Bible Commentaries
Psalms 8

Verses 1-9

To the chief musician, for liturgical performance, upon Gittith, a form of zither, named from the Philistine city of Gath, where the author had lived for some time. A psalm of David.

v. 1. O Lord, our Lord, Jehovah, our Ruler, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! The congregation here praises the imprint and evidence of God's being, both in the works of creation and in the miracles of redemption. Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens, on the entire heavens; for they are fitted out and adorned with His glory. This Lord, the infinite excellence and majesty of whose essence is reflected in the heavens, is glorified also here on earth, in the midst of His congregation.

v. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, the praise of the very infants in arms proving a victorious power, a rampart and bulwark of might, because of Thine enemies, on account of the adversaries, whose attack would be foiled by the almighty power of God in the praise out of the mouth of children, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger, causing Satan and all his allies to be quiet, fully silenced in their opposition to the works of God. After this stately introduction, to which Jesus Himself refers as finding its fulfillment on the Sunday before His death, Matthew 21:15-17, David describes the mystery of the exaltation of the human nature in the person of Christ.

v. 3. When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, productions of Jehovah's almighty power, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, all of them examples and proofs of the infinite greatness and immeasurable power of God,

v. 4. what is man that Thou art mindful of him, that the great God should spend any thoughts upon human nature, so far below Him that a comparison is not possible, and the Son of Man, that Thou visitest Him? The reference, as Hebrews 2:6-10 shows, is to Christ, who assumed human nature, with all its weakness and lowliness, who was made in the likeness of men and was found in fashion as a man, Php_2:7-8 . It is to this singular man alone that the next words can apply.

v. 5. For Thou hast made Him a little lower than the angels, literally, "Thou hast caused Him to lack a little of God," this being fulfilled when the Son of Man, in the depths of His sufferings for mankind, was forsaken by His heavenly Father, as He Himself cries out, and hast crowned Him with glory and honor, with the majesty and glory peculiar to the essence of God, this taking place when Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, entered upon His state of exaltation, when the Savior, who had deliberately waived the right to use the divine power and majesty communicated to His human nature, assumed and practiced this right, also according to His humanity.

v. 6. Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands, as the Ruler of the entire universe, with boundless power and majesty, and that according to His human nature; Thou hast put all things under His feet, Ephesians 1:22:

v. 7. all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field,

v. 8. the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas, these creatures being mentioned as the representatives of all creation. Into the heritage of mankind, lost by the Fall, the singular Son of Man, the Restorer of the human race, has entered. In this one Man, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, mankind has regained the lost happiness and dominion. the lost honor and dignity. In this Man the name of Jehovah has been revealed in its full glory.

v. 9. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, and not only in the Kingdom of Grace, whose representatives are here praising His great name, but in the Kingdom of Power! Jehovah, Jesus Christ, Messiah, Son of Man, our almighty King: that is the Church's consolation, that is the sum of its message.