Wonderful is His Name
It is easy to see young David alone with God that evening after he had killed the giant, looking up to heaven and marveling at God’s concern for His own. David was but a “babe and suckling” compared to the giant, yet God used the babe to silence the enemy.
The Lord’s Majesty 8:1
8:1. The beginning and ending of the psalm (vv. 1, 9) give the same exclamation of God’s majestic … name. The name, that is, the revealed character of God, is exalted above all Creation. The word majestic suggests splendor and magnificence. It is a fitting note of praise for the Lord of Creation.
The vocative O LORD, our Lord is important in this idea. Addressing God by His personal name Yahweh (“LORD”), David then identified Him as “our Lord” (’ăḏōnay), the Sovereign or Master. “Lord” stresses God’s dominion over His Creation.
The Hebrew of the last part of verse 1 is difficult. Though the text has an imperative verb, most translations (including the NIV) apparently take it as an infinitive and render it as a statement about God’s majesty: You have set. It describes His exaltation (glory) as being high above the heavens.
The Lord’s Strength 8:2
8:2. David marveled that God uses strength (cf. NIV marg.) from children to silence His enemies (and the foe and the avenger). (The NIV translates ‘ōz, “strength” by the word praise because “strength” here may indicate “praise for [God’s] strength”; cf. Matt. 21:15–16.) The idea is that the Lord has ordained that the weakest shall confound the strong (cf. 1 Cor. 1:27). Mankind, even weak children and infants, represents the strength of God in the earth.
The Lord’s Creation 8:3-8
It is easy to see young David alone with God that evening after he had killed the giant, looking up to heaven and marveling at God’s concern for His own. David was but a “babe and suckling” compared to the giant, yet God used the babe to silence the enemy.
Here we have youthful David praising the Lord for the great victory that He gave. “What is man that You are mindful of him?” Why would God pay any attention to a shepherd boy? What a wonderful type of Jesus Christ we see in David: (1) both were born at Bethlehem; (2) both were shepherds; (3) both were rejected temporarily by their brethren; (4) both faced an enemy in the wilderness and won; (5) both were exiles before being made kings; (6) both took a bride while in exile; and (7) both were beloved—for the name David means “beloved.”
The main teaching from Ps. 8 in Heb. 2 and 1 Cor. 15 is this: Christ has regained all that Adam lost because of sin
Christ has been exalted above the heavens and thus has glorified God’s name (Eph. 1:19–23; Heb. 1:1–3). God’s glory is no longer in a tent or a temple; it is “above the heavens” in Christ and in the hearts of ordinary believers. When Christ was ministering on earth, He was not praised by the priests or kings; it was the little children who praised Him in the temple.
David now examined the marvelous theme that God should graciously entrust his dominion to man.
8:3–4. The psalmist first observed the great work of Creation (including the heavens … the moon, and the stars) as God’s finger work, and then was amazed that finite man (the Heb. for man here is ’ěnôš, “mortal, weak man”) should have such a responsibility over it. The rhetorical questions in verse 4 emphasize that man is an insignificant creature in the universe (cf. 144:3). Yet God cares for him immensely. It amazed David that the Lord of the universe even thinks about man.
8:5. God’s creation of man is described as one of power and dignity, for he was made … a little lower than God (’ělōhîm; cf. NIV marg.). The KJV followed the Septuagint in translating this word “angels.” The NIV has chosen heavenly beings, which follows the same interpretation. Though in some cases ’ělōhîm may refer to angels, this is not its main meaning. Man was created as God’s own representative on earth, over the Creation, but lower than God. David was amazed that God should exalt finite man to such a place of honor.
Hebrews 2:6–8 quotes this psalm to contrast man’s failure with his exalted destiny. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, 47); all things will be subjected to Him when He comes to fulfill God the Father’s intended plans for the Creation.
8:6–8. David reflected on man’s position as God’s representative in His Creation. After God made Adam and Eve, He commanded them to have dominion over all the earth (Gen. 1:28). All living creatures were to be under them. But because of sin that dominion has never been fully realized. In fact it was through a subordinate, the serpent, that man rebelled against God’s order.