I’ve had a verse that’s been haunting me for a couple months. Actually, it’s a psalm, Psalm 133. It’s short, simple, and to the point, but it packs a powerful punch (and I’m a sucker for analogies).

This psalm sticks with me because when I first read it, I didn’t understand it—especially verse 2. I understood that kings and priests were anointed, and Jesus was, too, by the woman at Bethany. But I’m kind of a clean freak and I never thought of oil poured over the head as an attractive or desirable thing. All I could think of was taking a bottle of greasy vegetable oil and dumping it all over the place.

Then I read Exodus 30:22-33 in which God commands Moses how to make holy anointing oil. The oil is made up of a blend of the finest spices and is then used to consecrate the tent for the Ark of the Covenant and Aaron and his sons as priests.

Interestingly, Psalm 133 does not liken unity between brothers to the priesthood itself, but to the holy oil that created the priesthood. The holy oil wasn’t made from just one spice but several different spices to become one blend, which was then poured over the head.

God continues the analogy in verse 3 with the dew of Mount Hermon, the southern slopes of which are controlled today by Israel. Water from the snow and precipitation on Hermon merge from streams to make the Jordan River, which creates fertile life in a dry area of the world.

Does dwelling with your brothers and sisters look like this? Is it a picture of many coming together in one accord, so that God blesses it to create life and holiness?