Psalm 8 is a simple psalm of joyful praise. This time there are no enemies, no trials, no pleas. A shepherd, out among the night stars, sings to the Creator.
For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.
The Hebrew word "gittith" probably describes a musical instrument or instruction. The serious musicians whom I have known delight in exploring different instruments, in finding new ways to make interesting sounds. David seems to have had the same desire.
Psalm 8: 1-2, Such glory!
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
David lists several domains where God name & glory are set. What are they?
Is the statement in verse 2 hyperbole (poetic exaggeration)? Do you think David really means that the infants praise God?
How does this praise "silence" the foe? (Or does it really?)
Psalm 8: 3-8, Refuge in You
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
Many other incredible pictures are available at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day website. Another similar set of dramatic pictures occurs in the Hubble Deep Sky survey, in which a very small dark part of sky was revealed, under Hubble's magnification, to be filled with about ten thousand galaxies! (That small portion of sky photographed was about one thirteen-millionth of the total night sky!)
What scenery, what parts of creation, set David into this aspect of prayer?
David turns from considering the stars to considering humankind. His question, "What his man?" is not a negative one, but one of astonishment. The One who created the immense heavens also created mankind as a special, important part of Creation. "How can that be?" asks the psalmist.
We are made just a little lower than the elohim, the other divine beings, other "gods". (Some translations use the word "angels" here.) Yet in all this, humankind is sub-ruler over much of God's work, caring for God's creation. Recall the close relationship between "flocks and herds" and one's daily life in Old Testament times? David, particularly, was a shepherd.
Who can notice God's glory? Is it hard to find or clearly visible to everyone? David assumes that this glory is clear and obvious, easy for all to see. Maybe even the nursing babes and small children are awed by it all!
We are made just a little lower than the elohim, the other divine beings, other "gods". (Some translations use the word "angels" here.) Yet in all this, humankind is sub-ruler over much of God's work, caring for God's creation. Recall the close relationship between "flocks and herds" and one's daily life in Old Testament times? David, particularly, was a shepherd.
Who can notice God's glory? Is it hard to find or clearly visible to everyone? David assumes that this glory is clear and obvious, easy for all to see. Maybe even the nursing babes and small children are awed by it all!
In verse 7 the shepherd, David, praises God for "the flocks and herds", the very practical items of daily life in the ancient Near East
Psalm 8: 9, Enthusiastic refrain
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
The psalm ends by repeating, as a bookend, the original verse of praise. (What does it mean for God's "name" to be majestic?)
Our understanding of this psalm is further developed by commentaries on it in the New Testament. See, for example, Hebrews 2:5-10 and I Corinthians 15:25-28. The Hebrews passage will interpret "son of man", occurring in verse 4, as a reference to Messiah Jesus.
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