Fragrance of the brotherhood.
"True concord is a holy thing, a sacred oil, a rich perfume which, flowing down from the head to the beard, from the beard to the garment, sanctifies the whole body." We get a better idea of the figure if we think of scent, or perfume, rather than oil, which Western people dislike, save for special uses. There can be little room for doubting that the psalm is a rejoicing over the restored unity of the Jewish nation. "Ephraim no longer vexed Judah, or Judah Ephraim." The mutual jealousies of the tribes had ceased; and those who returned to Jerusalem belonged to all the tribes. "That at this time there was a real unity of heart and mind in the nation may be inferred from the narratives in Ezra and Nehemiah" (Ezra 3:1; Nehemiah 8:1). The point of comparison does not lie in the preciousness of the oil, or in its all-pervading fragrance; but in this—that, being poured on the head, it did not rest there, but flowed to the beard, and descended even to the garments, and thus, as it were, consecrated the whole body in all its parts. All the members participate in the same blessing (for the composition of the anointing oil, see Exodus 30:22-33). The point to unfold is that the consecration of God, which binds the Church in unity, secures the unity of a common fragrance.
I. THE BROTHERHOOD IS NOT A UNITY OF SAMENESS, God never makes the brothers of a family alike; and when he remakes men, he does not shape them to a pattern, he gives them a new common life. The oil is represented as not stopping with intellectual people, who are as the head; it goes on to the strong people, who are as the beard; and to the useful people, who are as the limbs. All the members of the body retain their individualities.
II. THE BROTHERHOOD IS A UNITY OF GRACE RECEIVED. The new bond uniting all the members of the body, and all the relations of the life (which are represented by the garments) is the oil of Divine grace which reaches to and sanctifies them all.
III. THE BROTHERHOOD IS A UNITY OF COMMON RESPONSE. Every part gives forth fragrance, and it is everywhere the same fragrance—the fragrance of that godly character and godly living which grace sanctifies. Scents are dependent on the substances on which they lie. Some absorb and destroy fragrance. Others freely give it forth. The unity of the Church is the fragrance of the holy living of each one of its members.—R.T.