Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 8:7
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
7, 8. Man’s subjects are as it were mustered and passed in review: domestic animals, and even the wild creatures that roam at large over the open country; the birds of the air (lit. heaven, as Psa 104:12), and the fish of the sea, and all the manifold inhabitants of the mysterious depths of ocean. See Gen 1:21; Gen 9:2. Cp. Homer’s ( Il. i. 312); “the wet sea-paths,” as Milton calls them in his version of the Psalm.
The living creatures here enumerated are only mentioned by way of example and illustration of “all things.” In the Psalmist’s day the dominion of man over nature was most strikingly exercised in his mastery over the animal creation, which he tamed or caught and turned to his own use. “Man has become,” says Darwin, “even in his rudest state, the most dominant animal that has ever appeared on this earth.” In our own day it is by the investigation of the great laws of nature, and by the utilisation of the great forces of nature, that man asserts and extends his sovereignty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
All sheep and oxen – Flocks and herds. Gen 1:26, over the cattle. Nothing is more manifest than the control which man exercises over flocks and herds – making them subservient to his use, and obedient to his will.
And the beasts of the field – Those not included in the general phrase sheep and oxen. The word rendered field, sadeh – or the poetic form, as here – saday, means properly a plain; a level tract of country; then, a field, or a tilled farm, Gen 23:17; Gen 47:20-21,; and then the fields, the open country, as opposed to a city, a village, a camp Gen 25:27; and hence, in this place the expression means the beasts that roam at large – wild beasts, Gen 2:20; Gen 3:14. Here the allusion is to the power which man has of subduing the wild beasts; of capturing them, and making them subservient to his purposes; of preventing their increase and their depredations; and of taming them so that they shall obey his will, and become his servants. Nothing is more remarkable than this, and nothing furnishcs a better illustration of Scripture than the conformity of this with the declaration Gen 9:2, And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, etc. Compare the notes at Jam 3:7. It is to be remembered that no small number of what are now domestic animals were originally wild, and that they have been subdued and tamed by the power anti skill of man. No animal has shown himself superior to this power and skill.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. All sheep and oxen] All domestic animals, and those to be employed in agriculture.
Beasts of the field] All wild beasts, and inhabitants of the forest.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
All sheep and oxen; here is no perfect enumeration, but under these are comprehended all other beasts, and much more men and angels.
The beasts of the field, i.e. the wild beasts; which together with divers fowls and fishes were subject to Christ, and are governed and employed as it pleaseth him; although many of them be without the reach and are not brought under the, power of any other man.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
All sheep and oxen,…. The tame creatures, which are useful for food and clothing:
yea, and the beasts of the field; the wild beasts, which he can make use of to destroy and devour his enemies, and whom he can restrain from harming his own people, Jer 15:8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The preceding question, with respect to the extent of man’s dominion over the works of God, seems not yet to be fully answered. If the prophet here declares, by way of exposition, to what extent God has put all things in subjection to us, this subjection, it seems, must be restricted to what contributes to the temporal comfort and convenience of man while he continues in this world. To this difficulty I answer, That the Psalmist does not intend in these verses to give a complete enumeration of all the things which are subjected to man’s dominion, and of which he had spoken generally in the preceding verse, but he brings forward an example of this subjection only in one part or particular; yea, he has especially chosen that part which affords a clear and manifest evidence of the truth he intended to establish, even to those whose minds are uncultivated and slow of apprehension. There is no man of a mind so dull and stupid but may se if he will be at the trouble to open his eyes, that it is by the wonderful providence of God that horses and oxen yield their service to men, — that sheep produce wool to clothe theme — and that all sorts of animals supply them with food for their nourishment and support, even from their own flesh. And the more that this dominion is apparent, the more ought we to be affected with a sense of the goodness and grace of our God as often as we either eat food, or enjoy any of the other comforts of life. We are, therefore, not to understand David as meaning that it is a proof that man is invested with dominion over all the works of God, because he clothes himself with the wool and the skins of beasts, because he lives upon their flesh, and because he employs their labor for his own advantage; for this would be inconclusive reasoning. He only brings forward this as an example, and as a mirror in which we may behold and contemplate the dominion over the works of his hands, with which God has honored man. The sum is this: God, in creating man, gave a demonstration of his infinite grace and more than fatherly love towards him, which ought justly to strike us with amazement; and although, by the fall of man, that happy condition has been almost entirely ruined, yet there is still in him some remains of the liberality which God then displayed towards him, which should suffice to fill us with admiration. In this mournful and wretched overthrow, it is true, the legitimate order which God originally established no longer shines forth, but the faithful whom God gathers to himself, under Christ their head, enjoy so much of the fragments of the good things which they lost in Adam, as may furnish them with abundant matter of wonder at the singularly gracious manner in which God deals with them. David here confines his attention to God’s temporal benefits, but it is our duty to rise higher, and to contemplate the invaluable treasures of the kingdom of heaven which he has unfolded in Christ, and all the gifts which belong to the spiritual life, that by reflecting upon these our hearts may be inflamed with love to God, that we may be stirred up to the practice of godliness, and that we may not suffer ourselves to become slothful and remiss in celebrating his praises.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
It is worthy of remark, that when, at the original creation, the first man was invested with sovereignty in his state of innocency, the grant of dominion ran in those words, Gen 1:28 . How delightful it is to see that sovereignty regained in the person of him who, by his wonderful undertaking, hath restored all things, and to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth. Mat 28:18-19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
Ver. 7. All sheep and oxen, &c. ] There are beasts ad esum et ad usum, saith one. Some are profitable dead, not alive, as the hog; some alive, not dead, as the dog, horse, &c.; some both, as the ox; yet none so profitable as the sheep, who hath wool for raiment, skin for parchment, flesh for meat, guts for music, and was, therefore, in sacrifice so frequently offered.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 8:7-9
Psa 8:7-9
“All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and all beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
Whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
These words are merely an elaboration of the promise that God would put all things under the feet of men. This enumeration begins with animals that men have tamed, goes on to include the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the seas.
The Psalm closes with that magnificent exclamation with which it began and which we believe serves as an accurate title of the Psalm.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 8:6-8. This refers to the time when God placed mankind over the works of creation. Please read Gen 1:26-28.
Psa 8:9. This is identically like the first verse of the chapter. For that reason Dr. Marion Hull calls this an envelope psalm. That means the verses between the first and last ones describe the truth expressed by the first and last ones.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Heb. Flocks and oxen, all of them, Gen 2:20
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:7 All {d} sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
(d) By the temporal gifts of man’s creation, he is led to consider the benefits which he has by his regeneration through Christ.