Psa 8

[Note. One critic has called this a lyric echo of the first chapter of Genesis. The best critics do not doubt the Davidic authorship. The word “Gittith” in the title is rendered by the LXX. and Vulgate “for the winepresses.” Another derivation makes it a kind of flute. Other critics think that the most probable explanation connects it with Gath, the Philistine town. According to a Talmudic paraphrase, “upon Gittith” should be read, “on the kinnor which was brought from Gath,” thus making it a kind of Philistine lute, as there was an Egyptian flute and a Doric lyre. It is not supposed that the title has any reference to the subject. We learn here what is nature, and what is law; what is degeneracy and breach of law; and that God has ordained for himself, in the unconscious praise of their Creator from the mouths of babes and sucklings, a stronghold against the noisy clamour of apostate men, who rebel against the divine order, and lay upon God the blame of their own aberration from his order.]

1. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2. 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.

3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

God’s Glory In the Heavens

The object of this psalm is to magnify the name of God. Whatever else is in the psalm is pictorial and of the nature of detail. The one great object of the utterance is to praise and magnify the name of the Lord. The name is the Lord. We have debased names. We have used them arbitrarily. They express our fancy, or they connect us in some way with family history; but they do not incarnate the soul’s innermost quality and thought. They ought to do so. Names ought not to be lightly bestowed; the name should be the man. Beware, therefore, how names are attached to children, which names have been stigmatised in history; for suggestion is very subtle in its operation. Beware, too, how great names are thrown away upon possibly unworthy objects. Great names are not to be bandied about, thrown from one to another, until all their glory is emptied out and all their power is wasted. Names are realities in the Scriptures, in many places. Here and again there have been great misapplications of names, but the meaning was that the name should be the man. The name of God, therefore, is God himself. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” You cannot touch the name, and leave the God untouched. What exercise can be more edifying, more spiritually expanding and comforting, than to praise or magnify the name of the Lord? Let us watch the process in the psalm. It is full of simple beauty, partly astronomical, partly pastoral.

It does us good to go to nature. The Psalmist considered the “heavens,” “the moon, and the stars.” Good nature! sweet mother! What medicine is like her smile, or her breath, or her benediction! What a sanctuary is on the top of her mountains; what altars are in the sighs of her winds; what immortality, as it were, breathes across her seas! “Lift up thine eyes,” said God to a dejected one, “and behold.” It does us good to look upward: there is a healing influence in space its vastness, its purity, its solemnity. What: can they be who have never seen the sky? There are millions of men who have never seen it, because they have never looked at it; it seems to be no business of theirs; they seem to have no relation to it; they forget that if there were no sky, there could be no earth; if there were no sun, there could be no food to eat. But men do not connect things; they are not logical; they do not perceive sequences, and trace results to origins. And many are so shut up that they cannot see the sky, only little blue strips of it, with space enough for a star or two; but the great city of stars the infinite metropolis of light, they have never seen. If they could see really see it they would lose all their care and fear, and their tears would be but part of the common rain that makes the earth glad. But men will not look up; they live with inclined heads; and who ever saw anything in the earth but a grave? The earth is not worth thinking about, except as a part of something else. It is the tiniest little place you can imagine; it is a mere button of a thing a little whirling speck which never would be missed, they tell us, were it to go spark out. What have we to do with the earth? It gives us a foothold, and supplies us with certain means of bodily living; but it is when we “consider” the “heavens,” and “the moon and the stars,” and the whole host of night, that we are lifted up into new dignity and restfulness. We should think more of nature. The green field should be more precious to us not because it is one acre and a half in extent, but because it is verdant, fresh, living, throbbing with ten thousand pulses, waiting to be cultivated, waiting to help our needy life. Who ever brought sorrow back from the mountain-top? Many a man has carried sorrow up the hill; we have watched him, and seen his bent form, and said: How heavy is the burden he carries! Do not speak to him, for the mere answering of a question will only add to the weight he sustains. He has no breath to spare; let him alone. Mark how he toils, trudges, stoops, sighs! Still, let him alone. He goes higher and higher, and great mother-nature says, “Ten more steps, and you are at the top;” and when he reaches the summit, and looks round and sees what a wide sky it is, and how pure and how musical, he stretches himself; he is being transformed; he has thrown off ten years now, presently ten more, and he says: I will take heart again; things are not so gloomy as they looked down at the foot of the hill. Behold, God is here, and I knew it not! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! Now see how he comes down leaping, singing, as young as ever. He thought to die on the mountain-top, and lo! God has sent him back to take hold of the plough with both hands, to go into the field of war and fight like a man. Why brood? Why gather your knees into the fire and warm yourself in patches, instead of going out and making yourself warm by the motion of the whole frame and drinking in fire from the sun of the heavens? Many persons have come to me in religious dejection, and I have always ordered them they thought, perhaps, imperiously to the mountains, to the green fields; and have sent them maying and daisy-gathering, and they have come back from the buttercup-field as glad as I was, and sometimes twice as strong. We have despised nature. She is God’s minister, apostle, the medium through which he pours infinite gospels, if we had ears to hear them.

The Psalmist would be unjustly treated if we abandoned him, as it were, here. David makes a religious use of nature: “Thy heavens… thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.” It does look as if they might have been made by God. In truth, now we think about it, there is nothing startling in the suggestion. Could we have lifted up any one of these planets into its place? Have we span enough in our little arms to stretch out the heavens like a tent? Now that some one says, in the night season, when all the stars are out, “God made them,” it seems rational to believe it; the making of them would seem to be worthy of a God. How harmonic in movement! how calm! Always giving away their light, and never keeping a single gleam of it for themselves; never coming into collision one with the other, but whirling, circling, coursing, never ceasing millions of them. When one says, in a period of contemplation, “My Father made them all,” he does not seem to be much of a fanatic, or an enthusiast, or a word-rhyming poet, but a man of sense and gravity, and responsible thoughtfulness. “An undevout astronomer is mad,” said the author of the “Night Thoughts,” and that sentiment has never been disproved. We are not called upon to look at the heavens furtively, for a moment only, but we are called upon to “consider thy heavens,” to measure them, weigh them, traverse them, so far as we can, and put together, as it may be revealed, their purpose, their design, their issue.

It is very notable what use is made of the same heavens and moon and stars by men who have been in the company of Jesus Christ. In David we have wonder. Peter, the rude fisherman, who has been with Christ, comes and looks at them, and he says, “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” This is the teaching of great David’s greater Son. He, too, would have us consider the fowls of the air, and the flowers of the field, and all the handiwork of God; but not to rest there, not to be mere naturalists, flower-gatherers, and star-gazers: he would have us reason upward. If God can do this, he can do more; this is a worthy intermediate revelation, but not a worthy final disclosure of God. If this, the beginning, be so beautiful, who can forecast the culmination, when the true idea stands revealed?

David founds an argument upon his contemplation of nature:

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” ( Psa 8:4 ).

“For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels” [R.V. “God”], “and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” ( Psa 8:5 )

Man is the second name on the register; God signs first, and, passing the pen to man, he signs second. “Thou hast made him a little lower than God.” Sometimes he seems to be almost God. His face reddens with an inward light, and his voice trembles under an emotion which expresses things infinite. He contemplates nature to no purpose who looks upon it until he begins to feel his own littleness only. That is not the right method of reasoning about nature. There is nothing in all the heavens that can compare, so far as it is material, with the tiniest babe that coos in its mother’s arms. We must reason upward from nature to man, not downward from outward and material frameworks to man. Man is greater than all he sees. Picture an observer looking at a great hill. He looks at it and says, “What is man?” Why, there is nothing in all that hill that man cannot grind to powder and throw away, scatter in the wind or sink in the sea. Man does look little in stature when he stands against the Andes or the great Himalayan group. He feels physically small. But suddenly he says: After all, what is that hill? I will climb it, stand upon the top of it, plant a banner there, and call myself conqueror. So he may. There is no hill in all the world that man cannot climb, or cast down, and thus humiliate.

All things shall contribute towards securing a realisation of his greatness as meant by God. Man was meant to have “dominion”:

“Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” ( Psa 8:6 ).

Now the Psalmist puts the right view of the case. Everything is under the foot of man. “Thou madest him to have dominion.” “Dominion” is a far-reaching word; we have not yet thrown our measuring-line upon it and realised all its suggestion and inspiration. Is there not a stirring sometimes in the heart, which means: I was meant to be king; I was meant to be master; I was meant to exercise dominion dominion over the enticements of matter; it was intended that I should be able to say to the most fascinating spectacles that could appeal to me Stand back! Man was meant to have dominion over the satisfactions of sense. Say, is it not quite heroic, in some small way at least, that a man shall be able to say to a habit: I have done with thee; you do not leave this day fortnight you leave now! That is what God means man to be and to do in regard to everything that is not of the nature of God himself. It is useless, and worse than useless, even pitiful and weak, for a man to say that some habit has got such a hold of him that he cannot shake it oft. That doctrine must never be allowed. Such a man must go to his friends?, and say: I cannot do it alone, but you must help me: lock me up; build walls seven feet thick all round me, and help me, for the devil is hard upon me. A man who is so habit-ridden must not trust the case to himself or to his own handling; he must say: I have uncrowned myself, I have lost the charter by which I hold my manhood and my life: take pity upon me, take care of me; do not consider that I have any will in this matter oh, save me! And to others a word of caution should be spoken to this effect: Before the habit gets such hold upon you, be sure that you secure the upper hand over the habit. Man was made to have “dominion,” in the largest sense. It is well to put our very habits through a process of discipline, supposing the habit to be not altogether wicked. It is well for every man to say to it: I am going to have nothing to do with you for one whole month; stand back until I call you. Habits take liberties. They are weaving webs around the life when the life is not suspecting the operation. It is well for a man to say about his eating and drinking and sleeping: I am going to alter all of you; a new bill of directions shall guide my life for a month; every hour shall be changed, and every habit shall be driven out until I ask it to resume its place. Thus the man is exercising his right; he is realising the domination which God meant him to exercise over all things “all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas” ( Psa 8:7-8 ). Is it worth while that we should be able to hold all these things in dominion if we cannot hold ourselves in check? The great aim of every life should be self-control. A man should say: I will not speak today, nor eat, nor go abroad; I will keep myself in subjection, lest after having preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Bitter word, humbling word! A “castaway” something thrown off, without the thrower heeding where it goes; it may have been here or there, or over the brink into the great abyss; the man who threw it knows not, cares not, where it is: the thing thrown is a “castaway.”

Is there not in all this musical reasoning of the Psalmist a suggestion of man’s immortality? Do we not feel, after reading such a contemplation and taking part in it, that the man who could do all this could do more? Is there not something within us which says: This cannot be the end of a man who can consider God’s heavens, the moon and the stars; this cannot be the end of a creature a little lower than God, crowned with glory and honour? God does not make such crowns to throw them away; he does not bestow such honours to follow them with contempt Immortality is here by implication. The very greatness of the man is a proof that he was not meant for extinction. An awful irony it would be that God should create such a being, and, after all his poetry and reasoning and prayer, should allow that same being to fall away into nothingness! This cannot be. The high religiousness of this psalm is no loss to man in any aspect. Religiousness does not disqualify for business. A man is not a whit the less keen in mental penetration because he has been lost in religious awe and meditation and worship. He will come back from the altar a stronger man, being able to see further than he ever saw before, and to speak with an authority which he never could claim under other circumstances; having sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he will be master. There can be no master but the good man in the long run. There will be semi-masteries, miniature dominations, temporary successes men who wear the clothes of success and honour, men who may make in tinsel the crowns of gold; but they will go down, and at the last there shall only one man stand upon the earth, crowned and honoured the good man, the upright in heart, the believer in Jesus Christ, the man who has been crucified with the Son of God. All others shall be lost, burned by the lightning, when God flingeth its flash over the whole heaven.

Note

SELAH ( ). This word, which is only found in the poetical books of the Old Testament, occurs seventy-one times in the Psalms, and three times in Habakkuk. In sixteen Psalms it is found once, in fifteen twice, in seven three times, and in one four times always at the end of a verse, except in Psa 55:19 [20], Psa 57:3 [4], and Hab 3:3 , Hab 3:9 , where it is in the middle, though at the end of a clause. All the Psalms in which it occurs, except eleven (Psa 3 , Psa 7 , Psa 24 , Psa 32 , Psa 48 , Psa 50 , Psa 82 , Psa 83 , Psa 87 , Psa 89 , Psa 143 ), have also the musical direction, “to the Chief Musician” (comp. also Hab 3:19 ); and in these exceptions we find the words mizmr (A.V. “Psalm”), Shiggaion, or Maschil, which sufficiently indicate that they were intended for music. Besides these, in the titles of the Psalms in which Selah occurs, we meet with the musical terms Alamoth (Psa 46 ), Altaschith (Psa 57 , Psa 59 , Psa 75 ), Gittith (Psa 81 , Psa 84 ), Mahalath Leannoth (Psa 88 ), Michtam (Psa 57 , Psa 59 , Psa 60 ), Neginah (Psa 61 ), Neginoth (Psa 4 , Psa 54 , Psa 55 , Psa 67 , Psa 76 ; comp. Hab 3:19 ), and Shushan-eduth (60); and on this association alone might be formed a strong presumption that, like these, Selah itself is a term which had a meaning in the musical nomenclature of the Hebrews. What that meaning may have been is now a matter of pure conjecture.

A few opinions may be noticed as belonging to the history of the subject. Michaelis, in despair at being unable to assign any meaning to the word, regarded it as an abbreviation, formed by taking the first or other letters of three other words ( Suppl. ad Lex. Hebr. ), though he declines to conjecture what these may have been, and rejects at once the guess of Meibomius, who extracts the meaning da capo from the three words which he suggests. For other conjectures of this kind, see Eichhorn’s Bibliothek, v. 545. Mattheson was of opinion that the passages where Selah occurred were repeated either by the instruments or by another choir: hence he took it as equal to ritornello . Herder regarded it as marking a change of key; while Paulus Burgensis and Schindler assigned to it no meaning, but looked upon it as an enclitic word used to fill up the verse. Buxtorf ( Lex. Hebr. ) derived it from slh , to spread, lay low: hence used as a sign to lower the voice, like piano. Augusti ( Pract. Einl. in d. Ps. p. 125) thought it was an exclamation, like hallelujah! and the same view was taken by the late Prof. Lee ( Heb. Gr. 243, 2) who classes it among the interjections, and renders it praise! “For my own part,” he says, “I believe it to be descended from the root ‘he blessed,’ etc., and used not unlike the word amen, or the doxology, among ourselves.” Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

Prayer

This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! Thou dost surprise us by thy presence, even though we know the whole earth is thine, thou Father of all. We appear to come suddenly upon thee, and to find thy throne where we did not expect it. Thou art able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Even in thine house thou canst be greater than our imagination: it is not only our Father’s house, but it is our Father’s command that the best robe be brought forth and a ring of heaven, and that the feast of love be spread. We cannot follow thee in all the way of thy love. Thou art always doing more than our imagination led us to expect. We are always in the presence of thy great care and tender mercy; yet now and again it surprises us by some new beauty, some deeper pathos, some profounder assurance of fatherly regard. We are glad to be in thy house, for it is as a chamber of banqueting. Thy banner over us is Love: thine invitation is, Eat and drink abundantly O beloved: at thy feast there is more at the end than there was at the beginning. This is a miracle of love, a marvel not to be comprehended of compassion and bounteousness. Thou hast always been patient with us: thou mightest have crushed our infirmity; thou mightest have carried us away as with a flood; in the nighttime thou mightest have caused our little life to disappear, so that in the morning it could no more be found: but like as a father pitieth his children so thou hast pitied us in our feebleness and in our low estate; thou hast counted nothing belonging to us unworthy of thy notice the very hairs of our head are all numbered. As for thy patience, thy longsuffering, thy watching at the door of the heart, and thine attendance upon us what words can express our conception of these? We are lost in wonder, love, and praise! We cannot keep pace with God. Behold, there is no number that can set forth his mercy; neither is there any reckoning that can represent his compassion; the sand upon the seashore and all the stars in the brightest nighttime are as nothing compared with the infinite loving-kindness of God. We think of the Cross, and remember thy love: by the Cross we are saved; by the Cross we find pardon, peace, and a sure expectation of heaven. The blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all sin. We pray for one another. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. May every righteous man pray not only for himself, but for all the household of God and all the household of humanity. Give grace unto them who specially need some ministry from heaven, because of manifold temptation, or great perplexity, or intolerable sorrow. Grant unto those who need direction in the wilderness a voice that shall say to them, This is the way; walk in it, and be assured of the presence of God; his rod and his staff will comfort you. To those who have been bereaved or are in circumstances of special distress, send angels from heaven, who shall speak of thy care, love, and wisdom, and the meaning of all the chastening providences of life. Be with those who have left us for a season to go afar, that they may renew their friendships, or pursue their business, or inquire into interests covered by their love. Be with all who are in peril on the sea: make the sea as solid land, and the great winds do thou calm into healthful and peaceful breezes, and bring all travellers to their desired haven. Accept the thanksgiving of those who remember thy care with love and praise this day; thou hast raised up some from the bed of affliction; thou hast re-kindled the lamp of hope in some houses; thou hast given joy to some lives that were fast despairing, these are thy gifts, Parent of good, Father of all spirits. We take them as from God; we bless the hand that gives them, and we ask to show our gratitude by renewed and ever-enlarging service. Let thy peace be upon us. Hover over us, O Spirit of purity, Spirit of peace. Take all fear away; make us glad in the sanctuary of God, and give us to feel that here is the shining of the bright and morning Star, here is the fruit of the tree of life, here we find God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, in all the plentitude of grace. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XIII

THE PSALM OF MOSES AND THE PSALMS OF DAVID’S EARLY LIFE

Psa 90 ; Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 .

The author of Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 is David, who composed some of them perhaps late, late in life. We call this group of psalms the psalms of the Shepherd Boy, or the psalms of his peaceful early life. Dr. Sampey calls this group of psalms “The Echoes of a Happy Youth.” The subject of Psa 8 is God’s strange exaltation of what is seemingly insignificant. The items of information in the title are (1) direction for its use; (2) the tune; (3) the author.

Spurgeon calls this psalm “A Psalm of the Astronomer.” The time of day taken as a viewpoint, is a clear night.

A good outline of this psalm is the following:

Opening doxology (Psa 8:1 )

1. Babes achieving great results (Psa 8:2 )

2. Man, though small, not forgotten, but exalted above all other creatures (Psa 8:3-8 )

Closing doxology (Psa 8:9 )

There are several interpretations of Psa 8:2 , viz:

1. That it means child-holiness, as in the case of Samuel and John the Baptist.

2. That it shows God’s providence in behalf of babes.

3. That man in general is helpless.

4. That it refers to David in particular and indicates his weakness; that it also refers to Christ in becoming a babe. The New Testament quotations from this psalm and their application are found in Mat 21:16 ; Heb 2:5-8 ; and 1Co 15:27 ; thus:

“And said unto him, Hearest thou what these are saying? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea: did ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:16 ). “For not unto angels did he subject the world to come, whereof we speak. But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visiteth him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, And didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet.” Heb 2:5-8

“For, be put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him.” (1Co 15:27 ).

Upon these quotations and their application we can determine the interpretation of Psa 8:2 :

1. That it refers primarily to strength from the weak things (1Co 1:27 )

2. That it was applied to the children at the triumphal entrance into Jerusalem (Mat 21:16 )

Then Psa 8:4-8 are found to refer primarily to man (Gen 1:26 ; Gen 1:28 ) and then to Christ as the ideal man (1Co 15:27 ; Heb 2:5-9 ).

Some say that the author of Psa 19 was a pantheist, but he was not. He does not identify God and nature. The two books of revelation according to this psalm are Nature and the Scripture, but they are distinct revelations.

Dr. Sampey’s outline of Psa 19 is,

1. The glory of God in the material universe (Psa 19:1-6 )

2. The excellence of God’s revealed word (Psa 19:7-11 )

3. Plea for deliverance from every form of sin (Psa 19:12-14 )

This outline shows the progress of the thought, thus: The work of God reveals glory; the Word of God is excellent; prayer to God is the sinner’s privilege when he sees the glory of God in nature and also recognizes his imperfection as he is measured by the perfect Word of God.

A New Testament quotation from this psalm is found in Rom 10:18 , in that great discussion of Paul on the Jewish problem of unbelief, showing that the light of nature extended not only to the Jews, but to the whole inhabited earth. Note carefully these words: But I say. Did they not hear? Yea, verily, Their sound went out into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.

There is also a New Testament reference to it in Rom 1:20 : “For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.”

There is a striking figure in this psalm found in Psa 19:5-6 , in which the rising sun is likened unto a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and running his course, thus: Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is from the end of the heavens, And his circuit unto the ends of it; And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Thus we see that the time of day taken as a viewpoint in this psalm is the sunrise, the most exhilarating and invigorating point of the day.

Here we note six names of the Word of God with their attributes and divine effects, noting progress in the effect, thus:

1. The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul. “Law” is the name, “perfect” is the attribute and “restoring the soul” is the effect.

2. The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple. “Testimony” is the name, “sure” is the attribute and “making wise the simple” is the effect.

3. The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart. “Precepts” is the name, “right” is the attribute and “rejoicing the heart” is the effect.

4. The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes. “Commandment” is the name, “pure” is the attribute and “enlightening the eyes” is the effect.

5. The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever. “Fear” is the name, “clean” is the attribute and “enduring forever” is the effect.

6. The ordinances of Jehovah are true and righteous altogether. “Ordinances” is the name, “true” is the attribute and “righteous altogether” suggests a righteous fruitage from the whole law.

Certain classes of sins are recognized in this psalm, viz:

1. The sin of ignorance, of which Paul is a fine example.

2. Secret sin, of which David is an example.

3. Presumptuous sin, of which Saul, son of Kish, is an example.

4. The sin of infirmity, of which Peter is one of the best examples.

QUESTIONS

13. Who is the author of Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ; and when were they composed?

14. What does Dr. Carroll call this group of psalms?

15. What does Dr. Sampey call this group of psalms?

16. What does Dr. Sampey give as the subject of the Psa 8 ?

17. What do the items of information in the title?

18. What does Spurgeon call this psalm?

19. What is the time of day taken as a viewpoint?

20. What is Dr. Sampey’s outline of this psalm?

21. Give several interpretations of Psa 8:2 .

22. What New Testament quotations are from this psalm and what is their application?

23. What then is the interpretation of Psa 8:2 ?

24. What is the interpretation of Psa 8:4-8 ?

25. What is your favorite verse of this psalm?

26. Is the author of Psalm 19 a pantheist and why?

27. What are the two books of revelation according to this psalm?

28. What is Dr. Sampey’s outline of this psalm?

29. State this outline so as to show the progress of the thought.

30. What is the New Testament quotation from this psalm?

31. What is the New Testament reference to it?

32. What is the striking figure in this psalm? What time of day does this psalm take as a viewpoint?

34. Give six names of the word of God with their attributes and divine effects, noting the progress in the effect.

35. What classes of sins are recognized in this psalm, and what an illustration of each?

36. What is your favorite verse in this psalm?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XVI

THE MESSIANIC PSALMS AND OTHERS

We commence this chapter by giving a classified list of the Messianic Psalms, as follows:

The Royal Psalms are:

Psa 110 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 72 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 89 ;

The Passion Psalms are:

Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 ;

The Psalms of the Ideal Man are Psa 8 ; Psa 16 ; Psa 40 ;

The Missionary Psalms are:

Psa 47 ; Psa 65 ; Psa 68 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 100 ; Psa 117 .

The predictions before David of the coming Messiah are, (1) the seed of the woman; (2) the seed of Abraham; (3) the seed of Judah; (4) the seed of David.

The prophecies of history concerning the Messiah are, (1) a prophet like unto Moses; (2) a priest after the order of Melchizedek; (3) a sacrifice which embraces all the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament; (4) direct references to him as King, as in 2Sa 7:8 ff.

The messianic offices as taught in the psalms are four, viz: (1) The Messiah is presented as Prophet, or Teacher (Psa 40:8 ); (2) as Sacrifice, or an Offering for sin (Psa 40:6 ff.; Heb 10:5 ff.) ; (3) he is presented as Priest (Psa 110:4 ); (4) he is presented as King (Psa 45 ).

The psalms most clearly presenting the Messiah in his various phases and functions are as follows: (1) as the ideal man, or Second Adam (8); (2) as Prophet (Psa 40 ); (3) as Sacrifice (Psa 22 ) ; (4) as King (Psa 45 ) ; (5) as Priest (Psa 110 ) ; (6) in his universal reign (Psa 72 ).

It will be noted that other psalms teach these facts also, but these most clearly set forth the offices as they relate to the Messiah.

The Messiah as a sacrifice is presented in general in Psa 40:6 . His sufferings as such are given in a specific and general way in Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 . The events of his sufferings in particular are described, beginning with the betrayal of Judas, as follows:

1. Judas betrayed him (Mat 26:14 ) in fulfilment of Psa 41:9 .

2. At the Supper (Mat 26:24 ) Christ said, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him,” referring to Psa 22 .

3. They sang after the Supper in fulfilment of Psa 22:22 .

4. Piercing his hands and feet, Psa 22:16 .

5. They cast lots for his vesture in fulfilment of Psa 22:18 .

6. Just before the ninth hour the chief priests reviled him (Mat 27:43 ) in fulfilment of Psa 22:8 .

7. At the ninth hour (Mat 27:46 ) he quoted Psa 22:1 .

8. Near his death (Joh 19:28 ) he said, in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 , “I thirst.”

9. At that time they gave him vinegar (Mat 27:48 ) in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 .

10. When he was found dead they did not break his bones (Joh 19:36 ) in fulfilment of Psa 34:20 .

11. He is represented as dead, buried, and raised in Psa 16:10 .

12. His suffering as a substitute is described in Psa 69:9 .

13. The result of his crucifixion to them who crucified him is given in Psa 69:22-23 . Compare Rom 11:9-10 .

The Penitential Psalms are Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 . The occasion of Psa 6 was the grief and penitence of David over Absalom; of Psa 32 was the blessedness of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah; Psa 38 , David’s reference to his sin with Bathsheba; Psa 51 , David’s penitence and prayer for forgiveness for this sin; Psa 102 , the penitence of the children of Israel on the eve of their return from captivity; Psalm 130, a general penitential psalm; Psa 143 , David’s penitence and prayer when pursued by Absalom.

The Pilgrim Psalms are Psalms 120-134. This section of the psalter is called the “Little Psalter.” These Psalms were collected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, in troublous times. The author of the central psalm of this collection is Solomon, and he wrote it when he built his Temple. The Davidic Psalms in this collection are Psa 120 ; Psa 122 ; Psa 124 ; Psa 131 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 133 . The others were written during the building of the second Temple. They are called in the Septuagint “Songs of the Steps.”

There are four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents,” viz:

1. The first theory is that the “Songs of the Steps” means the songs of the fifteen steps from the court of the women to the court of Israel, there being a song for each step.

2. The second theory is that advanced by Luther, which says that they were songs of a higher choir, elevated above, or in an elevated voice.

3. The third theory is that the thought in these psalms advances by degrees.

4. The fourth theory is that they are Pilgrim Psalms, or the songs that they sang while going up to the great feasts.

Certain scriptures give the true idea of these titles, viz: Exo 23:14-17 ; Exo 34:23-24 ; 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Ki 12:27-28 : Psa 122:1-4 ; and the proof of their singing as they went is found in Psa_42:4; 100; and Isa 30:29 . They went, singing these psalms, to the Feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Psa 121 was sung when just in sight of Jerusalem and Psa 122 was sung at the gate. Psa 128 is the description of a good man’s home and a parallel to this psalm in modern literature is Burns’s “Cotter’s Saturday Night.” The pious home makes the nation great.

Psa 133 is a psalm of fellowship. It is one of the finest expressions of the blessings that issue when God’s people dwell together in unity. The reference here is to the anointing of Aaron as high priest and the fragrance of the anointing oil which was used in these anointings. The dew of Hermon represents the blessing of God upon his people when they dwell together in such unity.

Now let us look at the Alphabetical Psalms. An alphabetical psalm is one in which the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are used alphabetically to commence each division. In Psalms 111-112, each clause so begins; in Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 145 ; each verse so begins; in Psa 37 each stanza of two verses so begins; in 119 each stanza of eight verses so begins, and each of the eight lines begins with the same letter. In Psa 25 ; 34 37 the order is not so strict; in Psa 9 and Psa 10 there are some traces of this alphabetical order.

David originated these alphabetical psalms and the most complete specimen is Psa 119 , which is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 .

A certain group of psalms is called the Hallelujah Psalms. They are so called because the word “Hallelujah” is used at the beginning, or at the ending, and sometimes at both the beginning and the ending. The Hallelujah Psalms are Psalm 111-113; 115-117; 146-150. Psa 117 is a doxology; and Psalms 146-150 were used as anthems. Psa 148 calls on all creation to praise God. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn based on this psalm in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister. Psa 150 calls for all varieties of instruments. Psalms 113-118 are called the Egyptian Hallel. They were used at the Passover (Psalm 113-114), before the Supper and Psalm 115-118 were sung after the Supper. According to this, Jesus and his disciples sang Psalms 115-118 at the last Passover Supper. These psalms were sung also at the Feasts of Pentecost, Tabernacles, Dedication, and New Moon.

The name of God is delayed long in Psa 114 . Addison said, “That the surprise might be complete.” Then there are some special characteristics of Psa 115 , viz: (1) It was written against idols. Cf. Isa 44:9-20 ; (2) It is antiphonal, the congregation singing Psa 115:1-8 , the choir Psa 115:9-12 , the priests Psa 115:13-15 and the congregation again Psa 115:16-18 . The theme of Psa 116 is love, based on gratitude for a great deliverance, expressed in service. It is appropriate to read at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Psa 116:15 is especially appropriate for funeral services.

On some special historical occasions certain psalms were sung. Psa 46 was sung by the army of Gustavus Adolphus before the decisive battle of Leipzig, on September 17, 1631.Psa 68 was sung by Cromwell’s army on the occasion of the battle of Dunbar in Scotland.

Certain passages in the Psalms show that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices. For instance, Psa 118:27 ; Psa 141:2 seem to teach very clearly that they approved the Mosaic sacrifice. But other passages show that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important and foresaw the abolition of the animal sacrifices. Such passages are Psa 50:7-15 ; Psa 4:5 ; Psa 27:6 ; Psa 40:6 ; Psa 51:16-17 . These scriptures show conclusively that the writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.

QUESTIONS

1. What are the Royal Psalms?

2. What are the Passion Psalms?

3. What are the Psalms of the Ideal Man?

4. What are the Missionary Psalms?

5. What are the predictions before David of the coming Messiah?

6. What are the prophecies of history concerning the Messiah?

7. Give a regular order of thought concerning the messianic offices as taught in the psalms.

8. Which psalms most clearly present the Messiah as (1) the ideal man, or Second Adam, (2) which as Prophet, or Teacher, (3) which as the Sacrifice, (4) which as King, (5) which as Priest, (6) which his universal reign?

9. Concerning the suffering Messiah, or the Messiah as a sacrifice, state the words or facts, verified in the New Testament as fulfilment of prophecy in the psalms. Let the order of the citations follow the order of facts in Christ’s life.

10. Name the Penitential Psalms and show their occasion.

11. What are the Pilgrim Psalms?

12. What is this section of the Psalter called?

13. When and under what conditions were these psalms collected?

14. Who is the author of the central psalm of this collection?

15. What Davidic Psalms are in this collection?

16. When were the others written?

17. What are they called in the Septuagint?

18. What four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents”?

19. What scriptures give the true idea of these titles?

20. Give proof of their singing as they went.

21. To what feasts did they go singing these Psalms?

22. What was the special use made of Psa 121 and Psa 122 ?

23. Which of these psalms is the description of a good man’s home and what parallel in modern literature?

24. Expound Psa 133 .

25. What is an alphabetical psalm, and what are the several kinds?

26. Who originated these Alphabetical Psalms?

27. What are the most complete specimen?

28. Of what is it an expansion?

29. Why is a certain group of psalms called the Hallelujah Psalms?

30. What are the Hallelujah Psalms?

31. Which of the Hallelujah Psalms was a doxology?

32. Which of these were used as anthems?

33. Which psalm calls on all creation to praise God?

34. Who wrote a hymn based on Psa 148 in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister?

35. Which of these psalms calls for all varieties of instruments?

36. What is the Egyptian Hallel?

37. What is their special use and how were they sung?

38. Then what hymns did Jesus and his disciples sing?

39. At what other feasts was this sung?

40. Why was the name of God delayed so long in Psa 114 ?

41. What are the characteristics of Psa 115 ?

42. What is the theme and special use of Psa 116 ?

43. State some special historical occasions on which certain psalms were sung. Give the psalm for each occasion.

44. Cite passages in the psalms showing that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices.

45. Cite other passages showing that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 8:1 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

To the chief Musician upon Gittith ] Upon the cittern, or gittern, brought from Gath, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; or, that was used by the sons of Obed Edom, the Gittite, 2Sa 6:10 ; or, that was sung at the wine presses, as the Greek hath it, for a thanksgiving in time of vintage: This last Aben Ezra disliketh, though I see no reason why he should, Vani heroines exponunt de torculari (Aben-Ezra).

Ver. 1. O Lord our Lord, &c. ] The scope of this whole psalm is, to set us a wondering at and magnifying the majesty and magnificence of the Almighty; together with his inexpressible goodness to mankind; 1. In our creation in Adam. 2. In our restoration by Christ; which last is the true end of this psalm, as appeareth, Mat 21:15 1Co 15:27 Heb 2:8 .

How excellent is thy name ] This David speaketh as one swallowed up with admiration at that Nomen illud Magnificum et Maiestativum, that glory, honour, power, wisdom, goodness, &c., that being invested in God, and manifested in the creature (God’s handywork), should make us both wonder and inquire into God’s excellencies, according to that of Aristotle, to admire and learn at once is a pleasant thing; and sure that which is admirable stirreth up desire to see further into it, (Arist. Rhet. 1. i. c. 11). Admiratio peperit Philosophiam, saith another, Admiration brought forth philosophy: let it breed devotion in us, and a desire to praise God, who hath therefore displayed his excellencies in his works, that we might give him his due glory. The angels shouted at the creation, Job 38:4-6 , and shall we be dull and dumb? God tells Job of his own great works (the elephant and whale especially), and thereby brings him to a right temper. The elephant is in Chaldee called pil, of a word that signifieth wonderful; because the wonders of God’s glory do so marvellously appear in him. See Job 40:15-16 , &c., See Trap on “ Job 40:15 “ See Trap on “ Job 40:16 “ The philosophers make Iris, or the rainbow, the daughter of Thaumas, or admiration (Plato); but because that when they knew God, sc. per species Creaturarum, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations – therefore were they given up to a reprobate sense, Rom 1:21 ; Rom 1:28 .

In all the earth! ] Where a man cannot look beside a miracle, so full of God are all places.

Who hath set thy glory above the heavens ] Nam in eis robur Dei maxime apparet; for in the heavens (how much more above them) doth the glory of God chiefly appear. The earth is a small point in comparison to the heavens, and is governed by them, as R. David here noteth.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

This closes and crowns the series founded on the two prefatory psalms, the righteous man in the midst of the wicked (Jews though they were), and the Messiah the object of his trust and of the opposition of the nations and peoples, both the righteous and the Christ assured of God’s favour and establishment in blessing and glory according to promise. But even the Messiah was rejected beyond all, and the righteous meanwhile share His experience, to which His Spirit gives a voice as He directs their hearts purified by faith while they pass through varied trials. This we have been tracing in Pss. 3 – 7. Psa 8 is “To the chief musician upon Gittith a psalm of David.” Learned men suggest an instrument invented at Gath, or an air of the vintage festivity: a holy but happy season for a pious Jew. Frst regards it as a hollow instrument from the verb “to deepen.” It is, however, sensibly distinct from the psalms before and after, as the anticipation of God’s counsels, and specially cited as such in the N.T. for the exaltation of the glorified Man over all things, after His humiliation unto death on the cross.

It is evident that we have here a glory far higher and wider than that of Psa 2 . Indeed it is the universe, if we heed the N.T., where the suffering of death is shown to be the hinge and ground of this conferred glory, heavenly and unlimited over all things. It is the great day of Jehovah in the rule of the second Man, the last Adam: His glory set above the heavens, but His name glorious in all the earth. He is the exalted Head over all things, consequent on His humiliation, wherein God was glorified as in nothing so much, though all His life glorified the Father.

Here also two psalms (Psa 9 , Psa 10 ) open a new series which follows them, as Psa 1 , and Psa 2 prepared the way for those which last occupied us. It is not here the great principles of man righteous and the Messiah, with the experience of sorrow and trial to which this leads, and the heart’s expression to God which it forms, and the greater glory that results at last (as in Pss. 3 – 8). The new prefatory pair treats of the actual circumstances which the remnant are called to face (Psa 9:10 ), which plunges us in the crisis of the latter day, leading to the experience suitable to them and formed by the Spirit of Christ in the righteous accordingly (Pss. 11-15). This may serve to show what divine order reigns in that which might seem to a superficial reader the least consecutive, or mutually connected, book of all scripture; and ]low much more light from God is given than those look for who are verbally familiar with them every day, but misapplied!

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 8:1-2

1O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

2From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

Psa 8:1 O Lord, our Lord This is a combination of

1. YHWH the covenant name (BDB 217) for God (see Special Topic: Names for Deity )

2. Adon the term (BDB 10) means owner, husband, master, or lord. Here it is plural. Everywhere else this title is used in the Psalms it is singular (cf. Psa 45:12; Psa 57:5; Psa 105:21; Psa 110:1; Psa 114:7, except in Psa 136:3, where the construct Lord of Lords is used. This, then, must be an example of the plural of majesty.

They are used together here of one God, but in Psa 110:1 they are used separately of YHWH and His Messiah (cf. Mat 22:44; Mar 12:36; Luk 20:42-43; Act 2:34-35; Heb 1:13).

Also notice that in English translations the two terms are identified by the capitalization.

YHWH = Lord

Adon = Lord

NASB, NRSV,

NJB, JPSOAmajestic

NKJVexcellent

TEVgreatness

REBglorious

NET Biblemagnificent

This Hebrew adjective (BDB 12) is used of things, people, and God. When used of God it is an attempt to describe His incomprehensible grandeur (cf. Psa 76:4; Psa 93:4).

The noun form (no verb) is regularly used of clothing.

1. Esau’s hair like a hairy mantle Gen 25:25

2. expensive mantle stolen from Jericho by Achan Jos 7:21; Jos 7:24

3. Elijah’s mantle (symbol of YHWH’s enabling) 1Ki 19:13; 1Ki 19:19; 2Ki 2:8; 2Ki 2:13-14

4. a prophet’s hairy mantle (a symbol of his prophetic office) Zec 13:4

It can also mean

1. glory Zec 11:3

2. noble Eze 17:8

This phrase may be linked by subject (God’s place in creation) and the noun majesty (clothing) to Isa 6:1-4.

name This stands for YHWH Himself. See Special Topic: The Name of YHWH .

In all the earth this refers to the entire creation (cf. Psalms 104; see Special Topic: Land, Country, Earth ). YHWH is the only true creator, redeemer God (see SPECIAL TOPIC: MONOTHEISM ).

Who has displayed your splendor above the heavens There are several issues with the Hebrew text of this phrase.

1. The MT has an imperative of the verb give (BDB 678, KB 733, Qal imperative), set Your splendor above the heavens (see SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVEN ).

2. The UBS Text Project (p. 169, see NIV) changes it to an infinitive of the same verb, You have set Your splendor above the heavens (the UBS rates this change as D, i.e., highly doubtful).

3. NET Bible takes it as perfect or imperfect form, You who place Your majesty upon the heavens (p. 857).

4. Anchor Bible (vol. 16, p. 45) takes it as I will adore Your majesty above the heavens, by relating the verb to Ugaritic usages.

5. UBS Handbook on Psalms (pp. 78-79, cf. REB) revocalizes it to to tell or to praise, whose glory is told/praised above the heavens (see SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVENS ).

Just a personal note, I love this Psalm and the song The Majesty and Glory of Your Name. I feel God’s presence in a wonderful way when I think of this message about the incomprehensible grandeur of our God. I do not want an academic issue to take away from this worshipful message. But at the same time, I want to be true to the message of the inspired author! May the Spirit of God help us to know Him, proclaim Him, and live in the light of His presence!

above the heavens This can be understood in several ways.

1. the whole verse is extolling the God of creation

2. God’s praises reach as high as the heavens

3. creation tells/reveals the glory/majesty of its Creator (i.e., the night sky, Psa 8:3)

See Special Topics: Heaven and Heavens and the Third Heaven .

Psa 8:2 from the mouth of infants and nursing babes This is obviously hyperbole. These infants cannot speak, yet their very presence shows the glory and majesty of God and His creation. This is the natural revelation of Psa 19:1-6. Through the things of this creation God is known (cf. Rom 1:19-20; Rom 2:14-16).

This verse from the LXX is quoted by Jesus to the Pharisees watching His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem in Mat 21:16.

NASB, JPSOAYou have established strength

NKJVYou have ordained strength

NRSV, REBYou have founded a bulwark

NJBYou make him a fortress

The verb (BDB 413, KB 417, Piel perfect, cf. Psa 89:11, Qal perfect) means establish (NASB, appointed, cf. 1Ch 9:22) or founded (cf. Jos 6:26; 1Ki 16:34; Ezr 3:10; Isa 14:32; Isa 28:16).

The word strength (BDB 738) normally means strength, but in this context it refers to a stronghold for defense.

There is a word play between nursing babes (BDB 413) and establish (BDB 413).

YHWH, the Creator, is revealed in the heavens and in the little ones. All creation shouts His presence and purpose!

The exact meaning of this verse is uncertain, but apparently the little ones who reveal God’s majesty are under attack and God defends and protects them, as He does all who reveal His truths!

Psa 8:2 b Notice the participles that express the evil opponents.

1. adversaries BDB 865 II, KB 1058, Qal participle

2. enemy BDB 33, KB 38, Qal participle

3. revengeful BDB 667, KB 721, Hithpael participle

See full note on the names of the psalmist’s opponents at Psa 1:5; Psa 5:10.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Title. A Psalm. See App-65.

LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

Thy name: i.e. Jehovah Himself; “name” being put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for His character, person, and attributes. See Psa 20:1. Compare Psa 5:11.

the earth: i.e. the great subject of this Psalm. See note on verses: Psa 8:4, Psa 8:6.

glory = majesty, or excellence.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 8:1-9 is to the chief musician upon Gittith. Now Gittith means wine press, and so you have the thought of the harvest in the sense, actually, of judgment. The time of harvest has come.

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! ( Psa 8:1 )

The first Lord, all capital letters, signifying that it is a translation of the Hebrew name for God. That name which we do not know exactly how to pronounce. Perhaps it is Yahweh; perhaps it is Jehovah. Nobody really knows for sure. People have taken sides on the issue, but it is a mute question. We really are not certain of the pronunciation of the name. The Jews felt the name was so sacred that they would not write it in their script. They would only write Y H V H, the consonants, so it remained unpronounceable. They didn’t want a person to even pronounce it silently as they were reading, so when a Jew would come to this particular verse to read it, “O Lord, our Lord,” reading it out of Hebrew, he would just say, “O,” and then he would bow his head and then he would say, “The name.” But he would not try to pronounce the name, just, “The name,” for it was the name of God.

It is a Hebrew verb which means, “I am that I am.” Or more literally, “the becoming one.” It is a name by which God describes His desired relationship to you. As God desires to become to you whatever you may need. He is become our peace. He is become our righteousness. He is become our healer. He is become our provider. God becomes to us whatever we need. And so it is a beautiful name, because it is a name by which God describes His relationship to you. He wants to become to you whatever you need.

The second Lord here, “Our Lord,” capital L, small ord, signifies that it is the translation of the Hebrew word adonai, which means master. And thus, it is a title, and thus, it signifies our relationship to Him. The first one signifies His desired relationship to us, the Becoming One; the second indicates our relationship to Him, Master. “O Jehovah, our Master, how excellent is Thy name.” You see, the name Jehovah, how excellent is that name in all the earth.

Now we are told in Philippians, chapter 2, that Jesus, even though He was in the form of God and thought it not robbery or something to be grasped to be equal with God, emptied Himself, or made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a man. And coming in likeness of a man was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God has also highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jehovah Shua, the compound name of Jehovah, for He has become, in Jesus Christ, our salvation. The angel said to Joseph when he was worried whether or not to expose Mary or put her away privately, the angel said, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She is going to bring forth a son. Thou shalt call His name, Jehovah Shua, (or Yashua in Hebrew). For He shall save His people from their sins.” A name that is above all names. “How excellent is Thy name.” The name of Jesus, the most excellent name in all of the world. Yashua, Jehovah has become our greatest need, our salvation.

Now in the Kingdom Age He is going to have a new name, Jehovah-Tsidkenu. I would just assume stick with Yashua, cause Tsidkenu is hard to pronounce. But Jeremiah tells us that is the name in the Kingdom Age, which is, “He has become our salvation, Jehovah, our salvation.” How excellent is Thy name, a name which is above every name in all the earth.

who has set thy glory above the heavens ( Psa 8:1 ).

Now the heavens are glorious. The heavens declare the glory of God. They are not the glory of God; they declare the glory of God. His glory is even above the heavens, or higher than the heavens. And yet, perhaps the most glorious thing that we as man can observe are the heavens. But God’s glory is even above the heavens.

Out of the mouth babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger ( Psa 8:2 ).

It is interesting to me that that glorious God has revealed Himself in such simple terms that even a child can comprehend and begin to know God and have faith in God. And to me the purest faith probably that we can find is that faith within a child. How beautiful is that faith of a child. When our kids were growing up, I always wanted them to pray for me when I wasn’t feeling well. Such pure faith, the simplicity. As Jesus took a child and put it in the midst of all the scholars, and He said, “Unless you become like a little child, you are not going to catch on. You are not going to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God has perfected praise; He has ordained strength.

Then David said,

When I consider thy heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man ( Psa 8:3-4 ),

Now the philosophers and man today is seeking to understand, “What is man?” That is the basic question of the philosophers, “What is man?” But the mistake that the philosophers make is that they start with man, rather than, as with David, starting with God. “O LORD, our Lord, when I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon, the stars, which Thou hast ordained, what is man?” If I start with God, then I have man in his proper perspective. If I start with man, I have no perspective. I have no place to go. I don’t know where to go. I have no perspective. I can’t see man in any perspective unless I start with God and then I see man in his proper perspective.

“When I consider the heavens, the work of Your fingers the moon, the stars which Thou hast ordained,”

what is man, that thou art mindful of him? ( Psa 8:4 )

How often I have sat at the seashore watching the sun go down when I was a child. I lived in a seacoast town, Ventura, north of here. I used to love to get my fishing pole and go down and dig for soft-shelled sand crabs and I had a neat corbina hole. And I’d cast out there, and I would watch the surf and I would watch the sun as it would go down. And I would be all alone in the sandy beach, and I felt so small as it was getting dark. I felt so small as Venus would start to come out. And then some of the other stars, and I would look up and I would think, “Wow! I am alone here on the beach, looking out at that portion of the Pacific to the horizon seeing the sun go down.” And thinking how vast the Pacific Ocean was, how vast the world was. I knew just to ride my bike the two miles back to my house seemed like a long way at that point. And to realize, you know, just how vast the earth is. And I felt so small in relationship to the earth. But then I thought of the earth in relationship to the sun that had just set, and then the relationship to the earth to the stars that I saw coming out. “What is man that Thou art mindful of him?” Here I am, a speck of dust down on this little planet, and yet, God thinks about me. All the time He thinks about me. And sitting there in the sand, it was exciting, ’cause I would look up the beach and see all of the sand dunes. And my mother had taught me the scripture concerning, “Thy thoughts concerning me, if I should number them are more than the grains of sand in the sea.” And I would think of the greatness of God, and I would just sit there just over awed that God, the One who created this vast universe that I was looking at, was mindful of me. This little kid sitting on the sand on a beach by myself.

“What is man that thou art mindful of him?” God is thinking about you all of the time. And His thoughts concerning you are good, not evil. He isn’t thinking how He can give you a bad time this week and make it really tough on you. See how much He can make you squirm. God is thinking, “How can I show them how much I love them? How can I show them that I care? What good thing can I do for them this week, that they will know that I am there, that they’ll know that I am concerned, that they know that I love them?” He is thinking about you all of the time.

and the Son of man that thou shouldst visit him? ( Psa 8:4 )

What is man that God should come down to visit him? Who am I that God should seek to visit with me? And yet, He desires to visit with me. I don’t always have time for Him. Sometimes He has called to me and said, “Chuck, come, let’s have a little visit.” And I say, “No, Lord. I don’t have time. I’m so busy, Lord. Can’t You see how busy I am? Catch you later, Lord.” But you know what? He has never once said to me, “I am too busy for you.” In fact, He seems always so happy whenever I come around. So glad that I came, as though He was longing for my fellowship. When I had everything to gain from it, and He has so little to gain. O, how excellent, Lord, is thy name in all the earth. Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Who is the God that is so merciful and so kind and so loving, and so concerned as our God? What is man that God should visit him? And yet, He did.

Thou hast made him ( Psa 8:5 )

Man is not the product of accidental circumstances. Man is not the product of a series of chance, random chance, through billions of years. But the psalmist declares, “Thou hast made him.” But brilliant men who don’t want to acknowledge God, because they don’t want to keep God in their minds, have had to create theories by which they have sought to explain the existence of man, in quote, “scientific terms.” And these brilliant men tell us that God was created by man in man’s own image and after man’s own likeness. That because man needed to believe in something, he created the idea and the concepts of God. But God is only the figment of man’s imagination; he was created by man. But the scriptures said, “Not so.” “Thou hast made him.” God created man in His image and after His likeness. So you have the choice to believe that man created God, or that God created man. But to me, if I am going to have any kind of a logical base for existence, I must believe that God has created me, otherwise life is without purpose. I am living in a puzzle in the middle of a muddle, and there is no reason, rhyme, purpose for existence or being. I came by an accident; I’ll go by an accident. Tough! Life becomes completely empty, dehumanizing, if you try to take away from, “Thou hast made him.”

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels ( Psa 8:5 ),

Now the angels are God’s ministering spirits. They have been sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation. We see the order now of beings in the universe. It is: God, angels, man, animals, plants. “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,”

but you’ve crowned him with glory and honor ( Psa 8:5 ).

I look around the earth in which I live, I see all of the life forms upon the earth, and I realize that I have been crowned with glory and honor. I am the highest order of God’s observable creation here on the planet Earth. And I see the accomplishments of man. Think of what the world would be if man wasn’t here. Both good and bad, isn’t it? If man wasn’t on the earth, they wouldn’t have polluted streams, polluted skies, and threat of destruction by nuclear warheads. And yet, also, if man wasn’t here, there would be no music, no poetry, there would be no beautiful paintings, there would be, the earth would miss so much as God has placed in man the music and the beauty of expression.

“You have crowned him with glory and honor.”

You made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ( Psa 8:6 );

God has given us dominion over that work of His hands. “The earth showeth forth His handiwork.” So we have dominion over the plants, we have dominion over the animals, over the earth. God gave it to Adam, “Have dominion over it.” Now, that is dominion in the sense of dressing it, keeping it, taking care of it, developing it. It isn’t dominion in the sense that I can destroy it if I please, I can waste it if I please, I can recklessly, carelessly destroy the natural resources if I please because I have dominion. Not at all. The idea is to dress it, to keep it, to take care of it. “You have given him dominion over the works of Thy hands.”

you have put all things under his feet ( Psa 8:6 ):

Crowned him with glory and honor. Now this in a broader sense, of course, applies to Jesus Christ and is used in application to Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews, the second chapter, verses Psa 8:6 , and Psa 8:8 , and has been made to apply to Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. You see, He was God, not Michael the archangel. If He was Michael the archangel, then He wouldn’t have had to have been made a little lower than the angels. He would have been an angel, and He would not have had to been made a little lower than the angels. But He made Him a little lower than the angels, and crowned Him, for the suffering of death. As an angel He could not die; as God He could not die. And thus, He had to be made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death. And God has put all things in subjection unto Him, but the author of Hebrews said, “We do not yet see all things in subjection unto Him, but we see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.”

So all those things that God has put under man,

The sheep, the ox, the beast of the field; the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea ( Psa 8:7-8 ).

A sea captain was one time in the hospital, and the nurse was reading to him the psalms. And when she came to the eighth psalm, she read the eighth psalm, and when she read that last verse, or the next to the last verse there, verse Psa 8:8 , he said, “Read that again.” She read it again. And he said, “Read it again!” And she read it again. And he said, “That is interesting, paths in the sea. If God has declared that there are paths in the sea, there must be paths in the sea.” And so he began to put out bottles and he began to chart the sea currents, and discovered that there are definite paths in the seas, the sea currents. And from that time on the shipping industry began to follow the sea currents, saving thousands upon thousands of dollars in fuel, because they go with the currents. There are paths through the sea.

O LORD [O Jehovah, our master], how excellent is thy name in all the earth! ( Psa 8:9 ) “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

8:1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

They are very high, but thy glory is higher than the heavens.

Psa 8:2-4. 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. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

He, whose voice rolls the stars along, who makes those bright worlds to fly like sparks from the anvil of his omnipotence, how can he stoop so low as to regard his fallen creature, man, who is so small, so insignificant?

Psa 8:5-6. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

Man is Gods viceroy. He reigns over Gods works in Gods name. Let him not set up to be a king, and try to usurp the honour of his great Lord, the Imperator, the Universal Governor.

Psa 8:7-8. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

What a king man is! Let him not be cruel to the beasts of the field; let him not be a tyrant; God did not make him for that purpose. Let his reign be generous and kind; and if the animals must suffer, yet spare them as much suffering as possible. O man, be thou a generous viceroy, for thou art under a most generous King, who is himself the happy God, and who delights in the happiness of all his creatures!

Psa 8:9. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Thus does the psalmist finish as he began the psalm, by praising the name of the Lord.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psa 6:8.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 8:1-2

Psa 8:1-2

O LORD; OUR LORD; HOW EXCELLENT IS THY NAME!

(FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN; SET TO THE GITTITH. A PSALM OF DAVID).

“Set to the Gittith.” Only three Psalms have this instruction in the superscription, namely, this one, Psalms 81 and Psalms 82. Dummelow gave the meaning as, “perhaps an instrument or a tune, of Gath. At best, however, such scholarly opinions are merely educated guesses. There is much uncertainty with regard to all of these superscriptions.

“A Psalm of David.” There is nothing whatever in the Psalm itself that is contrary to the ancient opinion that David wrote it, and we find a few things that support such a view. For example, the mention of the night sky with the moon and the stars might indeed be expected from one who often kept watch at night over his father Jesse’s flock.

“O Lord, our Lord How Excellent is thy Name in all the Earth.” We have chosen a part of this opening line as the title of the Psalm itself. Many other titles have been suggested, as a glance at the various versions will indicate; but I have followed Maclaren’s declaration that:

“The exclamation that begins and ends this Psalm, enclosing it as a jewel in a setting, determines its theme as being neither the nightly heaven with its moon and stars, nor the dignity of man, but the Name of the Lord a proclaimed by both.

Psa 8:1-2

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth,

Who hast set thy glory upon the heavens!

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established strength,

Because of thine adversaries,

That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”

It will be noted that we went back to the KJV in the first line of Psa 8:1. As I have grown older, I have found my respect for the word “Jehovah” as used in place of “God” or ‘Lord” more and more difficult to maintain. In no sense whatever is it an inspired word. It is a scholarly guess at what the word actually was; and there are more and more variations of it available in the scholarly writings continually demanding our attention. Another “guess” is “Yahweh”; but neither of these is as glorious, meaningful, or acceptable as “Lord.”

Furthermore, the American Standard Version of 1901 made no improvement at all in the second line of Psa 8:1, when they substituted the word “upon” for “above,” but retained the latter in the margin. The KJV is the superior rendition, because the glory of the Creator is not merely upon the heavens, it is likewise above them.

“Out of the mouth of babes, etc.” Jesus Christ himself quoted from this passage in Mat 21:16, where we find the account of the Pharisees’ objection that the children in the temple were chanting Hosannas to Christ, singing of him as “The Son of David.” Christ responded, saying, Yea, have ye not read that, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise.” This, of course is a verbatim quotation from the LXX; and, by reason of Jesus’ acceptance of that rendition, it may be considered superior to other translations of the passage.

Regarding the “babes and sucklings,” the passage may be a metaphor for all mankind, who in their frailty and weakness are as “babes and sucklings” in the eyes of God. Jesus’ application of the words to children singing his praises in the temple falls far short of a contradiction of that view.

There is another view also which more strongly commends itself to us, namely, that –

(1) when God decided to rescue Israel from Egyptian slavery, it was a babe, indeed a suckling, that was placed in the little ark of bulrushes and cast upon the boundless waters of the Nile river. That “babe” was Moses, and through him, God destroyed the enemy and the avenger.

(2) Once more, when the third judicial hardening of humanity had taken place, and the whole world lay “in the evil one,” as an apostle expressed it, “a babe,” “a suckling,” indeed THE BABE of Bethlehem entered our earth life in a stable, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. He did indeed destroy Satan himself, “the great enemy.” The Prince of this world was cast out by the Christ; and, it seems to us, that in such examples as those of Moses and of our Lord, we have the true and eternal fulfillment of this second verse.

Dummelow noted that “God’s employment of such feeble instruments to display his glory (and to achieve his purposes on earth, J.B.C.) puts his adversaries to silence. Paul made mention of this very principle in 1Co 1:27-29.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 8:1. Lord occurs twice and is from different originals. The first is from YEHOVAH and Strong defines it, “(the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God.” The second is from ADOWN and defined, “sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine.” The phrase means that the Being who always existed was acknowledged as the one to rule over David and his brethren. No wonder, then, that His name was praised above everything else in the universe.

Psa 8:2. This verse states a general fact, but was especially meant as a prediction that was fulfilled in Mat 21:16. Babes and sucklings was used figuratively, meaning that praise would come from those who were least expected to be able or inclined to do so. To still means to overcome another. By bringing praises from such humble sources, the enemy would be put to shame.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

This is a great song of worship. It opens and closes with the same words. These words enclose the psalm, and create its burden. The matters between are proofs of the opening and closing statements. They are two. The manifestation of Jehovah’s excellencies in nature and man. These are first briefly stated (1,2), and then more particularly described (3-8). The principal manifestation is in man, which is revealed in both sections. The outlook on nature is toward the encompassing heaven, all the glory of which is expressed in one inclusive thought-Jehovah has set His glory there.

From this the singer turns to little children, in whom he finds a perfection of praise absent from the glorious heaven. It is such as “to still the enemy and the avenger.” These two facts are then more particularly considered. The first impression suggests the littleness of man. In the presence of the glorious heaven man seems beneath consideration. Yet it is not so. Man is greater than all. He is but little lower than God. His place is that of dominion. The contemplation of the heaven leads to the consideration of man. This creates in man, first, a wonder at Jehovah’s consideration of him. This consideration issues in investigation, and man is found nearer to God than the heavens. The issue is worship. It is the true order of creation. Through man’s sin it has been lost. Through Jesus it is being restored.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Gods Glory in Mans Headship

Psa 8:1-9

This exquisite ode can reach perfect fulfillment only in our Lord, Heb 2:6-9. It was evidently composed at night, and probably dates from the early shepherd days, when wild creatures crept around the fold and night-birds screamed above, reminding the singer of the animal world over which man was meant to reign.

The ascription of Psa 8:1-2 is very fine. Christ is so mighty that when His strength is given to babes they vanquish and silence His foes, Mat 21:16; 1Co 1:25. Do not regret your helplessness, 2Co 12:9-10. The comparison of Psa 8:3-4 is striking. It is a great descent from Adonai above the heavens to the son of Adam (dust). But the king loves his child more than his palace. What must not be the worth of man, of whom God makes so much! The crown of creation was placed on mans brow. Sin wrecked it, but the Son of man regained it, Mat 28:18; Isa 11:6-9; Rom 8:19-22. The holy soul has the talisman of rule, 1Co 3:22.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

That brings us to the end of this period of suffering, for in the next Psalm we have the appearance of the Son of Man and see Him set over all things. It is a wonderful Psalm and it is referred to again and again in the New Testament. We are no longer occupied with vain man and his ungodly ways, not even with the sufferings of the people of God, but we turn away to consider the wonders of Gods name and the glory of His creation. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. 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.

The day has come when God arises to shake terribly the earth, to bring to an end the long ages of Satans rule, to still the enemy and the avenger; and the Psalmist looks up and says: When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Oh, says David, I feel so small. I thought I was so important before. My own grief and distresses so pressed upon me, but now when I look at the heavens and see those galaxies of suns with their surrounding planets in the heavens, universe after universe stretching out into infinity, I wonder that God pays any attention to me at all. What is man, that Thou art [so] mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? But God has His eyes on the Second Man, and it has pleased Him to appoint a time when man is to have absolute authority over this universe. God gave this authority to Adam, but Adam was not the Son of Man and therefore this passage cannot be referring to him. It was Gods purpose that man should hold this lower creation in subjection to himself, but he failed and so the Second Man comes into the scene, and He is before the eyes of God here, Thou hast made Him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned Him with glory and honour. It is our Lord Jesus Christ, as we know from Hebrews, who came from Godheads glory and took a place lower than the angels. Do you realize that our Lord Jesus Christ is just as truly Man in glory as He was when here on earth? That is one of the most wonderful truths of Scripture for the comfort of our hearts. There isone Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5). Stephen said, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God (Act 7:56)-Jesus, a Man in glory crowned with glory and honor!

Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. Though Satan has sought to thwart Gods purpose it is going to be carried out. Thou hast put all things under His feet. In Hebrews we read, Now we see not yet all things put under Him. We have only to walk the streets of Chicago to realize that all things are not yet put under His feet; but the writer goes on to say, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour (Heb 2:8-9). Therefore, knowing that God is going to carry out His purpose we do not see everything put under Him, but we do see Him put above everything, and not only in the moral world but in the lower creation as well.

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. I love to think of the time when the groaning creation that has shared in the fall through no fault of its own, is going to be delivered from the bondage of corruption in the day of the manifestation of the glory of God. We learn from passages in Isaiah that blessing is to come to the very beasts of the field and the cattle. John Wesley prepared two or three sermons to show that cattle and beasts are going to heaven, for he thought that referred to heaven and that God was going to make up for all they suffered here by taking them to heaven at last. But Scripture speaks of them as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed (2Pe 2:12). What it does show is that when He reigns and everything is put under His feet, the lower creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and the very beasts will be brought into a more delightful existence than we have ever known.

And so he concludes this octave with the words, O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! His heart is bubbling over with joy at the thought that Gods Man, the Man of Gods pleasure, the Son of Man whom He has made strong for Himself, is soon coming to be over all things. And so you can see what a complete picture we have of the ways of God, from the first advent of Christ to His second coming.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Psa 8:3

The text is now to be used as the basis of the inquiry, What is the moral effect of studying great subjects? When we consider the heavens, four results are secured:-

I. We are impressed with God’s infinite independence of human help. We cannot touch one of His stars; we cannot control their courses; we cannot increase or diminish their light. When then God asks our help in anything, He does so for our good, and never to fill up the circle of His own ability.

II. We see that creation is established upon a basis of order. The moral significance of this is plain. See what God would have in the moral universe. God is the God of order, and order is peace

III. We see the infinite sufficiency of God to preserve all the interests we commit to Him. Is our house greater than God’s heavens, that He cannot be trusted with it?

IV. We see the essential difference between physical sovereignty and moral control. The weakest man is greater than the most magnificent star. In what does his superiority consist? In all that is implied in the term “will.” God seeks, by all the tender persuasiveness of His love, to bring that will into harmony with His own; when that is done, there will be a great calm. A consideration of the heavens will (1) enlarge and strengthen the mind; (2) show contrastively the power and weakness of man; (3) excite the highest hopes regarding human destiny; (4) tranquillise the impatience and fretfulness incident to an incomplete life. The student of nature should be on his guard against two possibilities: (1) against mistaking creation for the Creator; (2) against mistaking the transient for the permanent.

Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 364 (see also Pulpit Notes, p. 163).

Psa 8:3-4

These words express a conviction which lies at the root of all natural as well as all revealed religion, a conviction which may be regarded as a distinctive feature, which separates that conception of God’s nature which is properly a religious one from that which is merely a philosophical speculation, a conception without which indeed there can be no real belief in God at all.

I. The root and groundwork of all religion is the impulse which leads men to pray. In this is found the primary source from which all inquiries concerning the nature of God must set out, and to which all must ultimately return, viz., of man’s relation to God as a person to a person, of man’s dependence upon God, of man’s power to ask and God’s power to give such things as that dependence makes necessary.

II. If we turn to the sacred record of God’s creation of the world, we cannot overlook or mistake the two great religious truths which stand side by side on its page, the twofold revelation of one and the same God as the Creator of the material universe and as the personal Providence that watches over the life and actions of men. The whole scheme of Holy Scripture from the beginning to the end is one continuous record of God’s love and care for man in creation, government, redemption; and as such it is a revelation, not for this or that age alone, but for every generation of mankind, as our best and truest safeguard against an error into which human thought in every age is very prone to fall. Modern sophistry is ready to tell us that one law of cause and effect reigns supreme over mind as well as matter, that the actions of man, like the other phenomena of the universe, are but links in a chain of rigid and necessary consequences. Against this perversion Scripture furnishes a standing protest, and if read aright, a safeguard. God is revealed to man as He is revealed to no other of His visible creatures, not as God merely, but as our God, the personal God of His personal creatures.

H. L. Mansel, Penny Pulpit, No. 447.

The Gospel and the magnitude of creation.

Objection has been taken to the Gospel from the vastness of creation as displayed in astronomy. So far as we can see, that objection takes one of two shapes-either that man, looked at in the light of such a universe, is too insignificant for this interposition, or that God is too exalted for us to expect such an interposition from Him.

I. As regards man, the professed aim of the Gospel is his deliverance from spiritual error and sin and his introduction to that which alone can satisfy the wants of his nature-the favour and fellowship of the God who made him. This is a sphere of action entirely different from astronomy, and at its very first step as much higher as mind is above matter. It is the presence of life-above all, of intelligent life-which gives significance to creation, and which stands, like the positive digit in arithmetic, before all its blank ciphers. (1) The mind of man receives a further dignity when we turn from its power over the material to its capacity in the moral world. It is able to conceive and to reason from those distinctions of truth and falsehood, right and wrong, good and evil, which underlie and govern the spiritual world, as the laws of mathematics do the material. Here, if anywhere, mind grasps the absolute and infinite; and because it is able to do this, it holds rank above the highest things that eyes can see or heart conceive in the physical creation. (2) To this dignity of mind, derived from its power of thought, we have to add its value in the light of immortality. (3) So far from what God has done for the world of matter in the fields of astronomy being any reason for discrediting what the Gospel declares He has done for the world of mind in man, it should be a reason for believing it. If He has lavished so much pains and skill upon a universe of death, what may we not anticipate for one of life?

II. We come now to the second form which the objection may take-that as the Gospel revelation sets man in a rank that is too high, so does it bring God too low. In the character of a really great man we require a balance of qualities to satisfy us. This is a principle which we are justly warranted in applying to God. In astronomy we see Him touching the extremity of omnipotence; and if His character is not to be one-sided, we may expect to see Him touching in some other work the extremity of love. We shall seek it vainly all through creation if we do not meet with it in the Gospel. It alone discloses depths of compassion transcending even those heights of power, and points us to a Being who crowns His own nature, as He crowns us, “with loving-kindness and tender mercy.” When we take this view, we see that man has been placed in this world in the midst of concentric circles of Divine attributes, which become charged with deeper interest as they press in closer towards him. The inmost circle of fatherly love and forgiving mercy remains in the approach of God to the individual soul. Such a circle there must be; and when we feel its clasp on our hearts, we learn, in the language of the poet, “that the world is made for each of us.”

J. Ker, Sermons, p. 227.

The nocturnal heavens at once symbolise and demonstrate the concealed existence and attributes of God, just as the presence and symmetry of a man are made known to the distant spectator when the shadow of his person, in sharp outline, falls upon a brightly illuminated surface. In such a case we do not indeed see the man, nor, strictly speaking, is it more than his exterior form of which we have direct evidence; nevertheless we do not fail to fill up in idea what is wanting in formal proof; and we think almost as distinctly of the person as if he stood, without a screen, fronting us in the blaze of light. Thus it is that both in the vastness and the richness of the visible universe the invisible God is adumbrated.

I. We may boldly affirm that earth is not too small a globe to be thought worthy of giving birth to the heirs of immortality; nor is man too diminutive a being to hold converse with his Creator, or to be amenable to the Divine government. The very multiplicity of worlds, instead of favouring such a conclusion, refutes it by showing that the Creator prefers, as the field of His cares and beneficence, limited and separate portions of matter rather than immense masses. It is manifest that the omnipotent wisdom and power laves to divide itself upon the individuality of its works.

II. But if we must not indulge this feeling, the tendency of which is to quash every aspiring thought and to reduce us from the rank we hold to the level of the brutes, our alternative is another which, without checking any noble emotion, at once imposes a restraint upon presumption, and leads us to estimate more rightly than otherwise we should the consequences of our present course. To exist at all as a member of so vast an assemblage of beings, and to occupy a footing in the universe such as it is, involves incalculable probabilities of future good or ill.

I. Taylor, Saturday Evening, p. 124.

I. How is God mindful of man? He is mindful of man at every moment of his existence-mindful of infancy, of boyhood, manhood in the toils of active life, of age, when all other mindfulness terminates, and when the ties of earth have been loosened one by one.

II. He is mindful of us inasmuch as He has provided all things needful for our existence. Nature brings the keys of her magnificent treasure-house, and lays them, a vassal, at the feet of man.

III. He is mindful of us, again, because He has provided everything, not only for our existence, but for our happiness. If you want to see how He has not left the world to itself from the beginning, take its history from Adam downward. And when, in the fulness of time, the Son of God was incarnate in furtherance of the purpose of the Father, surely God was mindful of His creatures then. The visit of Christ was (1) a visit of humility, and (2) a visit of atonement.

IV. Since the Son has ascended up to heaven, God has been mindful of man in the operations and influences of the Spirit.

V. He is mindful, too, in the dispensations of His providence. The great end of man’s existence in the present life is to prepare for a better. He is so thoroughly earthly, so wedded to the scenes of time, that vigorous means are needed in order to wean him from earth and attach him to the skies. It would save us from misery sometimes if we could only regard our afflictions as having this disciplining and corrective end.

W. Morley Punshon, Penny Pulpit, No. 3608.

Reference: Psa 8:3, Psa 8:4.-Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 3rd series, p. 91.

Psa 8:3-6

I. True greatness consists, not in weight and extension, but in intellectual power and moral worth. When the Psalmist looked up to the heavens, he was at first overwhelmed with a sense of his own littleness; but, on second thoughts, David bethought himself that this was an entire misconception of the matter, and that man could not be inferior to the heavens, for God had, in point of fact, made him only a little lower than the angels-“than the Elohim,” is the word in the Hebrew. This term, in the Elohistic portion of the Pentateuch, is applied to the Almighty instead of the term “Jehovah.” God had made man, we may therefore read, a little lower than Himself, had crowned him with glory and honour, had given him dominion over the works of His hands, and had put all things under his feet. So far from being insignificant in comparison with the heavens, man is of infinitely more value than they.

II. The progress of science has had a tendency to make us underrate our manhood. The language of very many thinkers nowadays is the first hasty utterance of the Psalmist-“What is man?” And the answer they give to the question is this: Man is but a mote in the sunbeam, a grain of sand in the desert, a ripple upon an infinite ocean, an atom in immensity. They forget that he is an atom which feels, and knows, and thinks, an atom that believes itself endowed with “the power of an endless life.”

III. The doctrine of man’s paltriness is no less pernicious than erroneous. So morbid a belief must react injuriously upon character. If we believe that we are more insignificant than the dead and mindless world around us, we shall never give ourselves much trouble about character. On the other hand, if we remember that our spiritual nature is akin to God’s, made only a little lower than His, then we are stimulated to cultivate the manhood with which we have been endowed, to agonise, if need be, till we become perfect, even as He is perfect.

A. W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, and Other Sermons, p. 266.

Psa 8:4

I. The thought which lies behind this text is of far deeper intensity now than when it was first uttered by the awe-stricken Psalmist. The author of this eighth Psalm could have had but a faint conception of the scale of creation compared with that at which we are now arriving. What is man in presence of the overwhelming display of creative power?

II. But there is another consideration which helps to impress the thought of our insignificance. We cannot but speculate as to the ends which this infinitely vast creation may be serving; and then of what account do human pretensions appear? What becomes of man’s interests, his creation, his redemption, if these innumerable worlds are peopled by beings who wait, as he does, upon God? And yet, strange to say, our very doubts and misgivings may themselves serve to reassure us; for is not the capacity to reflect upon our position and to speculate about our destiny a witness to our greatness? It has been truly said that the very discoveries of astronomy, which unfold to us the vastness of the material creation, reveal at the same time the majesty of man. The discoverer is above his discovery at every step of the process.

III. What then is the right effect upon our hearts of this discovery of God’s limitless working, His immeasurable condescension? It is to do away with our fear; it is to tell us that there is nothing incredible or preposterous in the thought that He visits us, and expends even upon us all the riches of His care and love. The heavens declare His glory, and proclaim it to be infinite. Why may not the Gospel be a similar declaration of His highest attribute, a witness borne to the universe that His mercy is infinite also?

IV. If man is a being so precious, so unique in his origin and destiny, if God has bestowed such manner of love upon him as Christ bids us believe, then what an appeal is made to him to live up to his unspeakable dignity! “It is the highest effort of his culture,” says St. Bernard, “when a man comes to care for himself for the sake of his God;” when, that is, his sovereign desire is to be worthier of the rank with which God has invested him and of the love which God has lavished upon him.

R. Duckworth, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 193.

How are we to verify the hope that it is possible for man to have access to God’s presence? St. Paul declares that ever since the creation of the world the invisible things of God, even His power and Godhead, have been revealed in the material universe. But the influence on religious faith and hope of what we call “nature” varies with different men. There are some aspects of nature which sometimes make it difficult to believe that there can be any real communion between the Creator and ourselves. The vastness, the grandeur, of the material universe sometimes oppress us; we are crushed by the sense of our insignificance. What is man that God is mindful of him, and what is man that God should visit him? Our humiliation is deepened by the discovery that our own life is akin to the inferior forms of life around us,-akin to forms of life which look at first sight most remote from us. What right have I to separate myself from the creatures to which I am so closely related? What right have I to claim any special remembrance from God? This is the gospel of science; is it true, or is it false? What are the pleas which are urged against our faith?

I. The whole world, we are told, is a mere speck in the universe, and it is said to be incredible that God should have any special care for it or for those that inhabit it. There is a certain intellectual and moral vulgarity in attaching such importance to mere material magnitude. A few square inches of canvas show sometimes a more costly work than a picture which would cover the side of a house. The world is very small, but what of that if it is big enough to hold the children of God?

II. The second plea is that the life of man is too brief and momentary compared with the ages during which the universe has existed. No doubt, but science itself contains the reply to this argument. Let the doctrine of evolution, on its purely scientific side, be true,-instead of being overawed and humbled by the long succession of ages which have preceded me, I find in them new testimony to the greatness of my nature and the possible dignity of my position. I myself am the consummate result and the ripe fruit of these immense and awful ages.

III. The third plea is that we are encompassed by laws which take no heed of the personal differences of men, of the varieties of their character, or of the vicissitudes of their condition. You tell me of law, but there is another law, even the law of my moral nature. While you have demonstrated that the whole universe is subjected to the authority of natural law, for me there is reserved an inviolable liberty. Separate from nature, I may be akin to God. It is possible, after all, that God may be mindful of me, and that God may visit me. But let us not forget that God is near, and yet He may surround Himself with clouds and thick darkness and may be altogether hidden from us. It is not enough that we draw nigh to God; God Himself must draw nigh to us. If the brightness of His presence shines upon us, that brightness does not come like the splendours of the rising sun, but as the effect of His own voluntary revelation of His glory.

R. W. Dale, Penny Pulpit, Nos. 992, 993.

References: Psa 8:4.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 193; W. Lindsay Alexander, Christian Thought and Work, p. 123; Congregationalist, vol. x., p. 500; J. Baldwin Brown, The Higher Life, pp. 1, 387; H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 101.

Psa 8:4-5

Man stands on the frontier of two worlds. There is a supernatural sphere, and man’s connection with it is his glory, his endowments from it his highest treasures. “Made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour.”

I. What then is that connection? Can the supernatural world unfold itself before man? The answer is, Most certainly it can. (1) God has laid bare to man the splendid vision by prophecy. Prophecy is God’s revelation by word. Wherever any spiritual truth is taught, the words that teach reveal something of God. (2) What prophecy was by word, that miracle was by act-a revelation of the supernatural world. Miracles have revealed the nearness and power of the personal God; they have been the seal which He has placed visibly upon some great moral revelation, to mark by an act in nature the reality of a supernatural world. (3) Above all, there was the great revelation-the revelation by Himself. “God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.”

II. Can man take in the vision? Can he respond to the revelation? Certainly he can. Man’s apparent activities are limited to the domains of time and sense. The forces by which he conquers, by which he transfigures the temptations of time and sense into the stepping-stones to a higher life, are: (1) That Divine gift which is the power of inward vision. It is given to the soul first as a tendency; it grows if used until it attains the strength of a clear-sighted inward eye. That capacity is faith. (2) Hope, the supernatural virtue which strengthens the soul, not merely to gaze at the beauty of that fair, that unearthly, landscape, but to enter in, and say with holy fear, with humble confidence, “This paradise is mine.” (3) Love. To love God is the source of penitence, the crown of joy, the power of union with the supernatural world.

J. Knox Little, Manchester Sermons, p. 41.

I. Consider the exaltation of the humanity in the Divine purpose. It formed the great Divine idea ere the earth was made, and when God dwelt alone in the solitudes of infinite space. The almighty Creator Himself condescended to assume the human nature in union with the Divine in order to exalt that nature, fallen and degraded, to glory and honour.

II. Notice the exaltation of the humanity in the incarnation of the Son of God. “Manifest in the flesh.” How magnificent does fallen nature appear, even in its ruins, in thus becoming the very sanctuary and residence of Deity. Christ consecrated infancy, poverty, bereavement, suffering, and death itself, and the grave.

III. Note the exaltation of the humanity in the ascension of Christ. Our human nature occupies the central throne of heaven. “Great is the mystery of godliness, man manifest on the throne of God.” It is in glorified human nature that Christ there lives and loves.

IV. Notice the exaltation of the humanity in the day of judgment. “The Father hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.” Here, again, it is humanity exalted on the throne of final reckoning-the Man Christ Jesus.

V. Once more, contemplate the exaltation of the humanity throughout all eternity. The humanity Christ wore on earth will continue evermore on the throne. The Divine Father, by immutable covenant, invested Him as Mediator with “length of days for ever and ever.”

J. R. Macduff, Communion Memories, p. 51.

References: Psa 8:4, Psa 8:5.-S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life, p. 365. Psa 8:5.-H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2273; Expositor, 3rd series, vol. v., p. 306.

Psa 8:6

This Psalm is stamped with a worldwide breadth; it is of no nation; it is of all time; it shines with a light transcending that of mere human genius. We are brought face to face with these three: nature, man, God.

I. Look, first, at the text in the light of Old Testament Scripture. It is quite plain that here is no description drawn from nature. All things are not put under man. He does not reign over nature; he wrestles with nature; step by step he gains upon nature, and subdues it to his purposes; but he has still to keep continual watch and ward lest nature should rebel against him and destroy him. The context clearly shows that the Psalmist is looking back to the primitive glory, the primeval character, of man, as it is written upon the very first page of this book. In the light of the Bible man can tell whence he cometh and whither he goeth. Sorrowful and confused as his earthly life is and has been all these thousands of years, still in the light that shines from Scripture it shows like a stormy day that had a splendid rise and that shall yet have a glorious sunset.

II. When we look at these words in the light of New Testament Scripture, a new glory suddenly breaks forth from them. “Now we see not yet all things put under him; but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour,” etc. The highest fulfilment of these words can be found nowhere short of Him who loved to call Himself the “Son of man.” “Thou hast put all things under His feet.” (1) This is what only God has either the right or the power to do. It is not merely supreme power that is here spoken of; it is supreme authority, as when our Lord said to His disciples, “All power is given to Me.” In the days of His flesh He constantly exercised four kinds of authority: the authority to forgive sin, the authority to declare truth, the authority to rule nature, and the authority over human hearts and consciences. The claim of universal and absolute obedience and these four are in close, inseparable moral unity. (2) “All things”-small things as well as great. The hairs of your head are all numbered; your name is not unknown to Him. The chief lesson in these words is for every Christian a lesson of restful calm, peaceful, untroubled faith, but faith surely tempered with reverence. All things are naked and open to Him with Whom we have to do.

E. R. Conder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 161.

References: Psalm 8-C. Kingsley, Sermons for the Times, p. 148; A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 28; F. D. Maurice, Sermons in Country Churches, p. 148; I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 178; P. Thomson, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 173. Psa 9:1.-Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 304. Psa 9:4.-J. P. Chown, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 63; Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 112. Psa 9:6.-Bishop Magee, The Gospel and the Age, p. 31. Psa 9:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 287. Psa 9:16.-Congregationalist, vol. vi., p. 536. Psa 9:17.-Spurgeon, Sermons, No. 344; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 250; F. E. Paget, Sermons on the Duties of Daily Life, p. 23; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. v., p. 169; G. Bainton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 221. Psa 9:18.-Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 144. Psalm 9-I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 189. Psa 10:4.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv.,p. 57. Psa 10:5.-C. Kingsley, Sermons on National Subjects, p. 174. Psa 10:16.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 118. Psa 10:17.-Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1802.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 8

The Son of Man: All Things Put Under His Feet

1. A little lower than the angels; crowned with glory (Psa 8:1-5)

2. All things put under Him (Psa 8:6-8)

3. How excellent is Thy Name over all the earth (Psa 8:9)

Psa 8:1-5. In this Psalm we behold Christ again, and here as Son of Man. Three times this Psalm is quoted in the New Testament; in Mat 21:16, 1Co 15:27 and Heb 2:6-9. The latter passage shows clearly who the Son of Man is who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, to taste death for everything and who is now crowned with glory and honor.

(The inscription of this Psalm is upon Gittith–the winepress. If the theory is correct that the titles of the Psalms were misplaced, then Gittith should belong to the preceding Psalm, where it would find a good application. But it is equally in place in the beginning of this Psalm, for the Son of Man went into the winepress, the suffering of death when He shed His precious blood.)

The Psalm begins with praise; it will be His praise in that coming day when all things are put under His feet as the second Man, the last Adam, then His Name will be excellent in all the earth and His glory will be set in the heavens (the New Jerusalem). The little children in the temple who sang their Hosannahs when the Lord Jesus was there foreshadow this coming praise. Many expositors have made of the son of Man Adam, the first man; but he is the type of the last Adam; the Lord Jesus is meant as Heb 2:6-9 tells us so clearly.

Psa 8:6-8. The first man lost his dominion through sin, the second Man has bought it back by His death. When He comes again then all things will be put under His feet. During His absence we see not yet all things put under Him. He must reign till all enemies are put under His feet.

Psa 8:9. The Psalm closes with the same praise with which it begins. It is the future praise of Him, who was made a little lower than the angels and whose Name in that day will be excellent in all the earth. We beheld Him as the perfect Man, as the King, rejected by men, enthroned by God, with the nations for His inheritance, in the opening Psalms. Then followed (Psa 3:1-8; Psa 4:1-8; Psa 5:1-12; Psa 6:1-10; Psa 7:1-17) the experiences of the godly during His absence, especially the Jewish remnant and the Eighth Psalm shows Him as Son of Man, who comes for the deliverance of His people and receives the dominion over all the earth.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

1 Gittith= “winepress,” and so, of the harvest, in the sense of judgment Isa 63:3; Rev 19:15; Psa 7:1, to which the title of Psalms 8. properly belongs, is a Psalm of judgment.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

our: Psa 8:9, Psa 63:1, Psa 145:1, Isa 26:13, Mat 22:45, Joh 20:28, Phi 2:11, Phi 3:8, Rev 19:6

how: Psa 72:17-19, Psa 113:2-4, Psa 148:13, Exo 15:11, Exo 34:5-7, Deu 28:58, Son 5:16

thy: Psa 36:5, Psa 57:10, Psa 57:11, Psa 68:4, Psa 108:4, Psa 108:5, 1Ki 8:27, Hab 3:3, Eph 4:10, Phi 2:9, Phi 2:10, Heb 7:26

Reciprocal: Gen 1:17 – General 1Ch 16:27 – Glory Neh 10:29 – the Lord Psa 16:2 – thou hast Psa 57:5 – above Psa 96:6 – Honour Psa 110:1 – The Lord Psa 113:4 – his glory Psa 135:13 – Thy name Psa 148:3 – sun Luk 18:2 – which

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Section 3. (Psa 8:1-9.)

The Son of man in possession of His inheritance glorifies Jehovah in all the earth.

Psa 8:1-9.

To the chief musician, upon the Gittith: a psalm of David.

{Verse 1 and verse 9, a “plural of majesty.”

Verse 5, Angels -“Elohim,” God or gods, sometimes applied to angels; and so the Septuagint and Heb 2:6. (See notes.)}

The third section contains only one psalm, quite distinct in character from the series before it, and which yet leads up to it, as we have seen. But it is (as they are not) Messianic, -a revival, as it were, of those claims of the Son of God to the throne, which, being rejected by the nations, He has forborne as yet to make good in power, as He will surely do. His time of patience has accomplished, in the mean while, the fulfillment of other purposes, even those in which to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.” (Eph 3:10.) Of this we must not expect any intimation here. We are here (as in Old Testament prophecy generally) in the line of Jewish hopes and promises.

Still we have not here the King on Zion, but the wider title of Son of man. This, of course, implies the taking of His other glories, and we shall have many a psalm later on that will present these. Here at the outset we need expect little detail, but the general features sketched of a picture that is to be filled in afterwards. The outline is given with a few bold touches sufficiently comprehensive. Not the King on Zion nor the Son owned of God is here, but the ideal man, the answer to the question, “what is man?” -God’s head over the earth, and with gleams of higher glories, -Son of man, nevertheless, (decisively different in this from the first Adam,) through whom God is glorified on earth, and His glory set even above the heavens. Such is the wonderful scene that is here opened out to us.

It is a psalm of David, “upon the Gittith.” Two interpretations of this are given, which practically are not far apart, however. “Some Hebrew scholars,” says an anonymous writer whom we may often quote, “would regard it as the name of a musical instrument peculiar to Gath, where David once sought shelter from the unrelenting persecution of Saul. Just as there was among the Greeks a Dorian lyre, which had a wide celebrity on account of its excellent sweetness, so, it is suggested, this psaltery, Gittith, was borrowed by David from the citizens of Gath, and thence introduced by him on account of the superior sweetness of its tone and the beauty and elegance of its form. If this be the true interpretation, it suggests also a deeply spiritual reflection: for how often from the saddest occasions of temptation and distress in the devout life arise the gladdest songs of praise! The wild storm often makes the sweetest music on the Aeolian harp.

“But a more likely derivation may be found for this title, Gittith, in a Hebrew root, signifying “wine-press.” And now it is an autumnal song chanted by the vine-dressers at the joyful vintage-season, when the blood of the grape is poured into the wine-vat. Still the same idea is prominent: sorrow and anguish, like the trodden clusters, are fruitful in the wine of a holy joy.”

Whether it be Gath the city, or gath the wine-press, the root-word, and so the meaning, is the same, and the thought suggested acquires its fullest significance when we connect it with the cross. The wrath borne for men, the blood outpoured, were there for us the cause of a joy that shall never cease. And how simply it brings before us the apostle’s quotation of this psalm, and the note which he makes upon the quotation: “we see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” (Heb 2:9.) One might easily imagine that the apostle had in mind the “al haggittith” of the psalm from which he quotes.

1. So brief yet so comprehensive as it is, the psalm has comparatively many divisions. It begins and ends with the glory of God, Jehovah’s name being now excellent in all the earth. But there is more than this: He has set His glory also above the heavens.

It should be evident when we consider what is the great subject before us, that all this has a deeper meaning than at first sight we might give it. The Lord as Son of man, taking possession of the earth as His inheritance, makes everywhere Jehovah’s name excellent in it. When, as Zechariah prophesies, “the Lord my God shall come, and all His saints with Thee,” His feet standing upon the mount of Olives, from which He went up, then “Jehovah shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His Name one.” (Zec 14:3; Zec 14:5; Zec 14:10.)

The application in this way is simple, and it throws light upon the rest of the verse: for then surely we can see that the glory that is set above the heavens is connected with the work of this same blessed Person. It is not the glory of moon and stars spread over the heavens, such as the psalmist speaks of in the third verse, but a glory above all created things, however wondrous. Jehovah it is who is manifest in this Son of man, in whose lowly position just the wonder of His condescending love appears. Supreme in power, He is as supreme in moral glory, and in Christ how does this shine out! Thus the praise of earth ascends to Him, owning His rightful rule: “Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth!”

2. Its deliverance has come, therefore, from the oppressor: it is not merely that the voice of calumny has been stopped, as interpreters have taken this verse to mean, but the enemy has passed away. In a fuller sense than could be said of Solomon’s peaceful reign, there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.” So then it is by more than the praise of babes and sucklings that the enemy is silenced, and the Lord’s quotation of the passage with reference to the hosannas of the children does not at all entail such a consequence as this. It is He Himself who will “smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips destroy the wicked.” But yet for this He will establish praise out of the mouth of babes and sucklings; that is, I doubt not, of new-converted souls, humbled and brought down to such conscious littleness and weakness as this implies. We have again from His lips such a comparison in the well-known words, “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Thus we see clearly why He must produce such praise in order that the kingdom may come: the heirs of it must be made ready.

The little children in the temple foreshadowed such praise as this, and in this way the language could be suitably used with reference to them. The actual fulfillment will be in those future days to which, as we have seen, these psalms look on.

3. The third section brings us to the central subject of the psalm, a spiritual enigma, no doubt, scarcely read in its true meaning until the New Testament light was thrown upon it. At first sight it is just man -the race -of which the psalmist speaks; and the question asked is really of this nature: but the answer is a secret for the ear of faith, like much more that we shall find as we go on with him. Man (the race) is, in fact, but what the fall has made him; and what can be really said for him? What can justify God’s regard for this ruined creature? Go back to his creation, -put him in the seat from which he fell, -think of the earth as subjected to him, -alas, he seems but to mock the approving words with which his Maker greeted him. Restore him, if it were possible, even to that original excellency, how shall the scepter be again entrusted to hands that have failed so signally to Wield it? How, then, could God go on with such an one?

Really you have no answer till you have a Second Man, -until you can find one unruined, and with better pledges for the future: no use in mere restoration, in mending such a broken vessel as the first; set him aside, and let another take his office; if, indeed, that other can be found.

Here Christ then comes in, really a Second Man. Yet “Son of Man” also, linked with the race in that manner, so as to be able to stand before God the representative of those who in faith look to Him, -the “Seed of the woman,” who should bruise the serpent’s head.

Thus He is “made a little lower than the angels,” as the apostle explains, “on account of the suffering of death.” It is not merely that man’s condition is by creation a little lower, but Christ as become Son of man is made that. It is a true descent that we are to think of here, and the word used for “angels “really “gods,” and the ordinary word for “God” (Elohim) -has thus in its very ambiguity peculiar significance. God He indeed was, who had come down to be a little lower than God, -lower even than those habitually representing Him to men,* and so identified with Him, as the angels are: the apostle accepts the Septuagint translation, therefore, “angels.”

{*See Joh 10:34-35 : where, though the principle is the same, the application is to the judges in Israel.}

“On account of the suffering of death” He had to come down there. Man was under death as penalty, and therefore One had to come in who by voluntary submission to the penalty could glorify God as righteous in it, manifest the holiness of His nature as against sin, but thus also manifest His love in providing escape. And for this, humanity had to be taken; immeasurably exalted indeed, by that which was His humiliation, but now how wondrously in His exaltation! For He laid down only to take up again that “body prepared,” and as a Man forever is risen and gone up to God. What meaning is in this way given to the words, “with glory and honor Thou crownest Him”!

4. Now we have his dominion, the first man’s rule being repeated and emphasized in the Second Man. “Thou makest Him rule over the works of Thy hands: Thou halt put everything under His feet.” Here again, as we take earth-angles to measure the heavens, so the earth-kingdom of Adam is made to indicate an empire that is universal. And the apostle teaches us that we may take the expressions here in the uttermost truth of them: “in that He put all things under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him.”

The psalm naturally, however, clings to earth, though the things mentioned are not forbidden a deeper meaning: “sheep and oxen” give us, of course, the domestic animals; the “beasts of the field,” what we speak of as untamed. The spiritual meaning may without difficulty be found by those that will. The heavens and the deep speak of spheres above and below the earth, as the spiritual ranks of the higher heavens serve with delight the Son of man on the one hand, while He has also on the other “the keys of death and of hell.”

In all this we are dull scholars, but the general thought is plain. It is no wonder that the psalm ends with that with which it begins; the whole clasped, as it were, together with the uniting bond that has joined God with man, and thus made His name excellent in all the earth, -with a glory, too, which is set above the heavens!

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 8:1. How excellent is thy name That is, thy glory, as it is explained in the next clause; in all the earth The works of creation and providence evince and proclaim to all the world that there is an infinite Being, the fountain of all being, power, and perfection; the sovereign Ruler, powerful Protector, and bountiful Benefactor of all creatures. How great, how illustrious, how magnificent is the glory of this Being in all the earth! The light of it shines in mens faces everywhere, Rom 1:20; if they shut their eyes against it, that is their fault. There is no speech nor language, but the voice of Gods glory is heard, or may be heard in it. The psalmist, however, seems to look forward to the times of the gospel, when the name of God, which was before great in Israel only, should be made known by divine revelation to all the earth, the very ends of which are to see his great salvation. Who hast set thy glory above the heavens Why do I speak of the earth? Thy glory or praise reacheth to the heavens, and indeed above all the visible heavens, even to the heaven of heavens; where thy throne of glory is established, where the blessed angels celebrate thy praises, where Christ sitteth at thy right hand in glorious majesty, from whence he poureth down excellent gifts upon babes, as it follows.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psa 8:1. How excellent is thy name. See note on Pro 18:10.

Psa 8:2. Thou hast ordained strength. For some reason the LXX read , praise. So our Saviour, it would seem, cited this text, Mat 21:16, when the children sung hosannas to him in the temple. Perhaps David made this psalm presently after his anointing, and when keeping his fathers flock by night, where he had the fairest opportunity for the study of astronomy.

Psa 8:4. What is man. Hebrews Enosh, frail perishing man, that thou hast crowned him, and hast put all sheep and oxen, wild beasts and fishes under his controul. In his body he was honoured above all the beasts, and in mind was scarcely inferior to the angels. Hebrews Thou madest him less than God. See on Gen 1:2. Luk 20:36. In this view, Adam was a type of Christs regal glory, to whom all things in heaven and in earth are put in subjection, as David asserts in Psa 110:1. St. Paul also in 1Co 15:27. Heb 2:8.

REFLECTIONS.

Here the study of nature is connected with devotion; and this psalm is a happy model of the spirit in which natural history should be read. The contemplation of the starry heavens should ever inspire the sublime of piety, and self-abasement.

These are thy works, Parent of good; thine this universal frame, Thus wondrous fair,Thyself how wondrous then! MILTON.

Let us carefully observe the methods of divine providence, in making use of weak instruments to bring about great events. He can make infants the preachers and publishers of his praise, and confound the mightiest enemies by persons and means which they despise.

Our Lord quotes the second verse of this psalm to silence the scribes and pharisees, who were displeased at the Jewish children saying, Hosannah to the son of David; and St. Paul applies what is here said of Gods regards to man, and putting the creatures into subjection to him, to the Lord Jesus, Heb 2:6; to his character and circumstances, both in his humbled and exalted state; as made for awhile lower than the angels, and having all things subjected to him. When therefore we survey the bounty and goodness of God to man, let us think of this most illustrious display of his goodness, in giving his Son to humiliation and suffering for our sake; and now exalting him above the highest angels, and making every creature, every being but himself, subject to him. When we contemplate this scene of wonders, surely we have peculiar reason to say, Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man that thou visitest him?

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

VIII. A Nature Psalm.

Psa 8:1 f. The majesty of God. In Matthew 2 defies the rudiments of Heb. grammar and all attempt at translation. Of many emendations the following is the most ingenious and does least violence to the text, Let me sing, I pray thee, of thy glory above the heavens, [though] with the mouth of babes and sucklings. Thou hast founded a stronghold because of thine enemies, to still the foe and the avenger. The reference may be to the chaotic power of darkness dispelled by the God of light, whom the Hebrews identified with Yahweh.

Psa 8:3 f. The insignificance of man.[Observe that son of man is equivalent to man. It has not the special significance it bears in the apocalyptic literature and the NT. Probably it bears the same significance in the quotation in Heb. as in the Ps. The author of Heb 2:6-8* gives a temporal sense to Psa 8:5 a, referring it to mans temporary inferiority (a little while lower) to the angels, and turns Psa 8:5 b into a contrast rather than a parallel with Psa 8:5 a, expressing mans lordship of the world to come, not as yet realised, it is true, but guaranteed to us by the fact that Jesus is already crowned.A. S. P.]

Psa 8:5-8. Mans greatness as Gods vicegerent. Elohim is translated angels in AV and God in RV. It includes the angels, who were originally gods, and were, under the influence of monotheism, degraded to the rank of Yahwehs servants.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 8

The psalmist, representing the godly remnant in Israel, anticipatively celebrates the universal dominion that God has counselled for the One that Israel rejected as their King.

The second psalm sets forth the rejection of God’s anointed King and declares, that though rejected, He will lose none of His glories as the King. In God’s time He will be established as King in Zion. Psalm 8, however, tells us that God has yet wider glories for His Anointed; and that the rejection of Christ as King, by Israel, becomes the occasion of disclosing to us these greater glories. Not only will He be King in Zion but His dominion will extend to all the earth; yea, His glory will exceed the glories of earth; it will be set above the heavens.

(vv. 1-2) The remnant anticipate the praise that will flow to their anointed King when He enters upon His wider glories as Son of Man. The praise commences with the despised remnant, figured by babes and sucklings. God takes up the praises of the weak and despised to still all opposition to Christ, whether coming from adversaries within the land, the enemy without, or from the malice of Satan-the-Avenger (JND).

(vv. 3-9) The remainder of the psalm reveals, and exalts, the glories of the One who is going to reign over the whole earth as the Son of Man.

His glory is unfolded by contrasting the Son of Man with mortal man. Compared with the vast stellar universe (lit. ‘feeble,’ ‘mortal man’) man is very insignificant. Compared, however, with Christ – the Son of Man – creation becomes very small, for He is set over all the works of God’s hands, and all is put into subjection to Him. It will not be with the Son of Man as with others who may be exalted to a place of authority, and yet those under them continually in rebellion and in subjection. The Son of Man will not only have dominion over all, but all will be perfectly subject to Him. Compared, too, with the angels, the Son of Man has a glory that exceeds the angels. It is true that for the suffering of death He was made a little lower than the angels but, in result, He is crowned with glory and honour far above angels. Thus when other names are forgotten His Name will be excellent in all the earth.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

Psalms 8

In this psalm of creation praise (cf. Psalms 33, 104, 145) David marveled at the fact that God had committed the dominion of the earth to man, and he reflected on the dignity of man. Other commonly recognized psalms of praise are 19, 29, 33, 47, 65-66, 68, 93, 96-100, 104-106, 111, 113-114, 117, 134-136, and 145-150. Some students of this psalm have called it a nature psalm, and some see it as messianic. The poet commented on Gen 1:26-28 by clarifying the importance and role of humanity in creation. [Note: Merrill, "Psalms," p. 411.]

"These psalms of creation provide a sure and bold beginning point for the full world of psalmic faith." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 38.]

"This psalm is an unsurpassed example of what a hymn should be, celebrating as it does the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who He is and what He has done, and relating us and our world to Him; all with a masterly economy of words, and in a spirit of mingled joy and awe." [Note: Kidner, pp. 65-66.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Introductory reflection on God’s majesty 8:1-2

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

This psalm begins and ends with the same expression of wonder (inclusio) as David reflected on the splendor and magnificence of God as Creator. He addressed God as LORD (Yahweh, the covenant keeping God of Israel) our Lord (Adonai, the sovereign over all His creation including His people). In the second line (Gr. stich; Lat. colon) David meant God’s revealed character ("name," cf. Psa 7:17) is high above all creation; He is much greater than anything He has made. The third line expresses a parallel thought. Not only is God above the heavens, but His splendor exceeds that of the heavens.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 8:1-9

THE exclamation which begins and ends this psalm, enclosing it as a jewel in a setting, determines its theme as being neither the nightly heaven with all its stars, nor the dignity of man, but the name of the Lord as proclaimed by both. The Biblical contemplation of nature and man starts from and ends in God. The main thought of the psalm is the superiority of the revelation in mans nature and place to that in the vault of heaven. The very smallness of man makes the revelation of God in His dealings with him great. In his insignificance is lodged a Divine spark, and, lowly as is his head as he stands beneath the midnight sky blazing with inaccessible lights, it is crowned with a halo which reflects Gods glory more brightly than does their lustre. That one idea is the theme of both parts of the psalm. In the former (Psa 8:1-2) it is briefly stated; in the latter (Psa 8:3-8) it is wrought out in detail. The movement of thought is by expansion rather than progress.

The name of the Lord is His character as made known. The psalmist looks beyond Israel, the recipient of a fuller manifestation, and, with adoring wonder, sees far flashing through all the earth, as if written in light, the splendour of that name. The universal revelation in the depths of the sparkling heavens and the special one by which Israel can say, “our Lord,” are both recognised. The very abruptness of the exclamation in Psa 8:1 tells that it is the end of long, silent contemplation, which overflows at last in speech. The remainder of Psa 8:1 and Psa 8:2 present the two forms of Divine manifestation which it is the main purpose of the psalm to contrast, and which effect the world wide diffusion of the glory of the Name. These are the apocalypse in the nightly heavens and the witness from the mouth of babes and sucklings. As to the former, there is some difficulty in the text as it stands; and there may be a question also as to the connection with the preceding burst of praise. The word rendered “hast set” is an imperative, which introduces an incongruous thought, since the psalm proceeds on the conviction that God has already done what such a reading would be asking him to do. The simplest solution is to suppose a textual corruption, and to make the slight change required for the rendering of the A.V and R.V Gods name is glorious in all the earth, first, because He has set His glory upon the heavens, which stretch their solemn magnificence above every land. It is His glory of which theirs is the shimmering reflection, visible to every eye upturned from “this dim spot which men call earth.” May we attach significance to the difference between “Thy name” and “Thy glory”? Possibly there is a hint of the relative inferiority even of the heavenly proclamation, inasmuch as, while it rays out “glory,” the lustre of power and infinitude, it is only on earth that that revelation becomes the utterance of the Name, since here are hearts and minds to interpret.

The relative at the beginning of the last clause of Psa 8:1 seems to require that the initial exclamation should not be isolated, as it is in the last verse; but, in any case, the two methods of revelation must be taken in the closest connection and brought into line as parallel media of revelation.

Psa 8:2 gives the second of these. The sudden drop from the glories of the heavens to the babble and prattle of infancy and childhood is most impressive, and gives extraordinary force to the paradox that the latters witness is more powerful to silence gainsayers than that of the former. This conviction is expressed in a noble metaphor, which is blurred by the rendering “strength.” The word here rather means a strength in the old use of the term-that is, a stronghold or fortress-and the image, somewhat more daring than colder Western taste finds permissible, is that, out of such frail material as childrens speech, God builds a tower of strength, which, like some border castle, will bridle and still the restless enemy. There seems no sufficient reason for taking “children and sucklings” in any but its natural meaning, however the reference to lowly believers may accord with the spirit of the psalm. The childrens voices are taken as a type of feeble instruments, which are yet strong enough to silence the enemy. Childhood, “with no language but a cry,” is, if rightly regarded in its source, its budding possibilities, its dependence, its growth, a more potent witness to a more wondrous name than are all the stars. In like manner, man is mans clearest revelation of God. The more lowly he is, the more lofty his testimony. What are all His servants words but the babbling of children who “do not know half the deep things they speak”? Gods strongest fortress is built of weakest stones. The rendering of the LXX, which is that used by our Lord in the Temple when He claimed the childrens shrill hosannas as perfected praise, is an explanation rather than a translation, and as such is quite in the line of the psalmists meaning. To find in the “children and sucklings” a reference either to the humble believers in Israel or to the nation as a whole, and in the “enemy and the vengeful man” hostile nations, introduces thoughts alien to the universality of the psalm, which deals with humanity as a whole and with the great revelations wide as humanity. If the two parts of the psalm are to be kept together, the theme of the compendious first portion must be the same as that of the second, namely, the glory of God as revealed by nature and man, but most chiefly by the latter, notwithstanding and even by his comparative feebleness.

The second part (Psa 8:3-8) expands the theme of the first. The nightly sky is more overwhelming than the bare blue vault of day. Light conceals and darkness unveils the solemn glories. The silent depths, the inaccessible splendours, spoke to this psalmist, as they do to all sensitive souls, of mans relative insignificance, but they spoke also of the God whose hand had fashioned them, and the thought of Him carried with it the assurance of His care for so small a creature, and therefore changed the aspect of his insignificance. To an ear deaf to the witness of the heavens to their Maker, the only voice which sounds from their crushing magnificence is one which counsels unmitigated despair, insists on mans nothingness, and mocks his aspirations. If we stop with “What is man?” the answer is, A fleeting nothing. The magnitude, the duration, the multitudes of these awful suns and stars dwarf him. Modern astronomy has so far increased the impression that it has landed many minds in blank unbelief that God has visited so small a speck as earth, and abundant ridicule has been poured on the arrogance which dreams that such stupendous events, as the Christian revelation asserts, have been transacted on earth for man. If we begin with man, certainly his insignificance makes it supremely absurd to suppose him thus distinguished; but if we begin at the other end, the supposition takes a new appearance of probability. If there is a God, and men are His creatures, it is supremely unlikely that He should not have a care of them. Nothing can be more absurd than the supposition of a dumb God, who has never spoken to such a being as man. The psalmist gives full weight to mans smallness, his frailty, and his lowly origin, for his exclamation, “What is man?” means, “How little is he!” and he uses the words which connote frailty and mortality, and emphasise the fact of birth as if in contrast with “the work of Thy fingers”; but all these points only enhance the wonderfulness of what is to the poet an axiom-that God has personal relations with His creature. “Thou art mindful of him” refers to Gods thought, “Thou visitest him” to His acts of loving care; and both point to Gods universal beneficence, not to His special revelation. The bitter parody in Job 7:17-18 takes the truth by the other handle, and makes the personal relations those of a rigid inspector on the one hand and a creature not worth being so strict with on the other. Mindfulness is only watchfulness for slips and visiting means penal visitation. So the same fact may be the source of thankful wonder or of almost blasphemous murmuring.

Psa 8:5-8 draw out the consequences of Gods loving regard which has made the insignificance of man the medium of a nobler manifestation of the Divine name than streams from all the stars. There is no allusion here to sin; and its absence has led to the assertion that this psalmist knew nothing of a fall, and was not in harmony with the prevalent Old Testament tone as to the condition of humanity. But surely the contemplation of the ideal manhood, as it came from Gods hand, does not need to be darkened by the shadows of the actual. The picture of man as God made him is the only theme which concerns the psalmist; and he paints it with colours drawn from the Genesis account, which tells of the fall as well as the creation of man.

The picture contains three elements: man is Deiform, crowned with glory and honour, and lord of the creatures on earth. The rendering “than the angels” in the A.V comes from the LXX, but though defensible, is less probable than the more lofty conception contained in “than God,” which is vindicated, not only by lexical considerations, but as embodying an allusion to the original creation “in the image of God.” What then is the “little” which marks mans inferiority? It is mainly that the spirit, which is Gods image, is confined in and limited by flesh, and subject to death. The distance from the apex of creation to the Creator must ever be infinite; but man is so far above the non-sentient, though mighty, stars and the creatures which share earth with him, by reason of his being made in the Divine image-i.e., having consciousness, will, and reason-that the distance is foreshortened. The gulf between man and matter is greater than that between man and God. The moral separation caused by sin is not in the psalmists mind. Thus man is invested with some reflection of Gods glory, and wears this as a crown. He is king on earth.

The enumeration of his subjects follows, in language reminding again of the Genesis narrative. The catalogue begins with those nearest to him, the long-tamed domestic animals, and of these the most submissive (sheep) first; it then passes to the untamed animals, whose home is “the field” or uncultivated land, and from them goes to the heights and depths, where the free fowls of the air and fish of the sea and all the mysterious monsters that may roam the hidden ways of that unknown ocean dwell. The power of taming and disciplining some, the right to use all, belong to man, but his subjects have their rights and their king his limits of power and his duties.

Such then is man, as God meant him to be. Such a being is a more glorious revelation of the Name than all stars and systems. Looked at in regard to his duration, his years are a hand-breadth before these shining ancients of days that have seen his generations fret their little hour and sink into silence; looked at in contrast with their magnitude and numbers numberless, he is but an atom, and his dwelling place a speck. Science increases the knowledge of his insignificance, but perhaps not the impression of it made on a quiet heart by the simple sight of the heavens. But besides the merely scientific view, and the merely poetic, and the grimly Agnostic, there is the other, the religious, and it is as valid today as ever. To it the heavens are the work of Gods finger, and their glories are His, set there by Him. That being so, mans littleness magnifies the name, because it enhances the condescending love of God, which has greatened the littleness by such nearness of care and such gifts of dignity. The reflection of His glory which blazes in the heavens is less bright than that which gleams in the crown of glory and honour on mans lowly yet lofty head. The “babe and suckling” of creation has a mouth from which the strength of perfected praise issues and makes a bulwark against all gainsayers.

The use made of this psalm in the Epistle to the Hebrews proceeds on the understanding that it describes ideal humanity. Where, then, says the writer of the epistle, shall we look for the realisation of that ideal? Do not the grand words sound liker irony than truth? Is this poor creature that crawls about the world, its slave, discrowned and sure to die, the Man whom the psalmist saw? No. Then was the fair vision a baseless fabric, and is there nothing to be looked for but a dreary continuance of such abortions dragging out their futile being through hopeless generations? No; the promise shall be fulfilled for humanity, because it has been fulfilled in one Man: the Man Christ Jesus. He is the realised ideal, and in Him is a life which will be communicated to all who trust and obey Him, and they, too, will become all that God meant man to be. The psalm was not intended as a prophecy, but every clear vision of Gods purpose is a prophecy, for none of His purposes remain unfulfilled. It was not intended as a picture of the Christ, but it is so; for He, and He alone, is the Man who answers to that fair Divine Ideal, and He will make all His people partakers of His royalty and perfect manhood.

So the psalm ends, as it began, with adoring wonder, and proclaims this as the result of the twofold witness which it has so nobly set forth: that Gods name shines glorious through all the earth, and every eye may see its lustre.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary