Psalm 133 is both the second-last psalm of ascents and also the second-shortest psalm of ascents. It's also the one with all the beards! It's the fourth "for David", or the fifth if you want to include the previous psalm which is all about David but not actually "for David."
As a David psalm it is hard to find the link on first viewing, except perhaps to point to the priests who serve in Zion. However, there is more, which we will come back to below.
The first word of the psalm proper (הנה, look, behold) is also the first word of the following psalm, linking them together. So too does the word blessing, which occurs only once at the end of this psalm but repeatedly, even as the keyword, in the next psalm.
Apart from these words which link with the following psalm, in the rest of this psalm there is again much repetition. “Good” occurs in v1 and v2, “how?” twice in v1, “beard” twice in v2, “go down” twice in v2 and a third time in v3. על (upon) is thrice in v2 and then a fourth time in v3. And the comparative כ is used to introduce the two similes in v2.
The structure seems to be step after step. It looks pretty awful, but here it is:
A song for going up. For David.
1 How good and how pleasant
when brothers live together in harmony!
2 like good oil on the head,
running down on the beard - the beard of Aaron,
running down onto his robes.
3 like the dew of Hermon
falling on the mountains of Zion.
For there Yhwh commands blessing—
life until forever.
The subject of the psalm
This is an odd psalm, in that it seems to be dealing with two subjects. In the first verse the subject is the closeness of brothers:
שׁבת אחים גם־יחד | brothers dwelling together.
This is the subject of two rhetorical questions: how good and how pleasant in the first stich. In other words, what is better than the closeness of two brothers?! However this topic seems to be superseded by a second subject in the final two stichs of the psalm, the place where Yhwh has appointed (lit. commanded, צוה (ṣiwwâ) to rhyme with ציון (ṣı̂yôn, Zion)) blessing. It's not immediately clear how these two fit together. "There" is a location, but “brothers” (whether this be actual siblings, all Israel, the priesthood) describes a relationship. The blessing which is found there (שׁם) is חיים עד־העולם (life unto eternity), which again, doesn't quite gel with how the psalm began.
Perhaps the way these two separate ideas come together is in the blessing refracted through unity among people. That is, where there is unity, there is blessing. Where there is togetherness, there is a lasting presence. In disunity there is fracturing and disaster and dissolution of the good.
Until eternity
The final phrase עד־העולם (with the article) is shared with a number of psalms (28:9; 41:13; 106:48), and indeed gives this psalm its eschatological direction. The three remaining uses of the phrase are Nehemiah 9:5, but also significantly 1 Chronicles 16:36; 17:14. In ch. 16 it is the final words of the song David sang to celebrate the delivery of the ark into Jerusalem, while in ch. 17 is Yhwh speaking through Nathan to confirm his promise to build David a house. In this sense, the use of עד־העולם is almost as if it is an overflow from Psalm 132, with the joy of the ark coming to Jerusalem and Yhwh's promise to David, being the launching pad from which to sing this new song. Indeed, the picture of 1 Chronicles 16 is that of unity, with every person in the whole land celebrating, every person in the whole land given a gift of food from the king, and the song itself (v8-36) makes numerous references to the one nation of Israel and God's care and salvation of it מן־העולם ועד־העולם (from forever and until forever).
Hermon and Zion
The two places mentioned in apposition to one another are the mountains of Zion and Hermon, both mountains among other mountains. Hermon in particular has multiple summits and is way up north, even in Syria/Palestine. Depending on your map the kingdoms of David and Solomon probably extended that far (it is in between the northernmost Israelite town of Dan and the Syrian city of Damascus). Goldingay (BCOTWP) spends a whole page debunking the oft-repeated theory that Hermon had especially noteworthy dew (he calls it "inherently implausible"). The markers then, much like in the second of the songs (Meschech & Kedar; 121:5), are pointing to the two important mountains to the north (Hermon) and south (Zion) of Israel, which could be something of a merismus to imply the whole of the nation.
A more important question however is what is going on in this verse. The syntax is a little confusing (or at least, it is to me), as there's only the one verb to go around.
כטל־חרמון | like the dew of Hermon
שׁירד | which falls down
על־הררי ציון | upon the mountains of Zion
→ the three key words/phrases in order
like the dew of Hermon which falls down
[like the dew] upon the mountains of Zion
→ they both are mountains, and dew falls on both of them
like the dew of Hermon
[the very dew] which falls down upon the mountains of Zion
→ the dew falls down on Hermon and then runs down on to Zion
The first syntax option is syntactically weirder (the verb really should go with Zion) but the second is a weirder image (how does the dew from one mountain run hundreds of kilometres down and then uphill?!).
The NIV (if I'm understanding it correctly) goes with a third option, taking it as an eschatological hope, that the mythical dew which falls on Hermon (a now debunked theory!) might one day also fall on Zion: "It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Zion". The CSB and RSV and others go with my second option, that the same dew of Hermon keeps flowing to Zion (or perhaps evaporates from Hermon and then falls on Zion).
First off, it's worth saying that the precipitation that Hermon is best known for is snow, rather than dew, but that snow does indeed, like in alpine regions, flow downhill, and would flow down into the Jordan and to the foothills of Canaan, out of which Zion climbs. So although this is not the immediate image conjured, when coupled with the flowing oil in v2, from head to beard to clothes, the image is one of God pouring out dew/snow/precipitation on the most northerly point of Israel, which then flows to and nourishes the rest of the land.
Putting it all together
Working from the end to the beginning, this psalm speaks of the way he brings blessing to his people. We know how snow from the highest peaks nourishes all the land through the rivers, as Hermon does Zion. We can look at the priesthood for another illustration, as precious oil is poured on the head and flows to the beard and then clothing of Aaron and his descendants. All this is an illustration of unity, most perfectly illustrated between brothers. It is good and pleasant not just for them at the head, but for everyone their unity impacts as their harmony flows down the chain.
This psalm is not arguing for trickle down economics, but for trickle-down blessing. It begins with unity and harmony, and as people live out the gospel in life, in forgiveness and selflessness and generosity, this flows down and impacts many others by bringing the blessing of Yhwh: life evermore.
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