The Jews were basically an agricultural people, and they depended on the early and latter rains and the dew to water their crops (Deut. 11:10–17). In Scripture, dew symbolizes the life-giving Word of God (Deut. 32:2), the blessing of God that brings fruitfulness (Gen. 27:28, 39; Deut. 33:13, 28), and God’s special refreshing on His people (Hos. 14:5; Zech. 8:12). How often we need the refreshment of the Holy Spirit that comes silently but bountifully, like the dew upon the grass! When things are “dry,” they begin to wither and fall apart, but when the dew comes, it brings new life and things hold together. Life means unity, death means decay, and the difference is the dew from heaven. Hebron in the far north was the highest of their mountains, nearly ten thousand feet, and Zion was one of the lesser mounts in the land. They were two hundred miles apart, yet God sent His dew to both of them! Travelers report that in some parts of the Holy Land, the morning dew is like a hard rain that falls in the night, saturating everything. The dew speaks of fruitfulness and the anointing oil speaks of fragrance, for the unity of God’s people is both “good and pleasant.”
What does the word there refer to in verse 3? Probably two things: (1) Zion and Jerusalem, for it is there God commanded His blessing (132:13–18; Lev. 25:21; Deut. 28:8), for “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22); and (2) where there is unity among His people (v. 1). The Holy Spirit is grieved by the sins that bring division (Eph. 5:25–32). Both images—the oil and the dew—remind us that unity is not something that we “work up” but that God sends down. When we get to the heavenly Zion (Heb. 12:18–29), there we will enjoy perfect unity “life forevermore.” But why not seek to have that kind of unity today? “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (85: nkjv).