Psalm 8:1 ¶ «To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.» O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 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.
David speaking in verse 1 of chapter 8 can be compared to the
following verses. These are examples and there are several others, particularly
in the Psalms.
Psalm 72:19 And blessed be
his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory;
Amen, and Amen.
Psalm 113:4 The LORD is
high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
Psalm 148:13 Let them
praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is
above the earth and heaven.
Notice the cross-reference with Psalm 8:2 in Matthew 21:16;
Matthew 21:16 And said unto
him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never
read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
If we accept the concept of word substitution as one way the Holy
Spirit uses the limited number of verses in the Bible inspired by someone who
could have written an infinite number of pages to explain Himself we see strength
in 8:2 translated as praise in Matthew 21:16.
Psalm 21:13 Be thou
exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.
Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my
strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my
heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
God’s strength in defending His people is connected to praise
by the Holy Spirit. Keep these in mind when considering this passage for
yourself. We have God as ordaining His strength and perfecting, completing, the
praise due Him. His strength justifies the praise due Him. David is depending
on Him and trusting Him.
The avenger is an interesting word choice for the
Holy Spirit. In the Law the avenger of blood ensured justice for the
victims of murder. He was a kinsman of the deceased but we might think of him
as a sort of bounty hunter or vigilante, but one prescribed by the Law for the
Hebrews. David certainly had blood on his hands. Think of Uriah and then of the
Ammonites he ordered slaughtered in 2Samuel 12 in some pretty grisly ways.
From a prophetic view this passage the first step should be to see
the context of how Jesus used it.
Matthew 21:12 ¶ And Jesus
went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the
temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them
that sold doves, 13 And said unto them,
It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made
it a den of thieves. 14 And the blind
and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. 15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw
the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these
say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
17 And he left them, and
went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
But, more importantly there seems to be a connection with the book
of Revelation and the events of Christ’s triumph. My point is that the
glorification of God in Revelation can cover this passage.
For us personally, we can feel the same feelings as David.
However, we may not feel that an avenger is pursuing us unless it is Satan or
one of his minions to bring us to face an egregious sin from the past to destroy
our confidence in the Lord. In fact all of these prayers and Psalms do fit our
war against the spiritual world of evil.
Satan seems to be, from preaching I’ve heard trying to constantly
discourage us because of past sins. He is like the blood avenger for our wicked
acts even the ones God has forgiven. He reminds us constantly of our failures.
Psalm 8:3 ¶ When I consider
thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art
mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of
the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and
the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the
seas. 9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is
thy name in all the earth!
David will repeat his wonder at God’s handiwork.
Psalm 19:1 ¶ «To the chief
Musician, A Psalm of David.» The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth his handywork.
Psalm 33:6 By the word of
the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his
mouth.
Psalm 111:2 The works of
the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
Regarding verses 4-8 David will also write;
Psalm 144:3 LORD, what is
man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest
account of him!
He was aware certainly of the authority of man over God’s creation
on this earth.
Genesis 1:26 ¶ And God
said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth. 27 So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them.
In verse 9 David repeats the thoughts of verse 1 here in the 8th
Psalm.
Psalm 8:1 ¶ «To the chief
Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.» O LORD our Lord, how excellent is
thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
For this passage from a prophetic point of view Paul will use
verses 4-8 to reference Christ;
Hebrews 2:6 But one in a
certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or
the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with
glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under
his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that
is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that
he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Prophetically, God visited man in the form of a man, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The term son of man (lowercase s)refers to people as
it also refers to Christ in His humanity as the Messiah of the Jews (uppercase
S). Christ, of course, was fully man and fully God.
Psalm 144:3 LORD, what is
man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest
account of him!
John 3:14 And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted
up:
Personally, we stand in awe at not only what God has created but
at our immense responsibility within that creation. Read Genesis 1:26 and 27
again.
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