Psalm 8

Psalms 8:1

“The Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the Glory, is manifested among the creatures that it has produced and governs. These are the back parts of God, which he leaves behind him, as tokens of himself like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which show the sun to our weak eyes, because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too strong for our power of perception.”

Psalms 8:1

“In - Not only in Israel, but among all nations. Which shews that this psalm speaks of the Messiah, and the times of the New Testament. 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.”

Psalms 8:1

“But this looks further, to the gospel of Christ, by which the name of God, as it is notified by divine revelation, which before was great in Israel only, came to be so in all the earth, the utmost ends of which have thus been made to see God's great salvation, Mark xvi. How much more brightly it shines in the upper world: Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens.”

Psalms 8:2

“David composed the eighth psalm with reference to Christ, speaking of his divine nature in the first verses of it, as the Lord Christ himself also testifies of it in the Gospel, when they strewed his way with branches and praised him with shouts of …”

Psalms 8:2

“Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings,.... Not literally such, though the Jewish writers (e) generally so understand it; as do some Christian interpreters, who explain it of the wonderful formation, nourishment, and growth of infants; and of the marvellous care of God in providing the breast for them; in filling it with milk, and teaching them to suck; which, being observed by men, occasion praise to God, to the confusion of atheists and infidels. But this is no other than what is common to brute creatures: rather the words are to be understood in a figurative sense.”

Psalms 8:2

“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings - We have seen how our Lord applied this passage to the Jewish children, who, seeing his miracles, cried out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Mat 21:”

Psalms 8:2

“Such are very unfit to grapple with an enemy: and therefore when such persons conquer the most powerful and malicious enemies, it must needs confound them, and advance the glory of God: as indeed it did, when such mean persons as the apostles, and disciples of Christ, maintained and propagated the gospel, in spite of all the wit, power, and rage of their enemies.”

Psalms 8:3

“When I consider thy heavens,.... Where God dwells, and which he has made; the airy and starry heavens, which are to be seen with the bodily eye; and the heaven of heavens, which is to be beheld and considered by faith: the work of thy fingers; being curiously wrought by his power, and garnished by his Spirit: for the finger of God is the Spirit of God; see Mat 12:28; compared with Luk 11:20; the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, or "prepared" (h), for various uses to the earth, and the inhabitants of it.”

Psalms 8:3

“When I consider thy heavens - When I contemplate or look upon. They are called his heavens because he made them - because he is the proprietor of them - perhaps because they are his abode. The work of thy fingers - Which thy fingers have made. The fingers are the instruments by which we construct a piece of work - perhaps indicating skill rather than strength; and hence so used in respect to God, as it is by his skill that the heavens have been made.”

Psalms 8:3

“The moon - Either the sun is included under this general title: or he omitted it, because he made this psalm by night. Ordained - Placed in that excellent and unalterable order, and directed to their several motions.”

Psalms 8:4

“What is man - מה אנוש 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 - ובן אדם 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.”

Psalms 8:4

“The son - Hebrew. the son of Adam, that great apostate from 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. Visitest - Not in anger, as that word is sometimes used, but with thy grace and mercy.”

Psalms 8:5

“But there follows concerning man in comparison to the angels, to whom man is found to be close. "You have diminished him." In the angels the image of God is found through a simple intuition of truth, without inquiry; but in man through discursive reasoning; …”

Psalms 8:5

“For thou hast made him - Thou hast made man as such; that is, he was such in the original design of his creation, in the rank given him, and in the dominion conceded to him. The object here is to show the honor conferred on man, or to show how God has regarded and honored him; and the thought is, that in his original creation, though so insignificant as compared with the vast worlds over which God presides, he had given him a rank but little inferior to that of the angels. See the notes at Heb 2:”

Psalms 8:5

“These verses may set forth man's position among the creatures before he fell; but as they are, by the apostle Paul, appropriated to man as represented by the Lord Jesus, it is best to give most weight to that meaning. In order of dignity, man stood next to the angels, and a little lower than they; in the Lord Jesus this was accomplished, for he was made a little lower than the angels by the suffering of death.”

Psalms 8:5

“In a modified sense, in his present fallen state, man is still invested with some remains of this original dominion. It is very evident, however, by the apostle's inspired expositions (Heb 2:6-8; 1Co 15:27, 28) that the language here employed finds its fulfilment only in the final exaltation of Christ's human nature.”

Psalms 8:5

“Crowned - Man, fallen and lost man: who is actually restored to glory and dominion in Christ his head and representative, who received this crown and dominion for man's good, and in his stead; which he will in due time communicate to his members. And so the two expositions of this place concerning mankind and concerning Christ, may be reconciled.”

Psalms 8:5

“He is but for a little while lower than the angels, while his great soul is cooped up in a house of clay, but the children of the resurrection shall be isangeloi -- angels' peers ( Luke xx. 36 ) and no longer lower than they. (2.) He is endued with noble faculties and capacities: Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

Psalms 8:6

“One who, by way of ignorance, pretended to the insensibility and lack of knowledge characteristic of a beast begins to be a human once he has been encompassed by the grace of God. Indeed, if he is capable of reason and of grace, he is proved human by that very fact, and thus he rejoices that he has been separated from the dumb animals and has been admitted into the company of humankind, which God visits and protects. For what are human beings except that the Lord is mindful of them and that they are visited by the Lord?”

Psalms 8:6

“Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands,.... All power in heaven and in earth being given to him: when he was raised from the dead, and when he ascended on high, and was set down at the right hand of God, he was made or declared Lord and Christ; Lord of the hosts of heaven, of all the angels there, King of saints, King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

Psalms 8:6

“Thou madest him to have dominion - Jesus Christ, who, being in the form of God, and equal with God, for a time emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation; was afterwards highly exalted, and had a name above every name. See the notes referred to above, and those on Php 2:6-9 (note).”

Psalms 8:6

“His charter, by which he holds this royalty, bears equal date with his creation ( Gen. i. 28 ) and was renewed after the flood, Gen. ix. God has put all things under man's feet, that he might serve himself, not only of the labour, but of the productions and lives of the inferior creatures; they are all delivered into his hand, nay, they are all put under his feet.”

Psalms 8:7

“Third, when he says "the sheep and the oxen," etc., he enumerates the subjects: and he lists animals so that plants may be understood as well. Among the animals, some are subject according to their whole kind, namely the tame and domestic animals by their …”

Psalms 8:7

“All sheep and oxen,.... The tame creatures, which are useful for food and clothing: yea, and the beasts of the field; the wild beasts, which he can make use of to destroy and devour his enemies, and whom he can restrain from harming his own people, Jer 15:8.”

Psalms 8:8

“The fowl of the air - All these were given to man in the beginning; and he has still a general dominion over them; for thus saith the Lord: “The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every Beast of the Earth, and upon every Fowl of the Air, and upon all that Moveth upon the Earth, and upon all the Fishes of the Sea; into your hand are they delivered;” Gen 9:2. To this passage the psalmist most obviously refers.”

Psalms 8:9

“Here, like a good composer, the poet returns to his key-note, falling back, as it were, into his first state of wondering adoration. What he started with as a proposition in the first verse, he closes with as a well proven conclusion, with a sort of quod erat demonstrandum. O for grace to walk worthy of that excellent name which has been named upon us, and which we are pledged to magnify!”