True concord is a holy thing, a sacred oil, a rich perfume which, flowing down from the head to the beard, from the beard to the garment, sanctifies the whole body. We get a better idea of the figure if we think of scent, or perfume, rather than oil, which Western people dislike, save for special uses. There can be little room for doubting that the psalm is a rejoicing over the restored unity of the Jewish nation. "Ephraim no longer vexed Judah, or Judah Ephraim." The mutual jealousies of the tribes had ceased; and those who returned to Jerusalem belonged to all the tribes. "That at this time there was a real unity of heart and mind in the nation may be inferred from the narratives in Ezra and Nehemiah" (
Ezra 3:1;
Nehemiah 8:1). The point of comparison does not lie in the
preciousness of the oil, or in its
all-pervading fragrance; but in this - that, being poured on the head, it did not rest there, but flowed to the beard, and descended even to the garments, and thus, as it were, consecrated the whole body in all its parts. All the members participate in the same blessing (for the composition of the anointing oil, see
Exodus 30:22-33). The point to unfold is that the consecration of God, which binds the Church in unity, secures the
unity of a common fragrance.
I. THE BROTHERHOOD IS NOT A UNITY OF SAMENESS, God never makes the brothers of a family alike; and when he remakes men, he does not shape them to a pattern, he gives them a new common life. The oil is represented as not stopping with intellectual people, who are as the head; it goes on to the strong people, who are as the beard; and to the useful people, who are as the limbs. All the members of the body retain their individualities.
II. THE BROTHERHOOD IS A UNITY OF GRACE RECEIVED. The new bond uniting all the members of the body, and all the relations of the life (which are represented by the garments) is the oil of Divine grace which reaches to and sanctifies them all.
III. THE BROTHERHOOD IS A UNITY OF COMMON RESPONSE. Every part gives forth fragrance, and it is everywhere the same fragrance - the fragrance of that godly character and godly living which grace sanctifies. Scents are dependent on the substances on which they lie. Some absorb and destroy fragrance. Others freely give it forth. The unity of the Church is the fragrance of the holy living of each one of its members. - R.T.
It is like the precious ointment.
1. It is precious ointment. It is not to common and ordinary use; oil of any consideration whatsoever, but the best and choicest that could be lighted on: like that wherewith Mary Magdalene anointed Christ before His passion (
Mark 14:3). Such was this whereunto the concord of brethren is compared here in this Scripture. To set forth unto us the preciousness and excellency of it. It is a virtue of very rare account, and so to be esteemed of by us. It is such which carries a good name and report with it, and accordingly like that is also better than precious ointment.
2. It is compared not to oil enclosed and shut up in a vessel, but to oil effused and poured forth abroad, which is more significant, as that which does cast forth a special fragrancy and odoriferousness with it. Look how a box of precious ointment when it is broken casts forth such a smell as does refresh the nostrils and brains of all such persons as are made partakers of it. So in like manner the unity of brethren is very sweet to all that observe it.
3. It is not the anointing only of some Levite, or common priest, but the anointing of Aaron himself, who was the highest priest of all, and therein a special type of Christ, as prefigured, and shadowed out in him.
4. It was not oil which rested only upon Aaron's head, but ran down upon his heard, and froth thence further to the skirts of his garments, which is a lively description to us of the property of this grace of love and brotherly agreement. It is such as does not rest itself only in those who are the next and immediate subjects of it, but it conveys itself to many others. Love it is of a very diffusive and communicative disposition.
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People
Aaron,
David,
PsalmistPlaces
JerusalemTopics
Aaron, Aaron's, Beard, Collar, Edge, Face, Flowing, Garment, Garments, Hem, Oil, Ointment, Poured, Precious, Price, Ran, Robe, Robes, Running, Skirt, SkirtsOutline
1. The blessedness of unity among brothersDictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 133:2 4488 oil
4490 ointment
5130 beard
5177 robes
Library
God the Holy Spirit the Love which Dwells in the Heart.
"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." --Psalm cxxxiii. 2. The fact that love can radiate within man does not insure him the possession of true and real Love, unless, according to His eternal counsel, God is pleased to enter into personal fellowship with him. So long as man knows Him only from afar and not near, God is a stranger to him. He may admire His Love, have a faint sense of it, be pleasantly …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy SpiritLet Brotherly Love Continue. --Ps. cxxxiii.
Let Brotherly Love continue.--Ps. cxxxiii. How beautiful the sight Of brethren who agree In friendship to unite, And bonds of charity! 'Tis like the precious ointment, shed O'er all his robes, from Aaron's head. 'Tis like the dews that fill The cups of Hermon's flowers; Or Zion's fruitful hill, Bright with the drops of showers, When mingling odours breathe around, And glory rests on all the ground. For there the Lord commands Blessings, a boundless store, From His unsparing hands-- Yea, life for …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns
Aron, Brother of Moses, 486, 487.
Abba, same as Father, [3]381; St. Paul uses both words, [4]532. Abel, [5]31, [6]252, [7]268, [8]450. Abimelech, [9]72, [10]197. Abraham, seed of, faithful Christians also, [11]148, [12]149, [13]627; servant's hand under his thigh, [14]149, [15]334; poor in midst of riches, [16]410. Absalom, David's son, [17]4, [18]5; type of Judas the traitor, [19]4, [20]20. Absolution granted by the Church, [21]500. Abyss, or deep, of God's judgments, [22]88; of man's heart, [23]136. Accuser, the devil the great, …
St. Augustine—Exposition on the Book of Psalms
Departure from Ireland. Death and Burial at Clairvaux.
[Sidenote: 1148, May (?)] 67. (30). Being asked once, in what place, if a choice were given him, he would prefer to spend his last day--for on this subject the brothers used to ask one another what place each would select for himself--he hesitated, and made no reply. But when they insisted, he said, "If I take my departure hence[821] I shall do so nowhere more gladly than whence I may rise together with our Apostle"[822]--he referred to St. Patrick; "but if it behoves me to make a pilgrimage, and …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh
Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. But there are other reasons for the comparative neglect into which he has fallen. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers
Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting
Conclusion.
"From Heaven He came and sought her To be His Holy Bride, With His own Blood He bought her, And for her life He died." "The Kingdom of Heaven," what is it? It is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. It is that Kingdom which was prophetically set forth by our Lord in His parables; that Kingdom, the subjects of which were described in His teaching, and redeemed by His Blood to be His own "purchased possession" (Eph. i. 14); that Kingdom which was founded through the coming of the Holy …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?
Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament
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