Psalms 8 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Psalm 8

How Majestic Is Your Name

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.¹ A Psalm of David.

8:1   O LORD, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
  You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
  you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3   When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4   what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5   Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings²
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6   You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7   all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8   the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9   O LORD, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Footnotes

[1] 8:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 8:5 Or than God; Septuagint than the angels

Commentary

A psalm of praise to God, unencumbered by human problems and needs; about creation, and man's part in creation.

v1: God's Name is majestic, or excellent (Heb - ADDIR), inferring greatness, noble-ness, and pre-eminence. This same statement closes the psalm.

v2: See Luke 10.21; 1 Cor 1.27; the mighty are confounded by the weak; the things esteemed by God are often despised by men. We are therefore encouraged to be humble, even as children.

v3: Consider creation, declaring the power and majesty of God; Ps 19.1-6; Job 7.17-18.

v4: Yet the great God of creation has set His blessing upon man, Ps 40.17; 139.17-18.

v5: Man is given a place of privilege, exalted, separate from animals.

v6-8: Man is given authority also; Jesus fulfilled these words, by demonstrating authority over pigs, a donkey, fish, the wind and rain; all were subject to Him. One observation is that man is frequently defeated, even killed, by natural events. The writer to the Hebrews (Heb 2.6-9) insists that these words are about Jesus Christ, who indeed ruled over nature.

v9: As v1, closing with a simple declaration of God's greatness.

'This, clearly, is a celebration of the role of human beings as set out in Genesis 1, and forms an important part of the mental furniture of the early Christians as they explored human vocation in a fresh way in the light of the gospel of Jesus. This is the goal of a genuinely human existence. Forget 'happiness;' you are called to a throne. How will you prepare for it? That is the question of virtue, Christian style.' (Tom Wright, Virtue Reborn)