How can people whose minds are filled with the brainless babble of the evening sitcoms have anything but trivial thoughts when they come to God's house on Sunday morning, if, in fact, they have thoughts of God at all? How can they appreciate his holiness if their heads are full of the moral muck of the talk shows? 

Love of the Scriptures led these believers also to love one another, which meant that they had genuine unity as God's people. The most important thing about them, both individually and as a community, was their devotion to the teaching. But because of it, they cared for one another. They even shared their material possessions and gave generously to all who were in need. 

Where does unity come from, then? And can it be found again once it has been lost? We have already seen that unity comes from God, and the answer to the second question is that it can be rediscovered and reestablished, but only as men and women get outside of themselves and submit their own selfish individualism to a higher and more worthy cause than self-indulgence. 

This short poem is so beautiful in its classic celebration of unity and community that it is almost a pity to analyze it. Some literary treasures die slow deaths by dissection. Still, it is worth looking at a few of the more obvious points the psalm makes about unity. There are four points that are hard to miss. 

Having appealed to God on the basis of God's covenant with David, it is natural that the next verses of the psalm rehearse the terms of that covenant in abbreviated form. This restatement marks the psalm's second half and is a conscious parallel to David's oath, which began part one. It is why verse 11 uses the word “oath” instead of “covenant” (v. 12). First, we have David's oath and its fulfillment (vv. 2-9). Here we have the oath of God and its fulfillment (vv. 11-18).