Psalm Eight

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.

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

Psalm 8:2 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.

the mouth of babes. The Lord Jesus cited this verse in rebuking the chief priests and scribes in the temple (Matthew 21:16).

Psalm 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

thou hast ordained. God has “ordained” all the heavenly bodies and their motions; these were not established by an imaginary primeval “big bang.”

Psalm 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

What is man. The psalmist exhibits a very modern concept of the infinite magnitude of the heavens in comparison to man.

the son of man. This is the first reference in the Bible of the phrase “son of man” (or “son of Adam”), a term used some eighty times of Himself by the Lord Jesus.

Psalm 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

lower than the angels. Man is not, as evolutionists think, “a little higher than the apes,” but rather “a little lower than the angels.”

Psalm 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

have dominion. This is a confirmation that God's original “dominion mandate” (Genesis 1:26-28) is still in effect. This verse is also cited in Hebrews 2:5-8, and there is applied specifically to Christ.

Psalm 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

beasts of the field. The terminology of the animal creation clearly hearkens back to the original dominion mandate (Genesis 1:26-28; 9:2).

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

paths of the seas. That there are “paths of the seas” was scientifically confirmed by Matthew Maury, the “father of oceanography and hydrography.” The godly maritime officer received the motivation for his discoveries from this and similar Scriptures.

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