image is that the dew of God’s blessings reach as far south as Zion, the city of Jerusalem.
The oil and the dew are powerful ways of describing how God’s blessings extend far and wide covering God’s people and making us one.
When explained this way, I’m not as grossed out at the thought of oil dripping from a man’s beard, although I think I like the dew image of God’s blessings much better. But that might just be me.
Whichever image you go with, the important thing about this psalm is that we are called to celebrate God’s overflowing blessings that extend beyond what we think is possible to include all people.
We are all within reach of God’s goodness and blessings, even if we feel that we are too far south for God to find us. You can never be beyond God’s reach.
During the first several months of the pandemic, many of our churches were unable to worship together. During that time in the church I was serving, God was reminding me again and again during that challenging time, that God’s blessings have a way of finding us so to help us feel connected as God’s people.
One of my favorite stories from that time was when one of my church members led a Palm Sunday processional parade in her neighborhood which included several other church members. They couldn’t find any palm branches at the store, so they improvised by using forsythia branches.
Other members made phone calls to the people listed in our church directory just to see how they were doing and to offer prayers over the phone.
Our prayer chain became more active as a way to communicate prayer needs and church announcements with each other. We were able to stay connected through the power of prayer.
These psalms of ascent like Psalm 133 remind us that even physical distance cannot get in the way of our unity as God’s people. That experience reminded me that the dew of Mount Herman doesn’t stop when it reaches the city of Jerusalem.
It has a way of reaching us wherever we may be. God’s blessings have a way of running down Aaron’s beard and they keep flowing, covering each and every one of us. And not even a pandemic can stop it.
When I was in college and living in a dorm, I would sometimes feel lonely. But once a week, I could always count on my home church sending me the Sunday bulletin to help me feel connected even though I was living several hours from home.
Of all things! A silly Sunday bulletin! It was kind of like that dew of Herman making its way to my dorm just to remind me that my church family was thinking of me.
Think of these psalms of ascent that help us to feel connected even when we are apart as your playlist. Pray these psalms and sing them whenever you travel just like those early Methodist preachers did while riding horseback from town to town back in the 1800s.
Those Methodist preachers always made sure that they had three books in their satchel at all times, the bible, the Methodist hymnal, and the Book of Discipline. And while they rode, they sang songs about God’s love that has been made known to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Psalms of ascent remind us to keep singing our faith wherever we may be, because we’re all marching to Zion, the beautiful, beautiful city of God.
