For the LORD hath chosen Zion: he hath desired _it_ for his habitation. This _is_ my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish. This Psalm is a prayer, in which Solomon and the people of Israel beg of God to preserve the priesthood and the kingdom: that is, that he would maintain the true religion, the true worship of God, and a prosperous and happy state of the kingdom among that people. In a word, it is a prayer to God that he would be pleased to preserve the ministry of the word above all things; and then also the laws, the magistrates, and the public peace: for where these two things, the word and the laws, are rightly constituted and preserved, there all things go well with a kingdom. In the eleventh verse, the Psalmist, turning his eye, as it were, to the promise, feels the fullest assurance that he is heard. For God had promised by oath that he would dwell in that place, namely, in Jerusalem or Zion; and would bless both the priesthood and the kingdom, if they would keep the commandments of their God, and obey him. Why the Psalmist calls, in the sixth verse, this habitation of God, Jerusalem, “Ephratah,” and “the fields of the wood,” is explained in my more full commentary elsewhere, on these “Psalms of Degrees.” PSALM CXXXIII. _The benefit of the communion of saints._ A song of degrees. Behold, how good and how pleasant _it is_ for brethren to dwell together in unity! _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; 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. This Psalm contains an important doctrine, and an exhortation unto concord in the church, and also in the state; and especially an exhortation unto unity in the Spirit; concerning which Paul speaks, Phil. ii.; and also, it exhorts unto agreement in doctrine, and unto peace in general. Let the wise, the strong, and the holy, (the Psalmist would say,) bear with and support the simple, the weak-minded, and the infirm; which is indicated and implied by the two similitudes of “ointment” and “dew.”