I. Introduction
Our purpose is to render a commentary on psalm eight, a blessed Messianic psalm.
We will follow this format:
Verse of Scripture utilizing the YLT text followed by an NASB mouseover of that verse. Key words in the YLT text will be footnoted with a link to a word study based on the Hebrew text, and/or a general discussion relative to the given word (we are not biblical Greek or Hebrew scholars, please consider our grammatical constructions with a critical eye).
Commentary We shall be commenting on this passage keeping before us at all times the crucial fact that every jot and every tittle comprising these verses came forth under the inspiration of the blessed Holy Spirit. We pray that He, by His grace, helps us along the way.
II. Psalms Eight Commentary Verses
8:1 Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the LORD
YLT TEXT: To the Overseer, ‘On the Gittith.’ [1] A Psalm of David. Jehovah, our Lord, How honourable [2] Thy name in all the earth! Who settest thine honour on [3] the heavens (Psa 8:1).
COMMENTARY: JEHOVAH; the eternal I AM (Exd 3:14-15, “The Alpha and the Omega”). We have tried, and shall try as long as He makes a way—in our study of the sciences made lucid by His creating fingers, and especially, indeed, especially in our study of Scripture—to come to appreciate that great Name, but barely much progress have we made, and will make it is sure, in truly appreciating that “set way up high apart” Name, down here, in this life; it is too vast, holy. Precisely how does one “bottle up” infinitude? (Isa 55:8-9, “O, That Name!”): “…Who settest thine honour on the heavens…” That is, settest it beyond—reaching higher, extending further—than even the staggering reaches and breath-taking beauty of the cosmos-work of God’s fingers. O the surpassing gravity, and scope, and value of that Name here addressed through the praising lips of David. It is the Name of God; the LORD; JEHOVAH. Even our Lord (imagine that)—JEHOVAH ADONAI: “…Jehovah, our Lord…” And we, His own, created in His image (Gen 1:27): “…And causest him to lack a little of Godhead…”, ought gratefully claim this familial-One we ever will learn to appreciate—His mind, that delights to engage our minds (Deu 4:7, Psa 145:18, 34:18, Isa 1:18, et al.); His heart, that delights to engage our hearts (Jer 31:3, 1Jo 4:19, et al.). Let us thus prayerfully learn; let us engagingly reciprocate through the One, Jesus, who stands in place of that Name ( “Be Holy”); who manifestly came in the Name of the LORD and brought His love-embracing Salvation (“A Letter of Invitation”).
8:2 Infants and Sucklings: Kingdom Stuff
YLT TEXT: From the mouths of infants and sucklings Thou hast founded [4] strength, Because of Thine adversaries, To still [5] an enemy and a self-avenger. (Psa 8:2).
COMMENTARY: Hosanna to the Son of David! That is, let Salvation be ascribed to Him! Needless to say, our verse is highly prophetic text, fulfilled in the day of our Savior’s Visitation—here is a fundamental reason why this psalm is a Messianic psalm.
The mouths of infants and sucklings (nursing babies). This text is very descriptive. Infants and sucklings are pretty much helpless; certainly they are the antithesis of battle-hardened warriors, in the extreme, be they fighting men proper or religious leaders or the self-righteous; the suggested contrast could not be more striking. It is out of the mouths of infants and sucklings that Messiah Jesus established (establishes) His Kingdom (1Cr 1:27-why does He thus shame?!). Our text presages the passive character of our Lord’s ministry as also the character of His Kingdom subjects (Mrk 10:15). Notice how our God closes the loop on His prophecy: This passage was literally (manifestly, physically) fulfilled through the mouths of the little ones attending our Lord’s Triumphal Entry (Zec 9:9, Mat 21:9-11, 15-16, “Holy Week: The Triumphal Entry”)—His Messianic claim, a Kingdom claim—when they shouted out their praises to Messiah Jesus: “…Hosanna to the Son of David…” God makes His point with a double amen here if you will. And on it goes—the Kingdom continues to be thus populated to this day—here is Christendom, infants and sucklings beforetime, pretty much helpless, needy, but by the utterance of faith (Rom 10:9-10), indeed, allegiance to Yeshua, thus acquiescing; redeemed; at a great Price; redeemed by Him and brought into His Kingdom, now sufficient, to the frustrating of God’s archenemy Satan: “…to still an enemy and a self-avenger…” (cf. Rev 12:10), who preys on the helpless, the vulnerable (“Revelation Chapter Thirteen Commentary: Perched for a Kill”, “A Threefold Test” in the sense that he struck at Jesus when He was so vulnerable; thus opportunistically he strikes at us). Upon Christendom—the Christian Church (Old Testament and New Testament times saints), even infants and sucklings no less, the helpless, duly like Him (Psa 17:15, 1Cr 15:51-53), by His grace—holy, strong (does not immortality qualify strength?), our God establishes His strength going forward into eternity future, for Salvation is His mighty work: “…Hosanna to the Son of David…” What a blessed irony. From need to satisfaction; from helplessness to sufficiency; what a picture of the strength of God, for the complexities attending the mechanics behind Creation, His Creation, pale in comparison to the complexities attending the realization of Salvation by a free moral agent finally acquiescing unto and agreeing with God. Dearest reader, let your mouth be such that God establishes His strength in you; allow Him to do this through the utterance of faith in Him, to your eternal satisfaction, sufficiency, and great joy; this is our prayer for you dear friend (“A Letter of Invitation”).
8:3-8 That We May Rule Over the Works of Thy Hands!
YLT TEXT: For I see Thy heavens, a work of Thy fingers, Moon and stars that Thou didst establish [6]. What is man that Thou rememberest him? The son of man that Thou inspectest him? And causest him to lack a little of Godhead [7], And with honour and majesty compassest him. Thou dost cause him to rule Over the works of Thy hands, All Thou hast placed [8] under his feet. Sheep and oxen, all of them, And also beasts of the field, Bird of the heavens, and fish of the sea, Passing through the paths of the seas! (Psa 8:3-8).
COMMENTARY: On September twelfth, 2013 it was confirmed that Voyager 1, launched on September fifth, 1977, had indeed exited our solar system and entered interstellar space on August twenty-fifth, 2012, after some thirty-five years of dramatic and fruitful exploration of our solar system. Voyager 1 is now exploring the interstellar medium, and will continue to do so until its power source expires (~2025), or some other event ends the mission before then. The little grand piano-shaped spacecraft/probe is on a trajectory that would take it to within 1.6 light years (to two significant digits: ~9,400 billion miles, or ~15,000 billion kilometers) of the star Gliese 445, which is presently located in the constellation Camelopardalis, after another approximately forty-thousand years (!) of space travel (“Voyager 1”, “Gliese 445”, “Camelopardialis”).
In Voyager we see a crude snippet of how our God has endowed humankind, the jewel of His Creation, to rule over the same: “… Thou dost cause him to rule Over the works of Thy hands, All Thou hast placed under his feet….” But how; how has He done this? By creating us in His own image. Humankind contemplates God, life, death, eternity; humankind feels, reasons, thinks, on a grand and very intimate scale, precisely because of the image of God within. This is why there has not yet been found, nor shall (can!) there be found, a so-called “missing link” in the “fossil record” that would connect humankind to the hominids and the great apes, for example: “…All Thou hast placed under his feet. Sheep and oxen, all of them, And also beasts of the field, Bird of the heavens, and fish of the sea…”
The sad side of the story, even a poor reflection upon certain of humankind: Voyager 1 has on board a golden record. And why? Should it (Voyager 1) be encountered by another intelligence somewhere out in vast space, said intelligence would have a means of identifying the probe’s builder and home. Christian friend, what is wrong with this picture? Is it not a shame that the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is taken very seriously by certain intellectuals (to the point of making them [“aliens”] a golden, shiny little record), but the possibility for the existence of a holy Creator, (quintessential Intelligence by the way), is absolutely ruled out by these people? ‘…O that we might be contacted by another intelligence, or have evidence thereof…’ they bleat, but contact the very God by way of the mediator Jesus Christ, engage Him—forget it. What a shame. Of course this is just another aspect of human Sin (multifarious enmity toward God) that God fully anticipated (consider Calvary), notwithstanding, it must disappoint Him, the very One who endowed humankind with the capacity to rule over His Creation and accomplish such great feats as that of Voyager 1. We see this as a poor reflection upon those who thus trifle with God. The psalmist puts it well: “…What is man that Thou rememberest him? The son of man that Thou inspectest him?…” Amen. But His thoughts are not like our thoughts, nor are His ways like our ways… We are but an image of Him; this is good, and sources our sundry capacities, notwithstanding, in Christ, we come to be like Him—this is better; and thus only He “remembers,” and “considers” us. We walk by Grace before Him, not merit—this is obvious. The Intelligence to be sought in the universe is Jehovah God; let us ever contact Him; let us ever stay in contact with Him, and fancy none else. We collectively encountered Him some two-thousand years ago when He came looking for us—and He did not need a record with a map to guide His trip by the way. Though the Voyager 1 record represents humankind in toto by virtue of design, the slighting, anti-Jehovah God, preferentially pro-alien message it sends does not speak for all of us—we personally loathe that slighting message. Yea: “…What is man that Thou rememberest him? The son of man that Thou inspectest him?…”
8:9 Praised Be Thy Name in All the Earth Great Savior God
YLT TEXT: Jehovah, our Lord, How honourable Thy name in all [9] the earth! (Psa 8:9).
COMMENTARY: Please see again how David claims his Lord: “…Jehovah, our Lord…” Here is a great precedent. Let us all in solidarity with the sweet psalmist of Israel thus claim this exceedingly great One. We claim thee great savior God.
Well…majestic indeed is our God’s Name in all the earth, but hardly is that the consensus in all the earth. Though the stones know it (Luk 19:36-40, Fig. 1), many a hard head | heart does not (Mat 11:25; cf. above).
Hosanna to the Son of David; praised be thy Name in all the earth great savior God.