TheBibleNet: Psalm 133

Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles

Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language

133:1 SHIR HA MA'ALOT LE DAVID HINEH MAH TOV U MAH NA'IM SHEVET ACHIM GAM YACHAD

שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת לְדָוִד הִנֵּה מַה טּוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אַחִים גַּם יָחַד

KJ: (A Song of degrees of David.) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

BN: A Song for the Ascent; for David. {N} Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to sit together in unity!

HINEH MAH TOV U MAH NA'IM SHEVET ACHIM GAM YACHAD: How many times have I sung this line, in school assemblies, at summer camp, before a synagogue service; my regular warm-up at the K-5 Friday kabbalat shabbat at Temple Sinai - but we only ever sing this one line, over and over, varying the melody and the tempo, but never the rest of the Psalm. The explanation is obvious from the meaning.

ACHIM: Questions in several of the previous Shirey Ma'alot as to whether they were the women's Psalms, or even the priestess' Psalms (priestesses? there were priestesses? oh yes indeed; the singers and the dancers and the nurses and the women who weaved the priestly clothing all had Levitical status, just like the Worshipful Guild companies of mediaeval England). But no doubt on this occasion - ACHIM means "brothers", masculine.

SHEVET: A SHEVET, like a MATEH, is a word for "tribe", but this is not about people "dwelling together", merely coming together as a congregation for a specific purpose. LASHEVET means "to sit".

GAM YACHAD: Always interesting to note how language changes down the years. Today we would say BE YACHAD for "together".

133:2 KA SHEMEN HA TOV AL HA ROSH YORED AL HA ZAKAN ZEKAN AHARON SHE YORED AL PI MIDOTAI

כַּשֶּׁמֶן הַטּוֹב עַל הָרֹאשׁ יֹרֵד עַל הַזָּקָן זְקַן אַהֲרֹן שֶׁיֹּרֵד עַל פִּי מִדּוֹתָי

KJ: 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;

BN: It is like the precious oil poured over the head, {N} coming down into the beard - even Aharon's beard - {N} spilling over the collar of his garments.

SHEMEN...YORED: Pouring oil over the head was also the means by which priests and kings were "crowned" in those times (see the very last verse of the very last Psalm!). Cf Exodus 28:41, 29:7, 30:30 and 40:13 for the instruction, Leviticus 8 for the description. The word for "anointed" in this context is MASHIYACH.

133:3 KE TAL CHERMON SHE YORED AL HAREREY TSI'ON KI SHAM TSIVAH YHVH ET HA BERACHAH CHAYIM AD HA OLAM

כְּטַל חֶרְמוֹן שֶׁיֹּרֵד עַל הַרְרֵי צִיּוֹן כִּי שָׁם צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת הַבְּרָכָה חַיִּים עַד הָעוֹלָם

KJ: 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.

BN: Like the dew of Chermon, which comes down upon the mountains of Tsi'on; {N} for there YHVH commanded the blessing {N} of eternal life. {P}

It is far from clear how dew on Chermon can reach the hills of Tsi'on, unless the name Tsi'on is being used for the entire land! Dew sits on the ground - no? Is a form of condensation - no? So perhaps the dew rose and the condensation became a rain-cloud which travelled south and dropped its payload on Yeru-Shala'im? But no, this is dew that falls, not rises. So it was probably mist anyway. Ancient science! Or maybe it was the spittle from whoever was playing the heavenly flute or the celestial oboe in the Orchestra of the Music of the Spheres!

Having said which, it does snow in Yeru-Shala'im, rarely, and rarely more than an inch or two, and the source of that snow is most definitely Mount Chermon. So are we misunderstanding TAL? Look at Genesis 27:28 and 39, Exodus 16:13 (and my note there on the word-play, which is is very relevant to our current Psalm), and 14, Deuteronomy 32:2 (and from there look at Portia's speech in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1).

CHAYIM AD HA OLAM: Nor is it obvious why YHVH (if this was originally a Psalm of YHVH) would use Mount Chermon rather than Mount Tsi'on to make this pronouncement; and even less obvious why a religion that understands "dust to dust and ashes to ashes" and does not believe in an afterlife, would include a Psalm in honour of eternal life. Unless, for the latter, it is YHVH as "essence", and "eternal life" is simply an understanding of infinitude in the broader Cosmos.

I am struck that KJ has added those italics, seeking to resolve the puzzle in that manner; but the text doesn't actually invite those italics. It may actually be that "the mountains of Tsi'on" was a figurative expression, and denoted all the highlands in the entire land whose capital was Tsi'on. Mount Chermon, which is the "white mountain" of Lavan (Laban), the white moon-god of Ya'akov - and in the previous Psalm, which many scholars believe was not previous to this Psalm at all, but its first part and this the second, that Psalm left us wondering why Yisra-El was referred to as Ya'akov there. Ya'akov was only renamed as Yisra-El after he departed from Lavan.

Psalm 133 is among those used by Leonard Bernstein for his "Chichester Psalms"; cick here to hear them.

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Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41