Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 8:4
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
4. Then (so the ellipse may be filled up), the thought is forced upon me
What is frail man that thou shouldest be mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou shouldest visit him?
The words for man are chosen to emphasise his weakness in contrast to the vast and (apparently) unchanging structure of the heavens. Enosh denotes man in his frailty, impotence, mortality (Psa 103:15); hence it is used with special frequency in Job, where man is contrasted with God (e.g. Job 4:17, where A.V. renders mortal man). Ben-dm (son of man) denotes man according to his earthly origin. Cp. Job’s ‘man that is born of a woman’ (Psa 14:1).
God’s ‘visitation’ of man is His constant, loving, providential, regard (Job 10:12). It is to God’s present and continuous care that the verse refers. It is not until Psa 8:5 that the Psalmist looks back to man’s original creation.
There is an echo of these words in Psa 144:3, and Jer 15:15; and Job parodies them, when he asks in the bitterness of his soul how man can be of such importance to God that He should think it worth while to persecute him (Psa 7:17 ff.).
On the quotation of Psa 8:4-6 in Heb 2:6 ff., see above.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What is man – What claim has one so weak, and frail, and short-lived, to be remembered by time? What is there in man that entitles him to so much notice? Why has God conferred on him so signal honor? Why has he placed him over the works of his hands? Why has he made so many arrangements for his comfort? Why has he done so much to save him? He is so insignificant his life is so much like a vapor, he so soon disappears, he is so sinful and polluted, that the question may well be asked, why such honor has been conferred on him, and why such a dominion over the world has been given him. See these thoughts more fully expanded in the notes at Heb 2:6.
That thou art mindful of him – That thou dost remember him; that is, think of him, attend to him – that he does not pass away wholly from thy thoughts. Why should a God who is so vast and glorious, and who has all the starry worlds, so beautiful and grand, to claim his attention – why should he turn his thoughts on man? And especially why should he honor him as he has done by giving him dominion over the works of his hands?
And the son of man – Any descendant of man – any one of the race. What was man, as he was originally made, that such exalted honor should have been conferred on him; and what has any one of his descendants become, in virtue of his native faculties or acquired endowments, that he should be thus honored? The design is the same as in the former part of the verse, to express the idea that there was nothing in man, considered in any respect, that entitled him to this exalted honor. Nothing that man has done since the time when the question was asked by the psalmist has contributed to diminish the force of the inquiry.
That thou visitest him – As thou dost; that is, with the attention and care which thou dost bestow upon him; not forgetting him; not leaving him; not passing him by. The word used here – paqad – would properly express a visitation for any purpose – for inspection, for mercy; for friendship, for judgment, etc. Here it refers to the attention bestowed by God on man in conferring on him such marks of favor and honor as he had done – such attention that he never seemed to forget him, but was constantly coming to him with some new proof of favor. What God has done for man since the psalmist wrote this, has done nothing to weaken the force of this inquiry.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. What is man] mah enosh, what is wretched, miserable man; man in his fallen state, full of infirmity, ignorance, and sin?
That thou art mindful of him?] That thou settest thy heart upon him, keepest him continually in thy merciful view.
And the son of man] uben Adam, and the son of Adam, the first great rebel; the fallen child of a fallen parent. See the note on Job 7:17. Some think eminent men are here intended. What is man in common; what the most eminent men; that thou shouldst be mindful of them, or deign to visit them?
That thou visitest him?] By sending thy Holy Spirit to convince him of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is by these visits that man is preserved in a salvable state. Were God to withhold them, there would be nothing in the soul of man but sin, darkness, hardness, corruption, and death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What, i.e. how mean and inconsiderable a thing is man, if compared with thy glorious Majesty, who art so infinite in power and wisdom, as thou hast showed in the frame of the heavens, &c. Man, Heb. infirm or miserable man; by which it is apparent that he speaks of man, not according to the state of his creation, but as fallen into a state of sin, and misery, and mortality.
Art mindful of him, i.e. carest for him, and conferrest such high favours upon him.
The son of man, Heb. the son of Adam, that great apostate from and rebel against God, the sinful son of a sinful father, his son by likeness of disposition and manners, no less than by procreation; all which tends to magnify the following mercy.
That thou visitest him; not in anger, as that word is sometimes used, but with thy grace and mercy, as it is taken, Gen 21:1; Exo 4:31; Psa 65:9; 106:4; 144:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. manliterally, “frailman,” an allusion to his essential infirmity.
son of manonly variesthe form of speech.
visitestin favor (Ps65:10). This favor is now more fully illustrated.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?…. That is, the psalmist, while he was considering the greatness and glory of the celestial bodies, thought this within himself, and so expressed it; which is to be understood, not of man in general, nor of Adam in a state of innocence; he could not be called “Enosh”, the word here used, which signifies a frail, weak, sickly mortal man; nor could he with any propriety be said to be the son of man, as in the following clause: nor of fallen man, or of Adam’s posterity, descending from him by ordinary generation; for all things are not put in subjection to them, as is hereafter said of man: but this is to be understood of the man Christ Jesus, as it is interpreted in Heb 2:6; or of that individual of human nature which Christ assumed. The name of Enosh well agrees with him, who was a man of no note and esteem among men, a worm and no man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, encompassed with infirmities, and was subject to death, and did die. Now it was a marvellous thing that God should be mindful of that individual of human nature; that he should prepare it in his council and covenant; that among the vast numbers of individuals which it came up in his infinite mind to create, he should choose this, to exalt it, and appoint it to union with his own Son, and take that delight in it he did; that when it was formed by his Spirit, he should anoint it with the oil of gladness above his fellows; that he should take such providential care of it, and so often and so strongly express his affection for it; that he should regard it, and support it under sufferings; and when in the grave, did not leave it, nor suffer it to see corruption; but raised it from the dead, and gave it glory, and exalted it at his own right hand;
and the son of man, that thou visitest him? The name of “the son of man” is the name of the Messiah, in Ps 80:17; and is often given to Christ, and used by him of himself in the New Testament. And this visiting of him is not to be understood in a way of wrath, though he was so visited by God, when he bore the chastisements of his people; but in a way of favour, by bestowing upon him without measure the gifts and graces of his Spirit; by affording him his gracious presence, and tilling him with spiritual peace and joy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) Man . . . son of man . . .The first, possibly, with suggestion of frailty; the second to his life derived from human ancestry. The answer to this question must always touch the two poles, of human frailty on the one hand, and the glory of human destiny on the other. O the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness, of man.Pascal.
The insignificance of man compared to the stars is a common theme of poetry; but how different the feeling of the Hebrew from that of the modern poet, who regrets the culture by which he had been
Brought to understand
A sad astrology, the boundless plan
That makes you tyrants in your iron skies,
Innumerable, pitiless, passionless eyes,
Cold fires, yet with power to burn and brand
His nothingness into man.TENNYSON: Maud.
And yet, again, how far removed from the other pole of modern feeling, which draws inanimate nature into close sympathy with human joy or sorrow, expressed in the following words:When I have gazed into these stars, have they not looked down upon me as if with pity from their serene spaces, like eyes glistening with heavenly tears over the little lot of man?Carlyle.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. What is man This connects with the first hemistich of Psa 8:3, thus As often as I see thy heavens, I ask with wonder, What is man? The Hebrew words for “man,” and “son of man,” according to their radical sense, contemplate man from the frail and perishable side of his nature, and in this view the comparison is against him. But this is momentary and in appearance only. Suddenly the poet rises to the comprehension of man’s true rank and greatness in creation.
Art mindful visitest him Two words denoting special thought and oversight.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 8:4. What is manand the son of man? Bishop Patrick, in his preface to the Paraphrase on the Psalms, has made a remark which we here subjoin, as it gives light to this, and several other passages of Scripture: “The son of man, and the sons of men, (says he,) are phrases which often occur, and which in Scripture-language seem to belong to princes, and sometimes the greatest of princes; see Psa 80:17 where it signifies Hezekiah; Psa 146:2 where it signifies any prince, however great in dignity, or eminent in power: so Psa 58:1 the counsellors of Saul are called the sons of men. The original of this language, I conceive, is to be drawn from the common manner of speech among the Hebrews, who called the chief of any kind by the whole kind. So they call man creature, Mar 16:15 because he is the prime creature here below: so a king, or eminent person, they call the son of man, because he is the prime, or chief among the sons of men: hence we may learn what to understand by that title which the Blessed Saviour so often gives himself; The Son of Man, or rather, That Son of Man: i.e. the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed; that great prince, whom God promised to send into the world.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Ver. 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? ] Sorry, sickly man, a mass of mortalities, a map of miseries, a mixture or compound of dirt and sin? And yet God is mindful of him; he not only takes care of him in an ordinary way, as he doth other creatures, but singularly attendeth and affecteth him, as a father doth his dearest child. He is Divini irigenii cura, saith one; he is the end of all in a semi-circle, saith another philosopher; meaning, that all things in the world were made for man, and man made for God; neither is there so much of the glory of God in all his works of wonder as in one gracious performance of a godly person. But if we understand the text (as the apostle doth, Heb 2:6 ) of tbe man Christ Jesus, Hic homo et filius hominis qualis et quantus est, Deus bone! saith Junius.
And the son of man
That thou visitest him?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What. . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6. Quoted in Heb 2:5-8. Compare 1Co 15:27 and Eph 1:22.
man = mortal man. Hebrew. ‘enosh.
mindful . . . visitest. Figure of speech Anabasis.
the son of man. No Art. Occurs 3 times before this (Num 23:19. Job 25:6; Job 35:8). In singular 111 times in O.T. and 39 times in plural (the other occurrences in the Pss. (Psa 49:2; Psa 144:3) is a different word). Here, Psa 8:4, the title relates to dominion in the earth. Compare verses: Psa 1:6-9, and see notes on Eze 2:1, Mat 8:20, and Rev 14:4.
man. Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
What: Psa 144:3, 2Ch 6:18, Job 7:17, Job 25:6, Isa 40:17, Heb 2:6-9
son: Psa 4:2, Psa 80:17, Psa 146:3, Isa 51:12, Eze 8:15, Mat 8:20
visitest: Psa 106:4, Gen 21:1, Exo 4:31, Luk 1:68, Luk 19:44, 1Pe 2:12
Reciprocal: Gen 1:14 – Let there Gen 1:26 – have dominion Gen 2:19 – brought Gen 9:2 – General Gen 18:27 – dust Gen 19:35 – General Exo 3:16 – visited 2Sa 7:18 – Who am I Job 22:12 – the stars Job 31:26 – the moon Job 35:5 – Look Isa 2:22 – for wherein Isa 40:26 – Lift Isa 51:6 – Lift up Eze 2:1 – Son Dan 7:13 – one like 1Co 4:6 – that ye Heb 1:10 – the works
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GOD MINDFUL OF MAN
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
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 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 mans 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.
III. What, then, is the right effect upon our hearts of this discovery of Gods 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 a 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 realise that God has set His affection upon the creature whom He has made. So, instead of being depressed by our insignificance, if we remember that our spiritual nature is akin to Gods, 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.
Illustration
These verses have been often entirely misapplied; as if their tendency were to crush man, and make him feel his nothingness in the presence of the orbs of heaven. The real drift of the psalm is directly the reverse of thisto make us consider how wonderful the dignity is which God has bestowed on man. The immediate reference is to the condescending goodness of God at the time of mans original creation. He Who made the universe, with its inexhaustible stores of grandeur and beauty, formed man of the dust of the ground, and then constituted him sovereign of this earth. The sceptre had indeed fallen from his hands. It seemed as if Gods loving designs had been frustrated by the malignity of the Enemy. But God had comforted the faithful with a promise of ultimate victory over the Evil One.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
8:4 What is {b} man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
(b) It was sufficient for him to have set forth his glory by the heavens, though he had not come so low as to man who is but dust.