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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Psalm 8 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Psalm 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/7.htm" title="Psalm 7">◄</a> Psalm 8 <a href="../psalms/9.htm" title="Psalm 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-1.htm">Psalm 8:1</a></div><div class="verse"><<To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.>> O LORD our Lord, how excellent <i>is</i> thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">O Lord our Lord</span>. In the original, <span class="accented">Jehovah Adoneynu</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "Jehovah, who art our sovereign Lord and Master." As David is here the mouthpiece of humanity, praising God for mercies common to all men, he uses the plural pronoun instead of the singular one<span class="cmt_word">. How excellent is thy Name in all the earth!</span> or, "How <span class="accented">glorious</span> is thy Name!" (Kay, Cheyne). <span class="cmt_word">Who hast set thy glory above the heavens</span>. It is difficult to obtain this sense from the present Hebrew text; but some corruption of the text is suspected. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-2.htm">Psalm 8:2</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Out of the month of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength</span>. By "babes and sucklings" are meant young children just able to lisp God's praises, and often doing so, either through pious teaching or by a sort of natural instinct, since "Heaven lies about us in our infancy" (Wordsworth). These scarce articulate mutterings form a foundation on which the glory of God in part rests. <span class="cmt_word">Because of thine enemies</span>. To put them to shame, who, having attained to manhood, refuse to acknowledge God. <span class="cmt_word">That thou mightset still the enemy and the avenger</span>. It scarcely seems as if any single individual - either Absalom, or Ahithophel, or even Satan (Kay) - is intended. Rather the words are used generally of all those who are enemies of God, and desirous of revenging themselves upon him. The existence of such persons is well shown by Hengstenberg. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-3.htm">Psalm 8:3</a></div><div class="verse">When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">When I consider thy heavens</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/19-1.htm">Psalm 19:1</a>; <a href="/psalms/33-6.htm">Psalm 33:6</a>; <a href="/psalms/104-2.htm">Psalm 104:2</a>). David, in his shepherd-life, had had abundant opportunity of "considering the heavens," and had evidently scanned them with the eye of a poet and an intense admirer of nature. It is probably in remembrance of the nights when he watched his father's flock, that he makes no mention of the sun, but only of "the moon and the stars." <span class="cmt_word">The work of thy fingers</span>; and therefore "thy heavens." Often as the "hand of God" is mentioned in Scripture, it is but very rarely that we hear of his "<span class="accented">finger"</span> or "<span class="accented">fingers."</span> So far as I am aware, the only places are <a href="/exodus/8-19.htm">Exodus 8:19</a>; <a href="/exodus/31-18.htm">Exodus 31:18</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/9-10.htm">Deuteronomy 9:10</a>; and <a href="/luke/11-20.htm">Luke 11:20</a>. <span class="cmt_word">The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained</span> (comp. <a href="/genesis/1-16.htm">Genesis 1:16</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-4.htm">Psalm 8:4</a></div><div class="verse">What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">What is man, that thou art mindful of him?</span> In comparison with the lofty heavens, the radiant moon, and the hosts of sparkling stars, man seems to the psalmist wholly unworthy of God's attention. He is not, like Job, impatient of God's constant observation (<a href="/job/7-17.htm">Job 7:17-20</a>), but simply filled with wonder at his marvellous condescension (comp. <a href="/psalms/144-3.htm">Psalm 144:3</a>). And the son of man, that thou visitest him? The "son of man" here is a mere variant for "man" in the preceding hemistich. The clause merely emphasizes the general idea. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-5.htm">Psalm 8:5</a></div><div class="verse">For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels</span>; rather, <span class="accented">thou hast made him but a little lower than God</span> (<span class="hebrew">אלהים</span>). There is no place in the Old Testament where <span class="accented">Elohim</span> means "angels;" and, though the LXX. so translate in the present passage, and the rendering has passed from them into the New Testament (<a href="/hebrews/2-7.htm">Hebrews 2:7</a>), it cannot be regarded as critically correct. The psalmist, in considering how man has been favoured by God, goes back in thought to his creation, and remembers the words of <a href="/genesis/1-26.htm">Genesis 1:26, 27</a>, "Let us make man <span class="accented">in our own image</span>, <span class="accented">after our likeness</span>... So God created man <span class="accented">in his own image</span>, <span class="accented">in the image of God</span> created he him" (compare the still stronger expression in <a href="/psalms/82-6.htm">Psalm 82:6</a>, "I have said, Ye <span class="accented">are gods"</span>). <span class="cmt_word">And hast crowned him with glory and honour</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "and, by so <span class="accented">doing</span>, by giving him a nature but a little short of the Divine, hast put on him a crown of glory such as thou hast given to no other creature." There is a point of view from which the nature of man transcends that of angels, since <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> it is a direct transcript of the Divine (<a href="/genesis/1-27.htm">Genesis 1:27</a>); and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> it is the nature which the Son of God assumed (<a href="/hebrews/2-16.htm">Hebrews 2:16</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-6.htm">Psalm 8:6</a></div><div class="verse">Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all <i>things</i> under his feet:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> <span class="cmt_word">- Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands.</span> An evident reference to <a href="/genesis/1-28.htm">Genesis 1:28</a>, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." By these words man's right of dominion was established. His actual dominion only came, and still comes, by degrees. Thou hast put all things under his feet (comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/15-25.htm">1 Corinthians 15:25-28</a>; <a href="/hebrews/2-8.htm">Hebrews 2:8</a>). In their fulness, the words are only true of the God-Man, Jesus Christ (<a href="/matthew/28-18.htm">Matthew 28:18</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-7.htm">Psalm 8:7</a></div><div class="verse">All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">All sheep and oxen</span>; literally, <span class="accented">flocks and oxen</span>, <span class="accented">all of them.</span> The domesticated animals are placed first, as most completely under man's actual dominion. <span class="cmt_word">Yea, and the beasts of the field</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "and all other land animals" (comp. <a href="/genesis/1-28.htm">Genesis 1:28</a>; <a href="/genesis/9-2.htm">Genesis 9:2</a>). If some were still unsubdued (<a href="/2_kings/17-25.htm">2 Kings 17:25, 26</a>; <a href="/job/40-24.htm">Job 40:24</a>; <a href="/job/41-1.htm">Job 41:1-10</a>), their subjugation was only a question of time (see <a href="/isaiah/11-6.htm">Isaiah 11:6-9</a>; <a href="/isaiah/65-25.htm">Isaiah 65:25</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-8.htm">Psalm 8:8</a></div><div class="verse">The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, <i>and whatsoever</i> passeth through the paths of the seas.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas</span>; literally, <span class="accented">fowl of the air</span>, <span class="accented">and fishes of the sea</span>, <span class="accented">the passer through the paths of the seas.</span> Every passer through the paths of the seas, whether exactly a fish or no. The <span class="accented">cetacea</span> are thus included (comp. <a href="/genesis/1-21.htm">Genesis 1:21</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/8-9.htm">Psalm 8:9</a></div><div class="verse">O LORD our Lord, how excellent <i>is</i> thy name in all the earth!</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth!</span> The psalmist ends as he began, with excellent poetic effect, and in a spirit of intense piety. Some think that he saw in vision the com<span class="accented">plete</span> subjugation of the whole earth to man in such sort as will only be accomplished in the "new heavens and new earth," in which Christ shall reign visibly over his people. But his words are not beyond those which are natural to one of warm poetic temperament and deep natural piety, looking out upon the world and upon man as they existed in his day. Inspiration, of which we know so little, may perhaps have guided him to the choice of words and phrases peculiarly applicable to "the Ideal of man's nature and true Representative, Christ;" and hence the many references to this psalm in the New Testament (<a href="/matthew/21-16.htm">Matthew 21:16</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/15-25.htm">1 Corinthians 15:25-28</a>; <a href="/hebrews/2-6.htm">Hebrews 2:6-8</a>), and in this sense the psalm may be Messianic; but it is certainly not one of those, like <a href="/psalms/2.htm">Psalm 2</a>. and <a href="/psalms/22.htm">Psalm 22</a>, where the author consciously spoke of another time than his own, and of a Personage whom he knew only by faith. (For other examples of the recurrence at the end of a psalm of the idea wherewith it commenced, see <a href="/psalms/20-1.htm">Psalm 20:1-9</a>; <a href="/psalms/46-1.htm">Psalm 46:1-11</a>; <a href="/psalms/70-1.htm">Psalm 70:1-5</a>; <a href="/psalms/103-1.htm">Psalm 103:1-22</a>; <a href="/psalms/118-1.htm">Psalm 118:1-29</a>; and the "Hallelujah psalms:" <a href="/psalms/106-1.htm">Psalm 106:1-48</a>; <a href="/psalms/113-1.htm">Psalm 113:1-9</a>; <a href="/psalms/117-1.htm">Psalm 117:1, 2</a>; <a href="/psalms/125-1.htm">Psalm 125:1</a>-21; 146-150.) <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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