This new series is based on a worship exercise conducted during life group recently, where we rewrote Psalms of our choosing.
- Psalms Remixed #1: Introduction
- Psalms Remixed #2: Psalm 8 (this article)
- Psalms Remixed #3: Psalm 19
- Psalms Remixed #4: Psalm 23 (Remix #1)
- Psalms Remixed #5: Psalm 23 (Remix #2)
- Psalms Remixed #6: Psalm 37:3-4
- Psalms Remixed #7: Psalm 42
- Psalms Remixed #8: Psalm 63
- Psalms Remixed #9: Psalm 91
- Psalms Remixed #10: Psalm 107:1-8
- Psalms Remixed #11: Psalm 112:1-10
- Psalms Remixed #12: Psalm 123:1-4
Original Verses
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands;you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Remixed Verses
Our Heavenly Father, how glorious is Your name in all the world!
Your glory dwells far above the heavens. The babies and infants sing Your praise. You have defeated Your enemies through Your strength. When I gaze at the heavens and all of creation, including the moon and the stars, what are human beings that you think of us, and the people of the earth, that you care for them? Yet you have created humans to be a little lower than the angels and crowed them with glory and honour. You have appointed humans to rule over Your creation; you have placed the land animals, birds and the fish under their dominion.
O Lord, our awesome God, how glorious is Your name in all the earth!
Literary Context
Psalms 8 is part of the first collection of Psalms that forms the first book (Psalms 1- 42). The line that introduces this Psalm has the term gittith, which means “wine press,” which gives the idea of harvest of judgement. Both verse 1 and 9 refer to LORD in capitals which is a translation of the Hebrew name for God, YAHWEH. This Hebrew word comes from the verb “to be” and means “I am who I am.” The name describes God’s relationship to us, for God desires to become to us whatever we need. The second “Lord” in verse 1/9 is a different name and comes from the Hebrew word atonai which means “master” and is a title indicating our relationship to Him. This second reference parallels the New Testament and Philippians 2:6-10. God revealed himself in simple terms so that even children can understand.
David as the author of Psalm 8 begins with God at the focal point and gets man into his proper perspective, rather than starting with man. “The son of man” is God coming down to visit man. In verse 5, humans are not the product of random chance. Instead, it was intentionally designed that we were created in God’s image. Humans are the highest order of God’s creation on the earth and are surpassed only by the angels, God’s ministering spirits. In verse 6, “Dominion” implies watching over and taking care of the earth. “You have put all things under His feet” refers to Christ. Like us, Christ was also made a little lower than the angels so that He could die for us. This is an interesting concept given Christ is fully human, also divine yet not an angel/angelic being. However, let us not get ourselves too confused in this specific detail. The conceptual positioning of people, angels (and Christ) in terms of being higher or lower is not so much our order in terms of humanity versus other creatures, but more so our fallen nature. It is our sinful nature that sees us as humans falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
The original context for Psalm 8 is to refer to humanity in general terms. In this context, there is little difference between Jews and Gentiles, which given the time period of the writing the Psalms as part of the Kingdom days of Israel, was a very radical and innovative concept. We must remind ourselves that since the days of Deuteronomy and the Law given by Moses, there was a huge emphasis on distinguishing and setting apart Israelites from the rest of the world.
When Psalm 8 ponders the thought “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him” it is a specific reference to King David as the New Human, who was the individualisation and representation of all that the New Humanity, Israel, In this way, Psalm 8 can be considered a royal psalm. However, t here are some schools of thought that take a democratised view which is explained above. The wording of Psalm 8 and how it is introduced makes the connection to King David quite open to interpretation – it could be a Psalm belonging to or written by him, or even written for him to recite, or thirdly even written by someone else in reference to King David. Whilst all three interpretations are quite possible, the best interpretation suggested by some academics is that the latter approach to understanding the Psalm as being written about David aligns and allows the personality of David to become idealised and adopted as an eschatological figure, which is the same approach taken in the book of Chronicles.
The royal identity of David is emphasised throughout the Psalms and is part of a wider school of thought specific to the Israelite understanding of their Kings. In Jewish royal ideology, the position of King has a “godlike” quality which echos Genesis :”let us make humanity in our image”. Psalm 45 provides an interesting reference for this point – the king was addressed “god” and was thus considered partially divine. The identity of the King of Israel is further associated as a Second Adam, and thus the result of Psalm 8 describes the kingship in terms of world dominion.
The stories of Israel and David form a covenant, a promise with a specific destiny. In describing the ideal of what Israel and David are meant to be – glorious and godlike and having dominion over creation – is to describe the ultimate destiny of Israel and David, who we now understand represents the future messianic figure of Christ. Once we read Psalm 8 in connection with the history of Israel and God’s promise to the nation, we are inevitably drawn towards an eschatological interpretation – one that finds its full and final meaning in the climax of Israel’s story. The primary aim of Psalm 8 is not fixed on creation and static in nature- what all humans are in relation to Adam – but re-creational and eschatological – what Israel and “David” will become at the climax of history.
Christians, having received the New Testament, have the conviction and knowledge that Israel’s story has reached its glorious climax, albeit unsurprisingly, in the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus. In essence, we can read Psalm 8 as prophecy so that it aligns with the culmination of Israel’s story, law and covenant in Christ. In t his way, we can analyse and understand Psalm 8 references to new man as the Son of Man. Indeed, Hebrews 2:5-9 helps to guide our understanding that Jesus stands at the apex of history, in place of Adam, Israel and David, but unlike the failings and sinful natures of those living in Old Testament times, Jesus has “everything under Him” (verse 8):
It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little[a] lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honour and put everything under their feet.”
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
All humans have value, dignity and honour only as they are in Christ. It is only when we are united in Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit that we can claim to be bearers of God’s divine image, crowned with glory and honour. Paul reflects on our identity in Ephesians 1:20-22, for Paul, the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus is the fulfilment of Psalm 8:
that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honour at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.
When we have extolled and recognised that Christ and our identity in Christ embodies our relationship with God the creator, the concluding response should follow the Psalmist likewise in proclaiming “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” In this way, Psalm 8 resolves in the final strophe with an inclusion that mirrors the first two cola of the first line exactly. These book-ending lines establish a tone of praise to the sovereign Lord, and the first line gives the reason for this praise: Yahweh has revealed his majesty for all to see and enjoy. A strong correlation between theological application of Psalm 8 with the history of the church is evident. As a Messianic prophecy, the message of God redeeming His creation is clear – apologetic for the authority of the church, Creationist exposition, and the foundational Christian environment. God is to be praised for his creative activity and humanity is to be humbled for the special honour and loving kindness God has freely lavished upon him. Above all, Psalm 8 calls humanity to a deeper appreciation for the richness of God’s love for his Creation.
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