Psalm 8

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

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

This hymn of praise stands in sharp contrast to the psalms before and after. It is a poetic retelling of the Genesis account with an emphasis on the creation, position, and purpose of mankind on this earth. It answers the major philosophical questions of life in exquisite poetry, and with its place in the midst of ten psalms (five before and after), it suggests that these philosophical and anthropological statements are powerful orienting truths. The psalm begins with an exclamation regarding the majesty of YHWH, our Lord (notice the move to the plural). Glory is another theme in this group of psalms. (3:3 - my Glorious One who is my glory, 4:2 - how long will you turn my Glory into shame?). Here God’s glory is described as above the heavens. He dwells beyond the heavens in unapproachable light. He is also greater in glory than the heavens themselves (think: Milky Way which could be seen on every clear night in the land of Israel). As we have come to know more about the heavens God’s glory is only further magnified. While we are entranced by their beauty, now we are also amazed by their remarkable design and origin. Our telescopes are gathering data and computers are processing it all to reveal a universes that is staggering in size and beauty. In comparison, our tiny planet is a fraction of a drop of water in the sea of the cosmos. David couldn’t have comprehended all of that in his day, but what he saw was enough to inspire worship. How much more should we worship today, knowing what we do about the universe! Don’t take the beauty and power of the heavens for granted. Be mindful of them today and acknowledge the power and wisdom and God that spoke them into existence.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

This is probably the most difficult verse in the psalm to interpret. Whether the phrase is translated “established strength” or “ordained praise” it’s not readily apparent how crying babies silence God’s foes. It could be a contrast between God’s glory above the heavens and his glory on display in the miracle of life, expressed in the form of a crying baby. The next verses take us immediately back to the heavens and leads to a consideration of how much God cares for humanity, the dignity he has bestowed on every man, woman and child. If God establishes strength out of the crying of children, it’s a different kind of power than that of the world. Perhaps this verse acknowledges the fact that children can often see and more often say exactly what’s true. They are unfiltered. They are the ones that will declare, “the emperor has no clothes.” This was the case at Jesus’ triumphal entry where the children speak the truth of who he was, while the enemies of Jesus clambered for them to be silenced. Or perhaps David is thinking of his own experience as a child slinging a rock at a giant -- how God uses the weak things of this world to silence the strong -- the cross as an instrument of death became the ultimate source of life. This could also be a foreshadowing of the incarnation when the cries of a baby in Bethlehem aroused the fear of the great King Herod. The king fails in destroying the child, and ultimately he is vanquished by time, while Jesus lives on eternally. The writer of Hebrews certainly sees this psalm as a picture of incarnation. Was this verse vague to the original readers? Did they have to stop and ponder it like I just did? Maybe that’s the reason to make something a little obscure. It slows us down and forces us to take a closer look. 

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?

Man seems incredibly small and insignificant when compared to the scale of the cosmos. That has become increasingly obvious as our knowledge of the universe has expanded. Take the heavens out of it, and we are still small as compared to the planet we inhabit. Even though we can travel distances in one day that were unimaginable in David’s day, it’s still a vast planet and we are tiny in comparison. Most everything about humanity screams “insignificant”. This is the conclusion that David arrives at while looking up at the Milky Way. It is specifically the night sky that is mentioned here, Psalm 19 will turn our attention to the daytime sky and the sun. The heavens are the work of God’s fingers. While God spoke the cosmos into existence, it seems that he may also have been “hands on” as he arranged and placed them, forming the constellations and markers of time and season. The ancients didn’t have Google calendar, they had a celestial one and they could read it well. While David certainly ponders the glory of the heavens, he also must be thinking about the order and dependability of them as well, suggesting God’s faithfulness. The heavens reveal much about God and the more we ponder them the less certain we feel about our own place in the world. What is man that he even enters the thoughts of God? What is the son of Adam that God would care and provide for him? It seems entirely illogical. It is simply too good to be true. A being of infinite power and glory shouldn’t be concerned for human beings, (and yet he is -- consider Jesus, the second Adam, the Son of Man). This is a question that is about to be answered in a most astounding way. If you’re ever questioning your identity and value in this life, the next verse is all you need to know. 

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b] and crowned him with glory and honor.

You’d think that God wouldn’t card much for puny humanity considering the scale of the universe, but you’d be wrong. He has made human beings a little lower than the throne angels, than mighty heavenly beings. On top of that He has crowned them with glory and honor. Man has an exalted position in the cosmos. He is designed to reflect his creator in all kinds of ways -- creativity, compassion, love, work, justice. Just think of anything in the nature of God and recognize that a human being shares that nature to some extent. Our purpose for being is to reflect the image of our creator. The questions of identity and purpose (Who am I and why am I here on earth?) have been with us from the beginning, and here they are answered resoundingly. If you doubt the truth of these words, consider that God himself came from heaven to affirm this truth in Jesus Christ, who was made for a little while, lower than the angels. The materialist and the naturalist answer these questions with a theory (although it is treated as fact): human beings are highly evolved primates who’ve fought to the top of the pile on this insignificant planet in the midst of a long history of death and struggle that will continue until we or the solar system destroys us. When we die, that is the end of all that we are. Are we a little higher than an ape or a little lower than an angel? How we see ourselves matters. I think the world would be a better place if realized that we are the latter, meant to reflect the glory and honor of God. Reflect his glory and honor today. 

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!

After describing what the LORD has placed on the heads of human beings (glory and honor), the psalmist describes all that is under their feet. They are listed in reverse order of creation: domesticated animals, wild animals, birds and fish -- the domains of land, air and sea. Mankind has the authority and the ability to exercise dominion over all of these areas of life, to see that they flourish while at the same time serving the needs of man. The earth is the servant of man, but man must care for his servant or it will no longer serve him. Man’s dominion over the planet has been slowly developing and then took a big leap forward in the industrial age, to the point of abusing the planet. There has been some corrective in recent years but this issue still remains critical: how to balance the needs of humans with the health of the planet. It’s amazing that this concept was in place from the beginning (Genesis) and recounted here in this poem 3,000 years ago. The heavens are the work of God’s fingertips and the earth is the work of his hands. God takes care of the heavens while man takes care of the earth. There is co-ruling of the cosmos going on here as God shares his glory with mankind. That he entrusts this to us is pretty amazing. Man is not a slave to God to do his work for him. God is a worker and he’s brought us alongside to work with him, as a partner, a co-regent. Man seems to have an insatiable desire to explore (subdue the planet). We’ve conquered Everest and the ocean depths. We’ve explored caves and jungles, deserts and lakes, and even the surface of the moon, leaving our mark. This seems to be what we were made to do. Perhaps it is what we will continue to do in the new heavens and the new earth. How majestic is your name!