INTRODUCTION
After the two introductory psalms (1-2) and a group of lament psalms (3-7) comes Psalm 8, the first hymn of praise in the Psalter. It is indeed a hymn of praise but also straddles several categories, such as; individual psalm, royal psalm, wisdom psalm and nature hymn. In this song of praise the psalmist, possibly David, celebrates both the majesty of Israel’s God YHWH and the dignity of humanity. He reflects upon the Creator’s relationship with his creation; focusing on the role of human beings. Always in the background is the Creation account in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis.
The Title of Psalm 8
The psalm itself gives no clue as to its author or date of composition but the superscription says it is ‘of David’ (composed or collected by David) and gives instructions to the director of music for its performance upon the Gittith, presumably in the first Jerusalem Temple. Gittith is an adjective meaning ‘from Gath’ so this was probably a musical instrument or tune that originated in Gath. This word also occurs in the titles of Psalm 81 and 84.
STRUCTURE
Psalm 8 is framed in an envelope (the technical term is inclusio) consisting of an opening exclamation of praise to YHWH (O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!) that is repeated verbatim at the end of the psalm. The opening line sets out, and then the exact repetition confirms, the main theme of the psalm which is the majesty of the Lord.
Also of interest structurally is the word meh translated ‘How’ in v.1 and v.9 and ‘What’ in v.4. According to Sommer (2020, p.18) ‘this word appears. . . at the beginning, exact midpoint, and end of the poem.’ He then observes: ‘Relating to God, the word introduces a statement of amazement mingled with solemn admiration; relating to humanity, it introduces a sentence that belittles.’
1a – Exclamation of Praise
1b-2 – God’s Glory and Dominion
3 – The Grandeur of God’s Creation
4 – What is Man?
5 – The Glory of Mankind
6-8 – The Authority of Mankind
9 – Exclamation of Praise
EXPLANATION
1a – Exclamation of Praise
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1a
The opening word of the psalm is YHWH so it begins (and ends) with an exclamation of praise addressed directly to Israel’s God. The psalmist represents the whole community of faith (our Lord) in ascribing majesty and splendour to YHWH.
‘Our Lord’ (’ādôn) – ‘master’ or ‘king’ – this title speaks of the power and superiority of YHWH.
how excellent is thy name – YHWH is the great I AM who revealed his name to the Israelites via Moses:
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
YHWH’s name represents who and what he is. His name is excellent, marvellous, magnificent, lofty, high, majestic.
in all the earth – Unlike the deities worshipped by the surrounding tribes and nations YHWH was not a local or regional deity restricted to Israel but was ruler in all the earth – i.e. throughout the world.
all – ‘All’ is an important word in Psalm 8- see vv. 1, 6, 7, 9.
1b-2 – God’s Glory and Dominion
. . . who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Psalm 8:1-2
Israel’s God is so powerful that he has set his own glory on or above the heavens yet has incredible ways of working; establishing his power on that which seems to be weakest. God uses the faith expressed by sucklings (babies – not yet weaned – up to about 3 years of age at that time) and older infants (not babes) who can barely speak to establish a bulwark against the enemy and the avenger. Some commentators view the enemy and avenger as forces opposed to the order of creation (e.g. Chaos, Satan, Evil) over whom YHWH gained dominion, others as people who refuse to acknowledge YHWH’s power or worship him.. Verse 2 is said to be ‘enigmatic’ and there are ‘interpretive issues’ with it (i.e. no-one knows what it really means) but the gist of it seems to be that God can use what is insignificant to silence the wicked and can do great things with very little (cf. 2 Cor 12:9; Heb 11:34). This verse was quoted by Jesus in Mt 21:16.
3 – The Grandeur of God’s Creation
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; Psalm 8:3
Verses 3 continues the theme of God’s majesty. The psalmist contemplates the night sky and is so overcome by its grandeur and vastness with the heavenly bodies (moon and stars) set in place by YHWH that he starts to ask a question that he does not complete. Sommer (2020, p.16) comments:
‘The psalmist begins to describe his amazement at humanity’s place in the cosmos, but he utters only the first half of this sentence: before completing the thought, he moves on to an exclamation of surprise. . . Thus this verse begins with a “when” clause but does not explicitly give us the “then” clause, whose sense we understand from context: “When I see Your heavens, Your fingerwork, Moon and stars that you fixed in place – [I am compelled to marvel) or [I find myself thinking].”‘
Other nations worshipped the heavenly bodies as gods but for Israel and the psalmist they were evidence of YHWH’s creative power. In fact, from YHWH’s point of view they weren’t all that impressive; they were just his ‘fingerwork.’
4 – What is Man?
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalm 8:4
MAN’S PLIGHT
What the psalmist was thinking is expressed in v.4. The sky at night causes the psalmist to cry out in praise at the realisation of who God is and the fact that he bothers with mere mortals. The first word translated ‘man’ is enôš – man in his frailty and weakness. Son of man is ‘son of Adam’ reminding us that man is earthly. Adam caused mankind to fall and be separated from God yet God occupies himself with humanity.
In contrast to the splendour of the heavens man seems so insignificant but God
- ‘is mindful’ – calls to mind – and then acts i.e. he does things for mankind.
- ‘visits’ – pays attention to – i.e. he cares for mankind.
Similar thoughts are expressed in the book of Job:
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? Job 7:17
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? Job 25:5-6
Job, however, argues that man is worthless but the psalmist quickly moves on from that to become conscious of man’s true greatness.
5 – The Glory of Mankind
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Psalm 8:5
MAN’S POSITION
Man, in fact, is not insignificant. God has made him a little lower (in degree, i.e. not much lower) than divine. The word translated ‘angels’ is elohim which is ambiguous. It can mean God, gods, supra-natural beings. Mankind is not divine but is not insignificant. He is not a celestial being but God has made him a king – crowned him with glory and honour – dignity and splendour are words used of royalty.
Note: the psalmist is thinking here of man’s exaltation but the writer to the Hebrews in 2:6-9 turns the verse on its head and uses it as proof of the humiliation of Christ. He also says that the proper fulfilment of the verse will be by Jesus Christ in the future.
The apostle Paul in 1 Cor 15:27 quotes the verse but changes the second person to the third person and uses it to argue for the future subjection of ‘all things’ (the universe) to Christ. Perowne (1898, p.156) comments:
St. Paul, however, extends the meaning of the “all things ” far beyond this. Jesus, as the true Lord of all, shall have a universal dominion, He must reign till He have put all enemies under His feet. But as yet we see not all things put under Him. Sin, and death, and hell are up in arms against Him, and these are yet to be subdued. Death, says the Apostle, is the last enemy which shall be destroyed. It is evident, then, that David’s “all things” and Paul’s “all things” are not the same. The one is thinking of the visible world, the other of the invisible. The one is praising God for His goodness to man in making him lord over beasts, and birds, and fishes; the other is thinking of a conflict with principalities and powers, which Christ conquers and which man can only conquer in Christ. The one speaks of that which is, the other of that which is to come.
6-8 – The Authority of Mankind
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Psalm 8:6-8
MAN’S PURPOSE
Not only has man been made a king but he has been given a territory and subjects. He has been given responsibility to rule -‘ have dominion’ (Gen 1:26-28) over creation and everything has been ‘put under his feet.’ This is a term for subjugation (Psa 47:4). Verses 7-8 explain what is meant by the ‘all things’ of v.6.
- sheep and oxen – domesticated animals on land.
- beasts of the field – animals that live on land but are not farmed.
- fowl of the air – birds – they live both in the air and on land.
- the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas – fish and larger sea creatures that live only in water.
In other words, mankind has dominion throughout the whole earth.
Psalm 8:6 is a favourite of environmentalists who try to harmonise ‘dominion’ with modern eco-ethics and argue that it does not mean that humanity has the right to plunder and exploit earth’s natural resources but rather preserve, maintain and take care of them. Many religious leaders link spirituality and the environment and use theology to influence attitudes and actions towards stewardship of the earth.
9 – Exclamation of Praise
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9
This concluding exclamation of praise repeats the introductory line, only now worshippers of the Lord have a better idea of what it means. The psalmist has begun by contrasting God’s magnificence with human insignificance. Then he realises that in spite of the smallness of man compared with the vastness of creation God has, surprisingly, given humanity an exalted status. He is overawed by the majesty of God’s name and the dignity bestowed on mankind.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Barth, C. F. (1966). Introduction to the Psalms. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York
Perowne, S. (1898). The Book of Psalms : a New Translation, with Introduction and Notes Explanatory and Critical. Andover, W. F. Draper.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Abernethy, A. T. (2017). Is Psalm 8 a Messianic Psalm? Reading Psalm 8 as Christian Scripture. Reformed Faith & Practice, Vol.2, No.2, pp.5-17
Bosman, T. (2022). Rulers or servants?: A Re-reading of Psalm 8 Concerning the Place of Humankind in the Age of the Anthropocene. Scriptura, Vol. 121, No.1, pp.1-10
Kraut, J. (2009). The Birds and the Babes: The Structure and Meaning of Psalm 8. Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 100, No.1, pp.10–24.
Maré, L. P. (2006). Psalm 8: God’s Glory and Humanity’s Reflected Glory. Old Testament Essays, Vol.19, No.3, pp. 926-938
Middleton, J. R. (2013). The Role of Human Beings in the Cosmic Temple: The Intersection of Worldviews in Psalms 8 and 104. Canadian Theological Review, Vol.2, No.1, pp. 44-58
Sommer, B. (2020). Commentary on Psalm 8: Hebrew Humanism, in עיוני מקרא ופרשנות י”א: מנחות ידידות והוקרה ליעקב כדורי (Biblical Studies and Interpretation XI: Homages and Tributes to Yaakov Kaduri).
Talstra, E. (1996), Singers and Syntax. On the Balance of Grammar and Poetry in Psalm 8. in J.W. Dyk (ed.), Give Ear to My Words. Psalms and other Poetry in and around the Hebrew Bible. Kok Pharos Publishing House, Kampen, pp. 11-22.
Written Exposition 