Thijs Booij, «Psalm 133: "Behold, how good and how pleasant"», Vol. 83 (2002) 258-267

The opening line of Psalm 133 is, literally, about a social practice; the comparisons following it suggest that in fact a gathering of YHWH’s worshippers is meant. The latter is confirmed by the final line. V. 3a has a bridging function in that its last words ("on the mountains of Zion"), although belonging to the imagery of the comparison, are actually direct expression, relating to the statement of v. 1 (‘inversion’). The situation hinted at can hardly be other than the gathering in Jerusalem on the occasion of a religious festival. In view of the subtle structure and inner cohesion of Psalm 133, it is scarcely plausible that its present meaning is due to some form of adaptation.

is attractive. In this reading, v. 2 has lines of 3+2 stresses as v. 3a, and anadiplosis as we find elsewhere in the ‘Songs of Ascents’ (Ps 120-134)⁷. The case is different when more aspects of the text are considered. To begin with, it is a bit equivocal whether in Classical Hebrew it was possible to speak of a beard ‘coming down’ — without moving — on the collar of one’s robes. If it was (cf. e.g. Josh 15,10)⁸, a beard ‘coming down’ was not ‘good’ and ‘pleasant’ as the ‘good oil’⁹ or the ‘dew of Hermon’ would be. It was not, as they are, beneficial and refreshing (cf. below, IV), and so, logically, the text does not say that the ‘dwelling together’ is like (k) the beard. In fact, a statement on Aaron’s beard would have no function at all in the comparison of v. 2, even less so since a beard ‘coming down’ on the collar of one’s clothes was nothing special¹⁰. The Septuagint and Jerome’s translation, both informative due to their linguistic form, link v. 2b with the ‘precious oil’; this reading appears to be the right one¹¹. The word Nqz being repeated in construct state with nomen rectum has an analogy in Ps 122,4 ¹².

II

        (1) In v. 1, the words dxy Mg Myx) tb#$ are controversial. Traditionally, they are often understood as referring to a gathering (‘dwelling together’) of Israelites (cf. x), ‘brother’, in e.g. Lev 19,17-18; Ps 122,8), especially the