The Word Made Fresh
(A song of ascent. Of David.)
1How good and pleasant it is when families
live in unity with one another.
2It’s like pouring precious oil over the head
and letting it run down onto the face,
as it ran down into Aaron’s beard
and soaked the collar of his robe.
3It is like the dew that falls on Mt. Hermon
and on all the mountains surrounding Zion,
for that is where the LORD gave the blessing
of everlasting life.
Commentary
Superscription: the 14th of the “songs of ascent.”
1-3: This is a powerful little psalm that extols the virtue of unity. Two images are employed to describe the refreshing and life-giving quality of living in harmony. The first recalls the anointing of Aaron at Mt. Horeb (see Leviticus 8:12), emphasizing the refreshing feeling of the oil soaking into his collar. The second image is the dew which falls on the hills of Zion. Mt. Hermon, in southern Lebanon, rises almost 10,000 feet above sea level and is almost always crowned with snow. The psalmist imagines that to be the source of the dew that falls around Jerusalem.
Takeaway
For Christians, of course, Mt. Zion (Jerusalem), is the place where God gave us the blessing of life forevermore through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A universal lesson here is that harmony and unity among family members is a gift from God; where God is revered there is peace.