AUTHOR: This is another Psalm purporting to be written by David, and there is nothing to indicate to the contrary.
TITLE: It is addressed to "the chief musician upon Gittith". The word "Gittith" occurs in but two other places, the titles to psalms 81 and 84. It is supposed to refer to a musical instrument either common to the Gittites or to an inhabitant of Gath (II Samuel 6:10,11; 15:18). It probably has reference to a musical instrument which accompanied the wine-press as it worked.
OCCASION: We are told nothing of the circumstances occasioning this psalm. From the psalm itself, we may suppose that it was written at night, with its penman contemplating the starry heavens. He seems to be considering the frailty of man in comparison to the vastness of God and His creation.
OUTLINE: 1. Verse 1 An admiring recognition of the excellence of the name of God. 2. Verse 2 An affirmation of God's power to work through the small to accomplish great things. 3. Verses 3-8 The psalmist points to the grace of God in His working with man. 4. Verse 9 He concludes his thoughts with a repetition of the thoughts of verse 1.
1 "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth" -- The Hebrew for "Lord" is Jehovah. It invokes the "covenant name" of God, or that title by which his children addressed Him. The second "Lord" in the verse is from the Hebrew word ADONAI, and means properly "master, lord, ruler, owner". The psalmist acknowledges the covenant God to be the rightful owner and master of His children. The reference to "excellent" literally brings the idea of God being "exalted". He is above all that is. This was true of God in "all the earth", that is, there is no place where He is not rightly exalted. "Who hast set thy glory above the heavens" -- This phrase expressed the desire of the psalmist that God's name be glorified to the highest degree in all the earth. Another rendering might have been: THOU WHO DIFFUSEST THY GLORY OVER THE HEAVENS.
2 "Out of the mouth" -- Jesus used this phrase to vindicate the conduct of the children in the temple crying "Hosanna to the Son of David" against the objections of the Pharisees and Scribes, and is perhaps alluded to by him in Matthew 11:25. There is no indication that the psalmist is making a Messianic prophecy here, nor is there indication that children were to be employed in the praise and service of God. It would seem that the psalmist is saying that God has conferred great honor on men, so weak when compared with the omnipotence of God, in that he has allowed them (men) to be the means He used in overcoming his enemies. "Babes" -- This word means a boy or child, and is usually rendered in connection with the Hebrew for "sucklings". It is applied to a boy playing in the streets (Jeremiah 6:11, 9:21), asking for bread (Lamentations 4:4), carried away captive (Lamentations 1:5), borne in arms (Lamentations 2:20), and once to an unborn infant (Job 3:16). The idea here is that one who is unable to accomplish the task that has been done by himself, but who nonetheless accomplished it by the power of God. It demonstrates the condescension of God bending so low as to use a feeble man in the greatest work on earth. "And sucklings" -- One who not only is unable to accomplish great tasks on his own might, but who is not even able to feed himself. "Hast thou ordained strength" -- God has laid as a foundation for trust in Him the fact that out of these feeble ones He has accomplished great works. "Because of thine enemies" -- In order to gain the victory over and forever silence these and future enemies, God has accomplished these great works before the world. "That thou mightest still" -- Cause to rest or cease. "The enemy" -- That is, the enemy of the psalmist, depicted also as the enemy of God in this context. "And the avenger" -- One whose purpose was to avenge or seek revenge for some (imaginary, in this instance) wrong suffered by either the avenger or his confederate.
3 "When I consider thy heavens" -- To consider here means to view and contemplate. When the psalmist thought on the heavens... They are called "thy" heavens, or God's heavens, because He made them. "The work of thy fingers" -- That is, the work accomplished by God's fingers. The fingers are the things employed in "making" something, and the psalmist may herein use them to indicate that the heavens were made by the skill of God, indicating that His power is great enough to create all that is with ease. "The moon and the stars" -- This is why we suggested that the psalm was perhaps composed at night, or at the least with the starry heavens in mind. "Which thou hast ordained" -- God had fixed or set the moon and the stars in their appointed places many centuries before these words were penned, and the psalmist seems to be marveling at the power of God which was great enough to set these celestial bodies in their places so long ago. They (the moon and the stars) stood forth then, as now, as monuments to the glory and power of God.
4 "What is man" -- What claim has one so frail and weak and feeble as man to be remembered by God? Why has God conferred on him such an honor as to allow him to live in this beautifully created world? Why has God done so much to deliver him from his enemies? Why has God done so much to save him? "That thou art mindful of him" -- That is, THAT THOU REMEMBEREST HIM. "And the son of man" -- Any man, the offspring of man. "That thou visitest him" -- That is, that thou carest and providest for him. These words were written hundreds of years before the events of Calvary, and initially pointed to the blessings God had bestowed upon man in general. What God would later do for man in the giving of the Christ may have been loosely included here, but it seems to stretch the context. The meaning here is that the psalmist recognizes and praises God for the gracious bestowing of blessings on undeserving man.
5 "For thou hast made him" -- God has created man such as, despite his feebleness in comparison to the universe and the power of God, to allow him dominion over all other creatures, being made only a little lower than the angels. "A little lower" -- That is, a little inferior. "Than the angels" -- The original Hebrew word is "God" rather than angels, but based on the authority of the Hebrew writer, as well as many other versions and translations of that day, angels seems to be the correct rendering. The idea is that God made man but little inferior to the angels with respect to his dominion over all other creatures. "And hast crowned him with glory and honour" -- With exalted honor. We pause here to turn the attention of the student to the second chapter of the Hebrew Letter, verses 6 through 10: "BUT ONE IN A CERTAIN PLACE TESTIFIED, SAYING, WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT THOU VISITEST HIM? THOU MADEST HIM A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; THOU CROWNEDST HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOUR, AND DIDST SET HIM OVER THE WORKS OF THY HANDS: THOU HAST PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. FOR IN THAT HE PUT ALL IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIM, HE LEFT NOTHING THAT IS NOT PUT UNDER HIM. BUT NOW WE SEE NOT YET ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIM. BUT WE SEE JESUS, WHO WAS MADE A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS FOR THE SUFFERING OF DEATH, CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOUR; THAT HE BY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOULD TASTE DEATH FOR EVERY MAN. FOR IT BECAME HIM, FOR WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, AND BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, IN BRINGING MANY SONS UNTO GLORY, TO MAKE THE CAPTAIN OF THEIR SALVATION PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS." In this reference, the apostle was writing to those who were supposed to be familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, and hence it was not necessary for him to mention who the writer was. We know, however, that the place to which he made reference is the eighth Psalm. The argument of the Hebrew writer is this: There stood in the sacred scriptures a declaration that "all things were placed under the control and jurisdiction of man", but that that had not yet been accomplished to the full. It was not true (verse 8) that all things were subject to him, and the complete truth of that declaration would be found only in the jurisdiction conferred on the Messiah -- the MAN by way of eminence -- the incarnate Son of God. It seems unlikely that any of the initial readers of the Psalm would have gotten this idea, as it originally was employed to indicate the exalted place of lowly man; but the New Testament writer builds on this truth and carries it to its logical end. The words point to the dominion of man over all living things and indeed the universe itself. Such a state of idealism existed in Eden, before the fall; but, in the fall, man sacrificed much of the ideal control he exercised in the Garden. It remains, therefore, for the "second man", Jesus the Christ, to carry this prophetic picture to its completion. The Psalm indicated the exalted position of man in general, and the Hebrew Writer carries it to its end. "What is man" -- What is there in man that entitles him to so much notice? "Or the son of man" -- Refers to the same as the initial question. "That thou visitest him" -- That he has been given the things he has received. "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels" -- Literally, A LITTLE WHILE INFERIOR TO. Initially applied to the race of man in general, it here is applied by the Hebrew Writer to Jesus. He is the full completion of the events depicted. As man initially is lower in rank than angels, but will some day be exalted; so, the Christ was made a little while inferior to the angels... "For the suffering of death" -- in that he had to endure the limitations of the human body and existence, even to the point of dying the human death. It was in this sense, and in it only, that Jesus was A LITTLE WHILE INFERIOR TO the angels. "Thou crownedst him with glory and honour" -- Elevated honor has been given to man, as rendered by the psalmist, to Christ as rendered by Paul. "And didst set him over the works of thy hands" -- Man initially, before the fall, enjoyed such dominion in the garden; then, after the fall, he enjoyed it in a limited sense, and now, finally, in Christ we potentially increase our enjoyment to the level at which it was before the fall. "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet" -- Everything was placed under man initially. "For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him" -- In the original design, man was to have absolute dominion over the lower world, much like that dominion God exercises over both the lower and the upper worlds. But, due to the fall, such was not realized to any significant degree. Thus bringing forth the next declaration: "But now we see not yet all things put under him" -- It is not the case that all things are subject to man, for we see many things beyond his control (such as death and the like). However, there is indeed a general dominion of man over nature, though not a universal control. The elements are not under his control, as the ocean rages and the storms come, animals revolt and illness kills. His government is an imperfect one. Because of sin, man will never in this world attain unto the ideal power God intends him to have; but, in Christ we see the ideal realized. He now exercises what God wills for us all: Eternal life without the limitations of flesh. "But we see Jesus" -- Though man in general has not attained unto the dominion of which the psalmist speaks, we see Jesus! He has achieved what the rest of us still reach for. "Who was made a little lower than the angels" -- That is, that while here on earth, as a man, he was a little while inferior (in that sense) to the angels who remained in their heavenly form. "For the suffering of death" -- This phrase points to the next: "Crowned with glory and honour" -- That is, he is at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). "That he" -- Rather, "since he by the grace of God..." The sense is, that after he had thus tasted death, and as a result of it, he was thus exalted. "By the grace of God" -- It was not by anything man did that Jesus found reason to die for him, anything good that is. Jesus was permitted to die in our stead by the grace of God toward us. The Hebrew writer applies in the complete sense the words of the psalmist to the Christ. He argues with evidence concerning words written before all the evidence was in. What was said by the psalmist is perfectly understandable when viewed in light of the evidence as it was then: Man was greatly honored in that God placed all creation under him. It also makes perfect sense when viewed in the later light of the cross: Jesus provides to man what man, though exalted by the grace of God, was unable to provide himself. He restores to man what man lost in the fall in Eden. We are taken to a higher level of understanding by the writer of Hebrews because a greater amount of evidence bearing on the matter was available. The mystery was no more in Paul's day, it had been revealed.
6 Referring to our comments on Paul's version of these words, suffice it say that verse 6 describes the exalted position man occupies in this lower world.
7 "All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field" -- Man is master of the wild.
8 "The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas" -- Again, the point is the exalted position of man. But, notice the reference to the "PATHS OF THE SEAS". "This is of intriguing and quickening interest. Matthew Fontaine Maury lived from 1806 to 1873. While ill on one occasion he had his son read the Bible to him. The son read Psalm 8. Verse 8 caught the ill man's rapt attention. He declared that if the Bible spoke of paths of the sea, he would, upon getting well, discover them. He later found and charted these systems of sea travel involving an interaction between wind and water. He authored an informative book on oceanography. More than half a century ago C. L. Lewis wrote a book which he entitled, MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, PATHFINDER OF THE SEAS. The U.S. Naval Institute published it in 1927. Maury took God at His word and found it to be highly reliable. How came the ancient psalmist to know of these well-defined sea paths? He knew it by inspiration." (Robert R. Taylor, Jr).
9 "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent..." -- O Covenant God, O Omnipotent Creator, how far above all that is now or ever has been or ever shall be is thy holy and exalted name! A repetition of the sentiments of the Psalms opening.
QUESTIONS: PSALM 8
1. Out of what has God ordained strength?__________________________________
2. What are the works of God's fingers?_____________________________________
3. Man was made a little lower than....what?___________________________________
4. Over what did God allow man to have dominon?____________________________
5. What has been put "under his feet"?______________________________________