Psalm 133:2: It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
This scripture needs to be read in context with scripture so that it makes sense:
How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to live together in harmony! It is like the precious anointing oil running down from Aaron’s head and beard, down to the collar of his robes. It is like the dew on Mount Hermon, falling on the hills of Zion. That is where the Lord has promised his blessing—life that never ends. (Psalm 133:1-3)
I find it peculiar that this scripture is one of the most popular, as opposed to the scripture preceding it (about harmony) or the one that follows (about eternal life). I guess it’s because the part about the oil is a very sensual image and consequently a very memorable one. Probably people remember the image and so they search on it on their way to the passages about either unity or eternal life. Interesting.
Anyway, to get back on track, the scripture says that harmony is wonderful, pleasing to God, and the path to eternal life. But is this something Jesus would agree with?
Harmony vs. Uniformity
How interesting that this version of the Bible (Good News) uses the word “harmony.” In the NRSV version that I grew up with it’s translated as “unity.” To me, unity and harmony have two very different implications so I decided to go back to the original Hebrew and look at the words. This concept “live together in harmony” is derived from three Hebrew words (Source: Strong’s Concordance):
- Yachad – together (alike, all, altogether, completely, one accord, safely, together, together in unity, united)
- Shiyr – musical (a song, singing)
- Ma’alah – step (a journey to a higher place, a thought arising), or a climactic progression (things that come up, (high) degree, go up, stair, step, story.)
Wow is this exciting!! It’s about MUSIC! It’s about journeying to a higher place, together, through music! It’s about the kind of unity that you feel when you are making beautiful music with other people. That great feeling.
Music has always been an integral part of worship in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Psalms served as the Jewish songbook; they were originally sung, not spoken. As I reflect on this scripture I think about how worship music has evolved with the church as it moves from the uniformity and totalitarianism of the medieval church to the freedom and originative unity that we enjoy today in our individual congregations.
The early church continued the Jewish tradition of singing the psalms. The psalms did not have a fixed melody so they were sung by an individual who made up the song as it went along. Later on as the church grew in power the melodies became fixed so that they could be sung by more than one person. Gregorian chant, the music of the Mass, and plainsong are examples. This kind of music is characterized by everyone singing the same note at the same time. Regimented uniformity, just like the church itself.
Even as the church was at the height of its power – around the 13th century – a new kind of religious music began to evolve outside the church. Carols were festive, creative songs characterized by people sang different notes at the same time, or even simultaneous intertwining melodies. The polyphonic carols marked the emergence of harmony as a form of religious musical expression. This, however, was a populist movement and carols were not sung in the churches.
After the Reformation in the 1500s, the new Protestant churches gradually began to use hymns as the main form of musical expression. Hymns embraced musical harmony and choirs emerged, just as various schools of theological thought and religious practice began to emerge..
Today’s church music is characterized by its exuberance and creativity, just like today’s church. You never know what might happen. There is very little uniformity. But music almost always creates a sense of unity. I always find that when people are making music together in the church, they are united in spirit. The disagreement usually arises when the music ends and the talking starts, because there are as many personal theologies as there are musical melodies. The possibilities are endless.
So would Jesus prefer uniformity or harmony? Would he agree with this scripture that harmony is pleasing? At one point he uses an analogy about singing to describe people who are unwilling to connect with others on an emotional level:
“Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? They are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group shouts to the other, ‘We played wedding music for you, but you wouldn’t dance! We sang funeral songs, but you wouldn’t cry!’“ (Matthew 11:16-17).
There is also this scripture where Jesus explicitly acknowledges that people are diverse:
For there are different reasons why men cannot marry: some, because they were born that way; others, because men made them that way; and others do not marry for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Let him who can accept this teaching do so.” (Matthew 19:12).
If you’ve read the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke you know that Jesus wanted a new, flexible, pragmatic, loving approach to God’s laws as opposed to the traditional uniform, regimented approach embraced by the Pharisees and the scribes:
- “Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of theLaw of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
- “Or have you not read in theLaw of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the Temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty?” (Matthew 12:5).
- “Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40).
Repeatedly Jesus stressed that there are always extenuating circumstances when it comes to obeying the Law; for example, appropriate application of Sabbath laws were hotly debated in his time. Again and again Jesus says that kindness and love are what’s really important. And the, of course, there are all those teachings about peace – blessed are the peacemakers, turn the other cheek, love your enemies, forgive seventy times seven times. He always taught that peace was more important than being right; that love was more important than justice. He didn’t want people marching together in uniformity like a religious army. He wanted them to flow together in harmony, each singing their own song of love. He wanted the kind of unity that happens when people are connected to each other heart to heart.
Anointing
So if the substance of this scripture is consistent with the teachings of Jesus, what about the analogy? Did Jesus think anointing was a good thing? Would he think that the excessive use of oil described in this scripture was wasteful?
First, a little background. When God called Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, Moses resisted because he felt he wasn’t a good speaker. This didn’t make God particularly happy, but even so he cut Moses some slack by allowing him to enlist the help of his brother Aaron. God said that he would talk to Moses, Moses would relay the information to Aaron, and Aaron would talk to everyone else. (Exodus 4:10-16).
Later on, after the exodus from Egypt, Aaron became the first High Priest of the Hebrew people. Part of the instructions that God gave to Moses included the recipe for a fragrant anointing oil made from myrrh, cinnamon, olive oil, and a couple of other ingredients. This oil was used to consecrate holy objects, like the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of the Lord’s Presence. It was also used to ordain Aaron as the High Priest, to set him apart as a holy man. The consecration ritual involved pouring this holy oil over Aaron’s head. The idea was that all holy things were separated from ordinary things by their scent. Holy things had the fragrance of holiness (Exodus 20:22-33).
How did Jesus feel about anointing? Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the story of the woman who anointed Jesus shortly before he was killed:
Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar filled with an expensive perfume, which she poured on his head. The disciples saw this and became angry. “Why all this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold for a large amount and the money given to the poor!” Jesus knew what they were saying, and so he said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? It is a fine and beautiful thing that she has done for me. You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me. What she did was to pour this perfume on my body to get me ready for burial. Now, I assure you that wherever this gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:6-13).
Summary
I think that Jesus would definitely agree with this scripture, both the substance of it and the analogy as well. He taught that God wanted unity, but that it must be on the love level, not the legal level. Jesus taught that when people love one another and live in harmony it’s a beautiful thing. That’s how he wanted us to live – acknowledging our differences, respecting each other, and making it work. The kind of unity where everyone doesn’t have to sing the same note at the same time. He wants the richness and of a beautiful harmony that emerges when everyone is allowed to sing life’s song of love, contributing in their own special way. Part of the heavenly choir.
So if you follow this scripture are you following Jesus? In my opinion the answer is yes – it’s 100% Jesus.
Related posts by this author:
https://josusblog.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/day-107-matthew-1116-17/
https://josusblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/day-167-matthew-1911-12/
https://josusblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/day-59-matthew-712/
https://josusblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/day-230-matthew-2610-13/
Who Are You Following? 