Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 133:1

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!" — Psalms 133:1 (ASV)

In unity. —Better, altogether. The Hebrew particle gam, here used with the word “together,” is in our version sometimes rendered “yea,” when it plainly should be taken with the adjective to intensify it exactly like our “all” (See, for instance, Psalms 25:3; 2 Samuel 19:30).

The common idiom, gam shenayîm, “all two” (i.e., both), exactly like the French tous deux, and the German alle beide, decides this. Many commentators, rendering also together, see an emphasis on the gathering for the yearly feasts: “How good and pleasant for those who are by race and religion brothers to unite for a sacred purpose.” The allusion may be there, but the conjecture and purpose of the psalm, and not the form of the expression, suggest it.

To a Hebrew, political and religious sentiment were always combined, and Jerusalem was the centre toward which their thoughts and eyes always turned.

The translation of the Septuagint, “to the same place,” though not exactly rendering the Hebrew, perhaps brings out the thought, for the poet was plainly thinking of “unity at Zion.” This verse was quoted by the Roman legate at the meeting of Anselm and William II. at Windsor, Whitsunday, 1095. It was read at the reception of a new member into the brotherhood of the Knights Templars, and St. Augustine quotes it as the Divine authority for monastic life.