The psalm was written by David during an occasion when he had enjoyed the harmony and peace of the family of God. The psalm points to the privilege of being allowed access into such fellowship, the pleasantness of enjoying such fellowship, and the purpose of God that such fellowship should mark his people.
The psalmist likens this relationship to the oil with which the high priest was anointed and to the dew that descended on the mountains of Israel. The people had read the accounts of the anointing of their priest and would have experienced the refreshing dew as they travelled round the country.
Brotherly love has many benefits. Like the oil, it is refreshing, and like the oil it spreads. Further, like the dew’s effect on vegetation, brotherly love through the Spirit’s blessing becomes a means of daily growth so that all the flowers that should be in the garden of our hearts will appear; these flowers are described in the list of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
Unity of believers, as this psalm depicts, is a very desirable thing. There are many ways by which unity can be presented. It is the case that the Lord’s people should be one doctrinally, should be one practically, and should be one internally from the heart. They should be one in public worship and in their attendance upon the means of grace and other occasions of fellowship.
Old Testament believers lived in an age in which spiritual blessings were not as full as ours. Our potential for fellowship is enhanced because the Spirit has come in his fullness and can lead us into the riches of fellowship that are found in having communion with the risen Saviour and his brothers under the loving eye of the heavenly Father. May our fellowship together stimulate us to want more of it and also strengthen us to live in a society that does not even remotely understand the meaning of true fellowship.
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